Oil Production from the Guadalupe Series in Eddy County, New Mexico Vilas P

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Oil production from the Guadalupe series in Eddy County, New Mexico Vilas P. Sheldon, 1954, pp. 150-159 in: Southeastern New Mexico, Stipp, T. F.; [ed.], New Mexico Geological Society 5th Annual Fall Field Conference Guidebook, 209 p.

This is one of many related papers that were included in the 1954 NMGS Fall Field Conference Guidebook.

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The suggestedtype section for the Queenformation sedimentaryenvironment of the Delawarebasin. The is located5 milesS. 75° E. f’romthe site of theQueen entirecounty was coveredby a shallowsea butthe PostOffice on the westwall of DarkCanyon, in the subsidingbasin was partially cut off from the shallow SW¼of Sac.36, T. 24 S.,R. 22 E., where421’ of al- bordering:area by a limebank-reef complex. The ba- ternatingsandstone and sandydolomite m-e exposed, sin properwasreceiving deposition of sandand silt Herethe Queenunderlies the SevenRivers formation whichis usuallydark grey to blackin color.There and overliesthe Grayburg.The Shattuckmember of area few layersof limestonein thebasin and the the Queenformation proposed by Newell(1953) has sandand silt is oftencalcareous but for the most beenrecognized as theuppermost 100’ of thissection, part,the sedimentation is sand and silt+ It is prob- ablethat the water was deepenough to havea high Theproposed surface type section of the Grayburg carbondioxide content which would tend to dissolve formationis locatedon a spurand in an unnamedcan- the carbonates.There are layersof cleanand sorted yon aboveSitting Bull Spring, in theNE¼ of Sac.9, sandthroughout the section and these layers arepar- T. 2,4S., 4. 22 E.,where a totalthickness of 475’of ous.Where the sandis cleanand free of siltit hasa alternatingsandstone and dolomites is exposed, lightgrey color, appearing a buff-orange in outcrops, probablydue to oxidation.Bordering the basin there Edit0r~sNote: was a ratherwide, very shallow lime bank which was toohigh to receivethe sandand siltdeposition. This The aboveabstract and Illustrations by William B. bankwas possibly due to a livingorganic algal reef, Moran,Union Oil Company of California,are includ- in thatthe reef acted as a cata!ystin precipitationof ed throughthe courtesy of theGeological Society of carbonates.The writerdoes not viewthe San Andres Americato whichthe paperhas beensubmitted far limebank as a barrierreef, but visualizes it as a publication.A clarification of the "Queen-Grayburg" chainof lowrelief debris mounds lined up by wave by redefinitionis long overdue . Mr,Moran’s work re- andcurrent action. Very possibly the ooliticand gran- presentsa valuable contribution to the stratigraphy of ularmaterial is debriscreated by thewaves from a thisregion, livingreef, however, that source need not be theonly OIL PRODUCTION FROM THE possiblesource+ The situationwas that this lime GUADALUPE SERIES IN EDDY COUNTY, bankwas a highplatform area and waveaction piled NEW MEXICO up a limedebris chain of keyswhich shut off the sea behindit fromthe subsiding basin. The barrierwas by so effectivethat the broadexpanse of shallowwater VilasP. Sheldon behindit wasevaporated faster than fresh water en- teredand apparently but little clastic material was The GuadolupeSeries is sub-dividedintoseven enteringfrom the lowland masses bordering the sea. formations,the namesand approximatethicknesses Thesereef-locked lagoons, or evaporativebasins, beingas presentedin thefollowing tabulation. Sap- existedall throughthe Permianand the sequenceof aratenames are used for the basinand theback-reef of depos:itionis always the same. Most of thewater faciesdue to commonpractice and usageamong geo- thatdid enter the lagoonscame from the oPen basin logistsworking in thearea. throughthe barrier and the concentration of salts in the waterbecame progressively greater as thedis- Back-Reef Thickness in Back-Reef Basin tancebehind the barrierincreased. There was a con- tinuousinward flow of waterfrom the basin to the lagoonto compensatefor the evaporativeloss. As Tansill 200 Yates 400 thiswater moved, it wascontinuously evaporating, SevenRivers 600 Belt Canyon thesilicates precipitating first, then the carbonates, Queen 300 bothlimestone and dolomite, then the .~ulphates, fol- Grayburg 400 lowedby thechlorides. There are many critical Upper SanAndres 800 Cherry Canyon pointsof super-saturationinvolved and often several LowerSan Andres 600 saltswould precipitate in the same area resulting in intergranularmixtures. And then too, changes in fresh lower San Andres-CherryCanyon waterinflow changed the chemicalbalance resulting in laminatedlayers of theseveral salts. Since car- At the openingof Guadalupetime about the south- banateswere thus chemically precipitated behind the easterntwo-thirdsof Eddy County was withinthe barrier,it is reasonableto postulate that the oolites

