Site Definition Proposal Illinois Basin Ultradeep Drillhole
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Site Definition Proposal Illinois Basin Ultradeep Drillhole Submitted by Site Definition Committee for the IBUD Consortium Proposal Entitled ILL INOIS BASIN ULTRADEEP DRILLHOLE SITE DEFINITION PROPOSAL For Submission To DOSE CC , Inc. 7711 SW 103rd Ave. Gainesvi lle, Florida 32608 and Dept. of Energy Division of Engineeri ng Geosciences Office of Basic Energy& Sciences Washington, DC 20545 by J. James Eidel Il l inoi s State Geol ogi cal Survey Make Grant To: The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinoi s 506 South Wri ght St . U rbana, Illinoi s 61801 Amount Requested : $ 3,820 ,950 ��� ......_�������- Project Period : 36 months P a Investigator · 1 34-28�0067 s Morris J. J. Kafnerer, Director . Chief Grants and Contracts Ad�i�istr ion Illinois State Geol ogi cal Survey Unive rsity of Il i nois_,. � 1 f.>C?> � '?> •"'� \.'� .... �"' � flJ.,. .;)'i � Site Definition Proposal Illinois Basin Ultradeep Drillhole Collaborative Study by Argonne National Laboratory Illinois State Geological Survey Northern Illinois University Purdue University Southern Illinois University University of Pittsburgh United States Geological Survey University of Texas, El Paso Submitted by the IBUD Site Definition Committee J. James Eidel, Project Director William J. Hinze, Chairman, Steering Committee Illinois State Geological Survey Department of Geosciences East Peabody Drive Purdue University 615 Champaign, Illinois West Lafayette, Indiana 61820 47907 Printed by authorityof the State of lllinois/19871200 CONTENTS ABSTRACT 7 INTRODUCTION 8 The Scientific probl em and the Role of Ultra-Deep Dril ling Devel opment of the Dril ling Pl an The Study Area Objectives of Site Definition Organizational Plan OVERVIEW OF SCIENCE PLAN 13 THE STUDY AREA 16 Justification of the Hub Site Alternate Dril ling Sites Regional Basement Geol ogy Regional Geology of the Illinois Basin St ratigraphy and St ructure of the Hub Sit e RESEARCH PLAN 32 Int roduction Geol ogic Studies Paleozoic Geol ogy Basement Geology Seismic Program Introductibn Regional St ructure and Tectonics of Il linois Basin Previous Seismic Studies of the Upper Mississippi Embayment and Illinois Basin Objectives of Crustal Seismic Studies Nea r the Hub Area Research Plan for IBUD Crustal Seismic Studies Seismic Profiles - Refraction/Wide-Angle Refl ection Seismic Profil es - Deep Refl ection Data Seismic Profil es - Regional Reflection Profil es Seismic Profiles - Detail ed Refl ection Data Data Acquisition and Processing I nte rp retat ion Potential Fiel d Studies Magnetotel luric Investigations ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT PLAN 58 Int roduction Administrative St ructure Management Pl an Integration of Studies Role of Investigative Teams Rol e of Steering Committee Role of Site Definition Advisory Committee SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES 6l PERSONNEL 64 REFERENCES 66 BUDGET EXPLANATION 72 BUDGET SUMMARY AND DETAIL 72 a VITA 84 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Hub site and other sites recommended by !BUD Workshop 11 ••• 2. New Madrid Rift Complex ••• 14 3. Schematic Diagrams il lustrating the plate reconstruction of the North American craton and interactions with adjacent plates and geologic activity of the New Madrid Rift Complex ••• 15 4. Seismic Reflection Profil e across Rough Creek Graben ••• 18 5. Bouger Gravity anomaly map of the central midcontinent region, North America ••• 19 6. Band-passed Bouguer Gravity anomaly map of the centra l midcontinent region, North America ••• 20 7. Aeromagnetic map of cent ral midcontinent region , North Ame rica ••• 21 8. Upward continued, reduced to pole composite magnetic anomaly map of the central mid continent region , North America ••• 22 9. St ructural features of the Illinois Basin and adjacent areas ••• 23 10. Index map showing deep dril lhol es in the cent ral midcontinent region, North America ••• 26 11. Bedrock geol ogy of Illinois Basin and adjacent areas ••• 27 . 12. St ratigraphic Column of Eastern Midcontinent · ••• 30 13. Hypothetical cross section of the Rough Creek Graben of western Kentucky ••• 31 14. Index map of New Madrid Rift Complex ••• 37 15. Schematic bl ock diagram il l ust rating the structure of the crystal line crust and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins beneath the New Madrid Rift Complex in the upper Mississippi Embayment and Ill inois Basin ••• 38 16. Contou r map of earthquake seismicity ••• 39 17 . Upper Missis sippi Embayment crustal models across the Reel foot Rift (upper diagram) and al ong the axis of the Reel foot Rift ••• 41 18. Index map of the Wabash Val ley Fault region of southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana ••• 43 19. Example of seismic reflection data for the Wabash Val ley refl ection survey ••• 44 20. Composite seismic refl ection record section of the East end of the Grayvil le line and west end of the New Harmony line of the Wabash Val ley seismic data ••• 45 21. Northwest to southeast schematic cross-section of the upper crust across the Wabash Val ley Fault System in southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indi ana ••• 46 22. Locations of proposed refract ion and deep sei smic reflection to be recorded in the Hub area ••• 48 23 . Proposed seismi c refl ection profi les near the Hub site ••• 49 24 . Depl oyment plan for IBUD sei smi c studies . 