150 I NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY * FIFTH FIELD CONFERENCE * SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

i couldbe formedby suchchemically precipitated car- Eddyand ChavesCounty line north of the HighLone- bonatesand later piled up on thebarrier, someField. i DuringLower San Andres- CherryCanyon ’ time° the UpperSan And.res- CherryCanyon basinreceived black and greysands and silts with a few cleanand sorted sand layers which are porous. Aftersome 600 feetof dolomiteshad beendeposited I Thebarrier was built of carbonatedebris. So faras in Guadalupetime° some disturbance considerably al- EddyCounty is concerned°the depositionbehind the taredsedimentation, as an easilyrecognizable break barrierwas all carbonatematerial as theanhydrites in thecarbonate facies is present.The writer is not do not occurin Eddybut do comeinto the section far- familiarenough with the CherryCanyon sand facies I thernorth. Porosity in thecarbonates is of a primary to dividethat formation. nature°being the spacesbetween the grainsand frag- mentsof the debrismaking up the rock.It is some- At the openingof the UpperSan Andrestime, de- positionin the basinwas muchthe sameas in the pre- I timesof an ooliticnaturebutmoreoftenhas irregular granulartexture rather than spherical. Porosity does ceedingperiod. The frontmoved forward a shortdis- notoccur in blanketformations but ratherseems to be tance,not much over a mile.Deposition on the front in relativelylow moundswhich were formed by waves was the same,sand and siltbasinward with brown I and currents.These mounds tend to lineup likea crystallinelimestones and chert;= directly adjacent. chainof keys,however, porous material also occurs The sand wedgesare sometimesporous. wellbehind the barrier front. Possibledue to re-activatedup-warping0 the zone I of limestoneand cherts in the UpperSan Andresis The barrierfront has been described by several muchnarrower, probably due to a steeperslope. The writersas a hingeline. On thebasin side the land carbonatesof the limebank proper consist of buff° was subsidingwhile behind the frontit was not.Such I finelygranulartoooliticand detritaldolomites.Liv- may not necessarilybe thecase, however, deposition ing reefswere undoubtedly present on the bankand on the limebank was fastenough to keeppace with subsidenceand maintainthe shallownessof depth perhapslargely contributed to the carbonateprecipi- tation.The dolomiteas thesub-surface geologist I whichpromoted carbonate deposition. Basinward of seesit, however°appears to havebeen laid down as thefront sands and siltswere deposited. Behind the carbonatemuds forming finely granular° sometimes frontcarbonates were being deposited. Right at the lithographicrock.Scatteredoverthebank,usually frontthe carbonate and sand layers are interfingered° I linedup likekeys° there are low relief mounds of oo- -- thisbeing caused by slightlateral shifting of the liticand granular detrital material. These mounds of frontboth ingressive and regressive.The sand layers in thesubsurface as wedgesinto the carbonate materialresemble sand dunes and werevery probably I__ andappeararesometimes porous. Directly behind the front, formedby waveand currentaction eroding, breaking the carbonatesare usually dark tan to brownand of up and roundingthe fragmentsand then piling them up. a decidedlycrystalline structure and associated with The porosityin the UpperSan Andresis primarypor- i abundantchert.The carbonatesnearthefrontare osityand consistsof the spacebetween the oolites normallylimestones and arenot generallyporous. In andgranular pieces. It is usuallycemented with carbonatemuds and sometimeswith anhydrite. the caseof thelower San Andres0this zone of lime- i stoneand chertextends laterally for several miles .... whereit graduallygives way to a buffgranular dolo- In EddyCounty the UpperSan Andresis neverrepre- mite,sometimes having broken fossil fragments° oo- sentedby a truesection of eithersulphates or chlor- lites,and granular carbonate debris, ides,however° the areanorth and westof Artesiawas I farenough from the barrier so thatevaporation had in- Thereis no productionin EddyCounty from the creasedthe saltcontent of thewater and there is con- LowerSan Andres.Conditions of sedimentationwere siderableanhydrite in thesection. There are a few I similarto the laterGuadalupe periods. There was a layersof anhydriteseveral feet thick andmuchof inter- " limebankand in frontof it basinaldeposition of Char- granularnature. The carbonateis a veryfine grained ry Canyonsands. The lime bankwas muchwider than to lithographicdolomite. theywere in laterperiods, yet mounds of dolomitic i_ debrisare knownin the LowerSan Andres.One pro- In EddyCounty, the UpperSan Andresproduces oil minentone whichappears as a vagueridge when con- andgas fromoolitic dolomite in a trendsome 24 miles I touredon topof the UpperSan Andresfalls on the long.As describedat somelength in the discussionon 151 ! De×~ell

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’ m the Grayburgformation, the upper¯ SanAndreslime bank al’soin thenorthwest corner of Townsh-i:p18-27. Shows formeda ridgeporailel.ingthe various other reefcom- of oil havealso been noted in the Daughertyand Hen- plexcontacts. This ¯ridge was veryinstrumental ih !a- shawpools, m ter depositionand contours on thesub-sui’face mark- m ers as a plungingnose. It isknownas the Artesia- Grayburgnose. The UpperSan Andresis some800 feet The CherryCanyon is the basinalSan Andresequiv ¯ ~ickand-at the crest of theridge, the entire section alent.There ha_~;ebeen but veryfew tests well consistsof’dolomite. It :is very oolitic in parts locatedto testthi.s formation. Several wells in theSan- and appearsto be granularand compasedof dolomite .toNine field produce from a Cherry.Canyon sand and theyare geographicallylocated near the limebank debris.The¯entire mass is a potentialreservoir 10ut the m oilhas eitherpartially escaped or theresimplywasn’t front.Productivity is poor and after severalnearby welIs enough oil to fill the voids. .... wereal~so disappointing, development:ceased.

¯ Theridge itself is easilytraceable from theLea Coun- A quitelogical place to lookfor theac~umulation is ! ty lineto theGuadalupe foothills, but no oilhas been alongthe rimof the basinon thewedge pinch-outs. ... . m foundin it westof theArtesia field. It remainsporous g¯ andis fullof waterwhich has perhaps flushed the oil BellCanyon out.- : .... At the closeof theSan Andresperi:od0 renewed up- "E : warpingcaused the barrier front to regressa:number of ¯ In Lea Countye the Vacuumand MaljamarFields pro- milesand also the increasedslope caused considerable ducefrom the UpperSan Andres,the oil accumulation-" regressionof the shallowseabehind the barrier.The- extendingvery nearly to theCherryCanyon ,interface. seastill covered all of EddyCounty but retreated a ¯ In Eddythe 0ilaccumulations are as muchas 6 miles greatmany miles in the areanorthward from Eddy. The | thebacksteep--regional of the CherrytiltCanyon caused interface. J~y the .Probably up-Warping, due the to limebank was alsogreatly reduced in width.The rea~ sonfor the reduction in thewidth of the:lime bank is m oilhaspartiallyescaped. What is leftis trappedby de- ¯sometimesattributed solely to thegreat barrier organ- m positionalcharacteristics up against the crest of the ic reefwhichdid form along the front of thelime bank m ridge.The fartherwest the accumulation,and¯ thusthe and didnearly isolate the back-reef lagoon from¯the fartherup theregional tilt, the poorer the accumulation, opensea. Offering thisas the solecause fails to ,x- ! Fromeast tow,st the poolsare: Jackson, Grayburg, plainthe regressionof the back-reefsea. The slope of the platformdid increase, narrowing the lagoon and the LocoHills, Nichols andArtesia. The Jackson¯.- . Field has beenlmuchthe best of.the group ...... ¯organicreef¯did:form a barrier. Apparentiy but very .lit- ¯ fie freshwater entered the lagoon, it beingdependent Nearthe topof the SanAndros, there is one sandy uponsea water to maintainsea level elevation. bad persistentOver the entire lime bank. This is ca!l- ¯ ed the L ovingtonsand. It is commonlysilty:and appears DuringBell Canyon time, a seriesof majorreactiva- | relatedto the Delawareand not thesands of thelater tionsof up-warpingand manyminor changes in relative

Guadalupeformations. North of the mainSan Andros sea levelsoccured. The majordisturbances form.... break’s ridge,the Lovingtonsand has beenfound to havean distinctenough So that.theBell..Canyan hasbeen sub- m accumulationof oil in theForest~E [eld and along the divided,insofar as back-reeffacies are con~:erned, .into southedge of SquareLake. The oilis-trapped by silt- the Grayburg,Queen, Seven Rivers, Yates and Tansill. ingout of thesand. South of themain ¯ridge one well in Thereef itself is generally:calledtheCapitan reef and ¯ the ArtesiaField produces from the Lovingtonsends the :-itis impossibleto sub-divide it is sub-surfalce work. ¯ ¯ exactreason being vague. : :51:. - ’ ¯ : -~-: :. TheBell Canyon itself is the.basin.facies and con~- Ill In the basalpart of theUpper San Andfes,the dolo- sists,of sancland sih. It is Usuallydark .grey to black, | miteis brown-andgranularS .sometimes with small .oo- however,-in.places sand. is s0rtedl.andclean, being a lites.This zone i’s an independentreserv0ir.from.the lightgrey incolor. The sands oftenargillaceous and. m upperoolitic zones already .discussed arid-is not affect- sometime_scalcareous, and thereare a few limestone" m ed by thesame oil-water contacts. It ordinarilyis full layers.As in thecase of thelCherryCany0.n it is pro- of water,but on thec ri~stof the:mainSan Andres ridge, bablethat the carbon, dioxide of thedeep water dissolv- ...... it producesin the Grayburg-Keelyand A~okapools and ed any carh0nates,precipitated. When sorted and clean ¯. :. .- :: m ¯ ...... ]54 ...... - ...... :...... :-’... ¯ _. mm mm~~ ¯ " ":" " "" mm " NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY * FIFTH FIELD CONFERENCE * SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