50 . 25 . IBUD Site Defi nition Management Plan ••• 60 TABLES I. Avai lable Samples from Hub Area at the Illin ois and Kentucky Geol ogical Surveys ••• 33 II. Li st of Deep Drillholes to Basement or Pre-Mt. Si mon Sandstone in the Illinoi s Basin and Adjacent Areas ••• 34 III. IBUD Sei smi c Profi les ••• 51 IV. Schedul e of Activities ••• 62 ABSTRACT Of the many geologic probl ems associated with the continental crust, perhaps none is as significant as the origin and history of cratonic basins . There are more than 80 crato nic basins in the world. Many of these are known to have underlying rifts . The Ill inois Basin is an intracratonic basin cl osely associated with the underlying New Madrid Rift Complex. !BUD is proposed at or near thickest section of stratified rocks (7 to 8 kil ometers) in the Illinois Basin . The hol e wil l be designed to test the hypothesis that the Illinois Basin is genetically rel ated to the underlying rift system. Data from the hole wil l hel p resolve one of the great mysteries of geoscience, the origin of cratonic basins . Dril ling of the !BUD was recommended at a workshop of more than 120 earth scientists, hel d in Champaign, Illinois, in April 1986 . The working groups of the wor kshop unanimousl y sel ected a 10,000- square-kil ometer area centered near the town of Sal ine Mines in southeasternmost Gall atin County, extreme southeastern Illinois, as the prime area for the !BUD location; the area is cal led the "Hub site" because it overl ies the Reelfoot Rift, the Rough Creek Graben and the two postul ated arms of the New Madrid rift compl ex. The workshop determined that more geophysical data are essential to define the precise dril lsite for !BUD . In response, this site definition proposal provides a precise program of geophysical and geological studies for !BUD site definition. Site definition wil l ta ke pl ace in three phases . Phase I involves regional gravity, magnetic, refraction seismic, deep and intermediate depth refl ection seismic, and magnetotel l uric surveys in and around the Hub site . These surveys wil l refine our knowl edge of regional geol ogy at depth and wil l focus site sel ection on a smaller area . In Phase II, detail ed surveys, mainly high-resolution seismic profil es, wil l be made in the small area chosen in Phase I. From the data obtained in Phase II a precise dril l site for the !BUD wil l be sel ected . Phase III incl udes intergration of results and a Site Selection Workshop to recommend the !BUD site . The site sel ection program is expected to require about 2 1/2 years and to cost approximately $3.8 mil lion . Costs are preliminary and subject to further negotiation, in part, because geophysical contract prices can not be held to cost estimates if the economics of the oil and gas industry improve and because determination of indirect costs is dependent upon the source of funds and the timing of appropriations . INTRODUCTION The Scienti fi c Probl em and the Role of Ultradeep Drilling Despite more than 140 years of intensive study based on shal low expl oration for oi l, gas, and mi neral s, the history of the Illinois Basi n- particularly the ea rly hi story--is poorly known because deep drilling and core samples are ra re and the lower 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) of layered rocks are undri lled. Of al l the geol ogi c probl ems of the continental crust, probably no single problem is as significant or has as many rami fi cati ons as the ori gi n and history of intracratoni c basins such as the Illinoi s Basin. The answer to this problem remai ns el usi ve (Sl eep et al ., 1980 ; Qui nlan and Beaumont , 1984 ; Sloss, 1986) . There are more than 80 cratonic basins in the world. Many of these are underl ain by ri fts (Bally and Snel son, 1980; Kl emme, 1980; and St. John, Bal ly and Kl emme , 1984) . Geol ogi c and geophysical evi dence (Lidiak, 1982 ; DeRito et al ., 1983 ; Kel ler et al ., 1983) suggests that many , if not al l, intracratoni c basins are underlai n by ri fts. Such is the case of the Illinoi s Basin (Braile et al ., 1986) . Therefore , it is proposed that a 9 ki l ometer (30,000 foot) ultradeep hole be dri lled at or nea r the deepest part of the Illinoi s Basin to expl ore the rel at ionship between this intracratonic basin and the associated , underlyi ng ri ft.