! thesand is porous, yon his been. named Grayburg. Back of thereef, in the evaporativebasin or lagoon,there was a shallow-water The sandand siltof the BellCanyon Wedge into the limebank receiving dolomitlc carbonate deposition. I CapitalReef which forms the frontof the limebank. As Evaporationcaused precipitation of the carbonatesalts:i therewere many ingressive and regressivechanges in forminga limemud whichformed the lithographic, very therelative sea level, the actual front of thereef moved finelygrained dolomites typical of theGrayburg. In i backwardand forward,thus, wedges of sandgo well placesthe lime mud was formedinto oolites and piso- backinto the:reef body. The generaltrend throughout lites.Thebroad lime bank was ideal for manysea artS- BellCanyon time was that of a fluctuatingregression mal’s.The resultantshellswere broken into fragments I andafter each major disturbance the reef front moved and rounded.Wave and currentaction moved the oolites, basinwardslightly. More pronounced than the movement the pisolites,the shell fragments, and broken fragments of thereef front after each disturbance, was the narrow- fromthe organicreef, piling them up in moundsand ing of the limebank. The lagoonbecame progressively: liningthem up as keys.These mounds have primary I smallerdue to up-warpingand the bankof carbonate porosity.These mounds are usuallyon the flankof u~- depositionnarrowed. Along the easternboundary of Ed- derlyinghighs, but not necessarily. dy County,in cross-section~the Grayburgcarbonate I zoneis some30 mileswide. The Yatescarbonate zone Behindthe lime bank zone, the precipitationwas of is lessthan 6 mileswide. At the closeof BellCanyon anhydrite,the Grayburg in thenorthwest one third of time#the up-warping backed the reefbuilders clear out EddyCounty having been anhydrite. The lateralbreak I of the Delawaresea and no morecarbonates were de- betweenthe dolomiticand anhydritic facies is notsharp posited, andoftentimes chemical analysis i’s necessaryto ac- curatelydetermine the true composition of a sub-surface I Somedrilling has beendone through the yearstesting sample.The dolomites near the anhydritecontact are thetop of theBellCanyon~ but in comparisonto the veryfinely grained and are not porous. limebank regions, exploration has not been intensive. Wellsdrilled on thewestern slope of thebasin very : Thereis anotherbasic characteristic of the Grayburg i oftenhave logged oil shows in thetop severalhundred thatwas not presentin theSan Andros,such charact- feetof BellCanyon sand. Exploration thus far has re- eristicbeing the many sand bodies within both the dol- vealedbut little structural anomaly. Oil productionhas miteand theanhydrite facies. The sandmoved into the l beendeveloped in a one wellpool in Township23-26 lagoonfrom the slightlyre-juvenated and up-warped justsouth of Car[sbad,in the BlackRiver and Fenton landmass, being transported in by streams.The time gig pools,and to a greaterextent in the MalagaField. w~s an aridone for apparentlythe sedimentsbeing emp- g~ Acrossthe Texasline in ReevesCounty# the Masonand tiedinto the lagoonwere red sandsand redshales, and TunstilllFields have yielded considerable oil. The thesematerials were brought in sporadically.During ex- producingformation is a finegrained sandstone. The tTemedrouth the sedimentationin the lagoonwas solely oilis verylight in colorand doesnot show up at" all fromchemical precipitation of water coming in across wellin samplewell cuttings. Permeability is low and thebarrier reef. A wet periodstarted the streams from beforethe advent of formationfracturing by theinjection the landmass running and clastics were washed in, and of Vi’sc:ousfluids, some potential producers were likely werelaid down in the lagoon,widely distributed over I abandoned.Formation fracturing isquite sensational on thelagoon. Water currents~were different in theseper- the BellCanyon wells. Sodsand the elastics tended to fillup lowspots on the limebanks and they also drifted up on :theslopes of any I Thereis butvery littlea if any,sti’uctural closure in irregularitiesin the lagoon surface. Not only did the the productiveareas above outlined. The traps are strat- clasticscome:in, but the freshwater reduced the con- centrationof thebrineand a stringerof dolomiteis of- igraphi:c0 probablydue to depositionalcharacteristics, I The wedgesands entering and againstthe reeffront tenfoundon topof a sandbodywithina generalanhy- offerpotential traps for accumulation~ especially those dritesection. of olderB:bll Canyon age which Will lie under the young- er reeffronts. Exploration for such older Bell Canyon The Grayburgsands, and to someextent, oolitic dol- " sandwedges has beenvery slight, omitesare deposited on theflanks of andover the older San Andre~shigh. The ridge remained a highthroughout ~ Grayburgand Queentimes, the variousformations thinn- I The back-reefequivalent to the lowermostBell Can- ingand some dropping out on thecrest of thestructure, 155

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NEW MEX~ICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY * FIFTH FIELD CONFERENCE * SOUTHEASTERN NEWMEXICO I

¯ Thereis some300 feet of thinningin theQueen and .-iAt theclose of Queentime, another ’storm occurred re- i Graybur.gformations betweenl the outer edge and the suitingin thewidespread deposition Of a consi’stent crestof theUpper. San Andres .lime bank. On the~.crest...... sandlayer, much used for correlatikn.purpases, it i’s" I the combinedthickness of the two formationsiS approx- knownas the "ArtesiaRed Sand"in EddyCounty and imately680 feet. At thetrough they are at least980 muchused as it is the firstreally thick sand body be- feetthick. As thevariousformations thin, they tend to lowthe Yatessands and is easilyrecognizable by the .- havereduced porosity. Some sands and quite,probably ¯ presenceof manylarge frosted quartz grains. The frost- i ooliticdolomite memberssimply do not reachthe top. ed quartzgrains are sometimesfound in all thesands Local.depressions in the San Andresridgesuch as of the back-reeffacies equivalents to the BellCanyon channelsand bays.tended to.fi.!.l with sediment.s _. The formation,however, they are especially.prominent in the ! lagoonof highly.saline waters behind the ridge also "ArtesiaRed Sand". tendedto fill.withsands at a.rategreater-than sedimen- tationon the.ridge.The sametype sedimentary condi- . .... The sandformations w.ere depositecl.within thenor- am tionsprevailed on intothe_Queen, however, thus far:the malanhydrite facies as well.as the normal carbonate Queenhas not yielded major oil fields. - facies.When the sand formations within the anhydrite ¯ phaseore thin, they are aptto be cementedwith evapor- Ill On the southerly,or basinward, sideof theArtesia- ites,however, when the formations are thicker, some Maljamarridge, thevcirious Grayburg sands produce oil primary.i~orosit~hasbeen preserved. When primary par- in the Dayton,East Dayton, Artesia , Red Lake,Loco osityis presentthese sands are a potentialoil reser- ill Hills,Grayburg-Jackson, PremierandMaljamarFie!ds. voir.Oil and gas accumulationswithin the anhydrite I Actuallyit is almosta continuoustrend of production, " phaseare abnormal,but do occur.The uppermostsand however,it is farfrom a -continuousreservoir. Some of " of theQueen, commonly referred to as the "ArtesiaRed thesands seem to be fairlypersistent and canbe fairly ’ Sand~’,produces in Section16 of.Township17 South, ¯ welltraced the length of thetrend, however,, porosity Range.30 East, the trapbeing the sandflanked up on variesrapidly and to a greatdegree due to.calcare0us thenorth si de of an underlyinghigh with a porosity cementation,probably of primarynature and due to car- pinch-out~The samesand produces from a few scat- j bonatemuds. Some of thesands do not havewide later- teredwell’s on thesouth side of thesame high about 3 al_distribution. :" or 4 milessouth of thosein Section16. Theseaccumu- " " lationsare well behind the normal lime bank. *- On thenortherly or lagoonalside of the Artesia.Mal l jamar.ridge,there are also sands in .thesection. They Anothervery persistent sandy phase nearly 100 feet s do notshow oil staininga consistentlyas do the south thi6koccurs in basalQueen. In.the area behind the nor- flankSands, but in severalcases oil has accumulated " " mallime bank, oil and gas ’stai ning is oftennoted in in them.The trap is formedby the carbonate-sulphate thissand. and scattered over the area are Small pools I contact.The producingfields and Red Lake,South " and isolatedwells producing from it. The HighLone- HighLonesome, Anderson, Square Lake, Robins:on, somepool, and thegas pool in Section3, 4, 5, 9 and10 g NorthMaljamar and Roberts, the latter two fields being of Township17 South,Range 28 Eastmarksthe major El in LeaCounty but partof.the same trend. Porasityin trendofprodutcion. The productivity is low and develop- thesenorth flank fields in equally.aserratic as it is on menthas been. non-commercial . Other scattered well’s ill thesouth flank. The generalqualityof production is in- producefrom the sand;one in Section7-18-28, one in feriorto thesouth flank Grayburg sand wells. Section12-18-28, and one in Section32-17-30.

Queen On the limebank itself, theuppermost Queen sand ’1 The Queenin EddyCounty is verysimilar to the Gray- persistentlycarries oil an d gasstaining and produces burgof EddyCounty. The organicreefmay have moved ¯ in spotsfor 30 milesacross Eddy County, .yet it hasnot slightlyforward and thelime bank zone of carbonate yieldeda majorfield. The Queenon the limebank has depositiondid narrow, the anhydrite coming in closer manysand horizons and it has manyoolitic dolomite Big to thereef. The sandand silt influx into the lagoon was horizons.The oil andgas thatis beingproduced comes considerablygreater than it wasduring the Grayburg. fTomthe sandsand the dolomitesare not producingin ~¯ Aboutone.-third of the Queensection consists Ofsand. Eddy,but justsouth of LakeMcMillan, the Queenoo- ll EarlyQueen time apparently was a periodof greatsilt liticdolomite is saturatedwith 0il. This is verynear influxas thebasal 100 feet of sectionis mostlysand. the outcropand the oil has apparentlyescaped. The g If 156 ! i NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY * FIFTH FIELD CONFERENCE * SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

I sandsin theupper ¯ Queenproduce oil in theMcMillan, sandphases as the Yatesor the underlyingQueen, how- TurkeyTrack, Shugart, North Shugart and Culwinpools ever,there are a fewsand bodies and the smallEast of Eddyand the trendcontinues on to the Watkins,Young, . TurkeyTrack pool produces from a sandpay in the Iow- i Corbinand Pearsallpools in Lea County.The oil ac- er partofthe Seven Rivers section. This same sand cumulationsare in stratigraphictraps closed by cemen- body- can be ¯tracedalong the strike but no other¯pro tation¯ of thesand pores. The relationship of’structure ductionhas been found. I to the accumulationsis extremely vague, however, de- tailedstudy indicates that the accumulations are on the A favoriteplace for the accumulation of oil in allof flanksof ¯smallunder-lying high.s, the Guadalupeformations is nearthe verticaltop of the I carbonatefacies in anygivenIocation.¯¯Regardless of SevenRivers theage of thedolomite top in anywell, the first porous The back-reeffacies Seven Rivers formation indi- zonebelow the top is a fairprospect. Such a trapis I catesa furthernarrowing of the areaof carbonatede- closelyrelated to the onesformed by the carbonate position..The reef again moved very slightly forward, tonguesbehind the lime bank as the alland gas has In contrastto the Q0een0there are but fewsand bodies movedlaterally up-dip as faras it cango. It is trap- Withinthe¯Seven Rivers and theyare quite thin. This pad by the carbonate-sulphatefacies change. In the I indicatesa more arid condition. With the narrowing of SevenRivers, an ooliticdolomite produces oil in the thecarbonate area of depositionis the compensating TurkeyTrack Seven Rivers pool of Township19 South encr0achmentofanhydrite toward the reef.During the Range29 East.Such a conditiontheoretically can ex- I SevenRivers period anhydrite was depositedwithin 12 istjust about anywhere on the limebank. milesof thereef front in contrastto the30 milesdur- ing Grayburgtime. Yates I At rthe closeof SevenRivers time, the reef front again As in the otherformations the sandbodies are porous advancedslightly and the Carbonatezone narrowed’ down and the ooliticmounds sometimes have primary paros- to about6 miles.Renewed up-warping caused an in- I ity.In mostcase-~, the primary porosity is filledwith creasedrateintheinflux 6f clasticsintothelagoon. limemud cementation, the resultantsand bodies are wide spread over all of EddyCounty and are knownas the Yatessands. The The surfaceof the SevenRivers¯lagoon apparently uppermostof the Yatessands happens to be the last I was dottedby moundsof debeis.Individual mounds did sandbody in theGuadalupe series and is, to thedriller, notexist through the variousperiods, but wouldbe bur- the firstsand encountered below the Ochoaevaporjtes. led forSome reason. Several mounds that were built and It is easilyrecogniiable dueto frostedquartz grains i buriedin SevenRivers time have been found and pro- and probablyis themost used correlation zone in the duce.Tonto in Lea County,and the lowerpays inthe Permianperiod. WilsonField also of Lea County,produce from the top of ooliticdolomite structures of SevenRivers age. I It wouldseem that the reeffront, where porous, would Moundstructures of equivalentage havenot been found offera goodtrap.The oilmust have been flushed out, in Eddy.Their existance is probable, however,as onlythe verytops of localclosures¯have I producedoil and gas.The Barber,Cedar Hills, Getty Thesecond type reservoir, those created by isolated dolomitelayers behind the lime bank, produce most of and P.C.A.,a few wellsin the Russelpo01 and some the SevenRivers oil in EddyCounty. The contactbe- of thewell~s in theLusk pool’s produce from porous dol- anomaliesconP l tweencarbonates and sulphatesmoved laterally consid- omite,Thesestructuresare mound-like arabledistances many times during Seven Rivers time, posedof ooliticand granular dolomite and tend to line up likea chainof islands,which is verylikely what ¯ sometimesfor as muchas 5 or 6 miles.As a resultoil they Thereare severalmoreof theseproducing I andgas has movedup structurein thesegranular dolo- were. structureson eastin Lea County,Halfway, Salt Lake, mitesuntil it is finallytrapped by thefacies change, Lynch,West Wilson and Wilson.West of CedarHills As thedolomite layers are thin, the wells are small, but I a goodnumber have been drilled along the southflank pool,the Yatescomes to the surface,but severalmounds of the Grayburg-Jacksonfield, arediscernible in the outcrop. I The SevenRivers formation does not haveas many The sandbodies flanking on a dolomitemound, or 157 i NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY * FIFTH FIELD CONFERENCE * .SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO i

i piiedin aJowandsubsequently tilted byregional up- sucha simplification~The salinity of thelagoon chang- i warping,also can be reservoirs.The Russelfield and ed veryoften the geographicalposition ofthe carbon- theBurton pool~ produce from a sandpiled up on the " ate-sulphatecontact changed very many more times [] northflank of a reefmound. The Luskpools near the thanseven~ .. [] Eddy-LeaCounty line produce from sand apparently drapedover such a mound~the dolomitealso producing. In theYates~ for example~ there are several thin beds.., i Likewisein lea County,the Yatessands produce drap- of granulardolomite reaching.back nearlyas far as does | ed overa reefmound in the Wilson,Teas, Lea, North the normalQueen lime bank° Likewise, the-Seven Riv- Lynchand SanSimon pool’s, ers and Queenhave dolomite beds-reaching back far- " .... therthan normally. Sometimes, in factusually~ these ! The trendof pool’smentioned in theabove paragraphs ¯ I~edsare associated with a sandbody~ Such is logical areoften called reef pool’s. They are not strictly reef as it wasprobably the fresh waterbringi.ng in the sand frontpools in thatthere doesn’t seem to be muchevi- thatforced the sulphate deposition.farther backinto J dencethat the structures are exactly fossil organic reefs, the lagoon°The granulardolomite beds and the sand Theyare ’slightly behind the reef front and are debris bedsassociated with the thindolomite layerss even moundsbuild up fromoolitic and granular carbonate thoughthey are. far behind the normal lime bank offer ¯ piecesby waveand current action.. Lag¯anal sand. reservoirsfor oil and gas~The Empireand Aid pools practicallyalways is on theflanksand very oftendrap- justeastof Artesia produce oil fromthin brown and granulardolomite stringers that are definitely of ¥ates . ed overthe mound. In the outcrops°these: sands do not n appearin thevery front of thereefs, but ~hind them. age~A now plugged-.0utgas fieldin Sections4 and 5 i The resultof suchbuilding is a complexmound of oo- of Township19 South,Range 28 Eastproduced from a liticdolomite and sand lenses. Offset wells are diffi- YatesSand° Both the dolomiteand sandaccumulations cultto correlate,one passible being a dolomitewell oiland gas dependupon porosity pinch-out to formthe i and the nextasand well. The kuskfields have both reservoir.The porositypinch-ou~ L is duetochangein dolomiteand.sand pays of aboutthe sameage. The sedimentation.. Wilsonfield has a few Yatessand wells, the sand drap- ¯ ing overand wedging into the underlying dolomite mound.. A thirdtype. reservoir of Yatesage occurs along the normalcarbonate-sulpha_t.e contact~ A troughsoftof The moundsdo not necessarilyhave to lineup near anomalycan be contouredjust south of the facieschange ¯ thereef front~ There were water currents behind the entirelyacross Eddy Co0tnyl except in thewestern por- E reefrolling-the oolitic dolomite particles around and tionwherethe rocks are eroded~The northernslope of thistrough coincides with the facieschange and sev- mounds_couldbuild up Mostanywhere on thelime bank°.- ...... The gensonpool produces from oolitic dolomiteof Yates eraloil andgas trapshave been discovered, namely ttle i age~but is wellbehind the front° The mound type pools Shugartand ~/afkinspools~ The trend has by no means heretoforediscussed depend to a considerableextent beenfully explored~ ... on structuralclosure to makethe reseryo!r. _.. "" i Tans¯I1.. U Thepools heretofore discussed as producingfrom At the.opening of. Tansill, the ireef front.moved for- theYates are all on thelime bank~ It is almosta re- wardslightly. No elasticsentered the lagoon from the [] quisiteof Guadalupeage oil accumulationthat:there- landmass. Up-warping apparently continued’ and ,caused servoirbe on the limebank° The sandswhich enfe~ed a furthernarrowing of thelime bank° At .theclose Of thelagoon from the land mass are also~within the an - Tansilltim~ the entire I~elaware basin was cut Offfrom n hydritefacies of thelagoon deposition, however, they the opensea, causing it to becomethe evaporativeba- i almostnever have oil and gasbecause.the sand-is ~e-::. sin~This killed the.organ’c reef~ ¯¯ me¯tedwith evaporites~ The condition is truein all ’ theGuada-lupe formations and is almosta requisite.b:ut Thereare twosmall unecon.omi.cal .gas poolsproduc- notquite~ Just a few.procfucingwellsru.ini:su.ch a-con- ing fromthe Tansi!l..Theseare:the.Hale Pool inSec- ii venientrule~ It cannotbe stressedtoo. strongly° how- rion 12 and13 of Township20South, .Range 30 East; ever,that for really commercial accumulations° the re- and the ScanlonPool of Sections29-and30 of Town- ¯ servoirmust be onthe .lime ban:k...T:he difficulty is that ship20South, Range 29 Eas:t..i_No._gashas been sold the arbitrary.breakingdownof theGuadalupeseries in--., fromthese pools~ the wells llavinlg been.slTut in since to sevensub. divisions doesn’t have much to support completion..The potentials are small. Both pools appear [] ¯-- ...... i ..... ~]58. .-; " . .:

¯ . ¯ ’ ~i i , m .. NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY * FIFTH FIELD CONFERENCE * SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO | " to be smallclosures, upon the mainCapitan Reef, the wouldbe an oiltrap~ This is likewisetrue of theolder reservoirrock being a porousdolomite. Yatesand SevenRivers reefs, however, many wells have beendrilled along the reef front and have produced only i The Tansilllimebank is onlya few mileswide and water°Undoubtedly the porousreef front has been flush- the dolomitephase is usuallya veryfine grained lith- ed out withwater° There are no sandbodies within the ographicrock with no hintof porosity.Right at thereef Tansillto actas trapsor reservoirsfor the accumula- I frontitis sometimes porous a ndwheridrilling through tionof oil.The possibility: of production from the Tan- thesection a puffof gasoften is detected~It would sillwould be fromsmall mounds of porousdolomite built seemthat since this Tansill dolomite is thetop of the up on themain barrier reef. Many wells have been drill ° I Capitanreef add since the lithographic dolomite facies ed alongthe trend but mosthave possibly beenslightly wouldserve as a barrierto themigration of oil,that it toofar lagoonwardfor maximumTansill potentiality.

I RESUME OF OIL& GAS EXPLORATION OF THE SACRAMEHTO MOUNTAIN AREA by I DavidA, Dunn

In thatportion of Lincoln,Chaves 0 and OteroCounties lying south of U.S.Highway No. 70 and westof Longitude 105a numberof testsfor oil havebeen drilled. Sixteen of thesetests are shownon the IndexMap accompanying I thisGuide Book. The following tabulation gives the name of thewell, the elevation,total depth, the depthto the top of thepre-Mississippian if pre-Mississippian formations were encountered, and the formationat totaldepth. ::

I ELEVATION T.D. TOP PRE-MISS. DEPTH TO FORMATION NAME ELEVATION T.D. TOP PRE-MISS AT T.D, I Stanolind#1 Picacho 5958 2843 None GranitePre-C.? Humble#1 N State 5733 4014 None Metamorphics SouthernProd. #1 Cloudcroft 9370 4701 3490 GranitePre-C. I TexasProd. #1 Wilson 5340 4900 4860? Miss°or Fusselman Gulf#1 Chaves 6264 3147 "; GranitePro-Co? Kewanee#1 4- mileUnit 5169 6562 642~, Fusselman Sun #1 Pinon 6544 1911 None GranitePre-C.? i Sun #2 Pinon 6314 1650 None GranitePre-C ? Plymouth #1 Federal .... Stanolind#1 Thorne 6310 4646 - Pennsylvanian I Standardof Texas#1 ScarpUnit 5340 2664 1090 GranitePre-C. Turner#1 Everett 4715 3945 2310 B liss Turner#1 Evans 5002 3763 1890 El Paso I F.W. & Y. #1 Donahue 4275 1692 - Intrusive? Union#1 McMillan 4990 5215 3487 El Paso Hunt#1 McMillan - Turner 4165 2175 - Granite Wash

I No attempthas beenmade to correlatethe surface exposures at thelocations or to makea breakdownof all:of the formationsencountered since so manyformational changes occur that correlation over this wide area is extremely difficultand controversial.In general from north to souththe pre-Mississippianformations, i.e. Percha, Fussel- I man,/Viontoya, El Paso,and Bliss formations of theDevonian, Silurian, Ordovician, andCambrianthickenrather uniformly.Control is scatteredand many of theindicated granite tops are questionable in age.

Of themany wells drilled only a few encounteredshows of oil andgas~ These include the SouthernProduction i No. 1 Cloudcroftwhich encountered a minor show in the Pennsylvanian,the TurnerNo. I Evanswhich encountered minorshows in the Pennsylvanian,the KewaneeNo. 1 FourMile Uni~t which encountered a show in the Fusselman and the UnionNo. 1 McMillanwhich encountered minor shows in the Pennsylvanianand El Pasoformations. l 159 !