Middle Tertiary Stratigraphic Sequences of the San Joaquin Basin, California
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Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California Chapter 6 Middle Tertiary Stratigraphic Sequences of the San Joaquin Basin, California By Cari L. Johnson1 and Stephan A. Graham2 Miocene strata of the central and southern San Joaquin Basin, Contents California, into a framework of nine stratigraphic sequences. These third- and higher-order sequences (<3 m.y. duration) Abstract.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 comprise the principal intervals for petroleum assessment for Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Database-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 the basin, including key reservoir and source rock intervals. Im- Methods--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 portant characteristics of each sequence are discussed, including Eocene Through Lower Miocene Sequence Stratigraphy of the Central distribution and stratigraphic relationships, sedimentary facies, San Joaquin Basin--------------------------------------------------------------------4 regional correlation, and age relations. This higher-order strati- Upper Paleocene Through Lower Eocene Martinez Formation and Lodo graphic packaging represents relatively short-term fluctuations Formation-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Distribution and Stratigraphic Relations------------------------------------- 5 in various forcing factors including climatic effects, changes in Age------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 sediment supply, local and regional tectonism, and fluctuations Middle Eocene Domengine Formation and Middle Eocene Kreyenhagen in global eustatic sea level. These stratigraphic packages occur Formation--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 within the context of second-order stratigraphic megasequences, Distribution and Stratigraphic Relations------------------------------------- 8 which mainly reflect long-term tectonic basin evolution. Despite Age--------------------------------------------------------------------------------9 Upper Eocene Tumey Formation------------------------------------------------- 9 more than a century of petroleum exploration in the San Joaquin Oligocene-Miocene Temblor Formation and Equivalent Strata---------------10 Basin, many uncertainties remain regarding the age, correlation, Temblor Formation of the Western San Joaquin Basin------------------- 10 and origin of the third- and higher-order sequences. Neverthe- Distribution------------------------------------------------------------------10 less, a sequence stratigraphic approach allows definition of key Age---------------------------------------------------------------------------10 intervals based on genetic affinity rather than purely lithostrati- Type-Section Stratigraphy------------------------------------------------12 Temblor Formation of the Northern Temblor Range and Southern graphic relationships, and thus is useful for reconstructing the Diablo Range-------------------------------------------------------------13 multiphase history of this basin, as well as understanding its Oligocene-Miocene Stratigraphic Sequences of the Southeastern petroleum systems. San Joaquin Basin-----------------------------------------------------------14 Summary--------------------------------------------------------------------------------14 Acknowledgments---------------------------------------------------------------------15 References Cited-----------------------------------------------------------------------15 Introduction A growing recognition over the past quarter century that Abstract the distribution of petroleum source and reservoir rocks is best understood in a sequence-stratigraphic context motivated An integrated database of outcrop studies, borehole logs, analysis of San Joaquin Basin fill as an underpinning element and seismic-reflection profiles is used to divide Eocene through of a regional San Joaquin Basin petroleum-resource assess- ment conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Accordingly, we present a sequence-stratigraphic framework 1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, 135 South for the San Joaquin Basin in which Eocene through Miocene 1460 East (WBB 609), Salt Lake City, UT 84103. 2 third- and fourth-order (<3 m.y.) sequences, the focus of this Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford Uni- versity, Building 320, Stanford, CA 94305. paper, are set against a backdrop of long-term, second-order 1 2 Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California (approximately 3 to 50 m.y.) stratigraphic megasequences. Coalinga (~ Range 15 East through Range 26 East, Township These short-term, higher-frequency, middle Tertiary sequences 18 South through Township 29 South; fig. 6.1). Data used in this form many of the intervals for petroleum assessment that are study include more than 500 line-miles (> 800 km) of publicly the main emphasis of the regional project. In addition to helping released and proprietary two-dimensional seismic-reflection data, define large-scale stratigraphic architecture of the San Joaquin and standard well-log suites (mainly spontaneous-potential and Basin, this sequence-stratigraphic framework integrates outcrop resistivity curves) from more than 200 exploration and production relations with subsurface mapping controlled by seismic and boreholes. These data are integrated with literature summarizing borehole data and thus provides control points for geochemical outcrop and subsurface relations, including more than 20 unpub- and stratigraphic basin modeling reported in other chapters in lished or partially published M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations this volume. produced as part of the San Joaquin Basin Consortium at Stanford University during 1981-1999. Database The area analyzed in this paper includes the east-west width Methods of the San Joaquin Basin from the San Andreas Fault to the Sierra Stratigraphic fill in marine basins records changes in ac- Nevada and extends from the Bakersfield Arch to just north of commodation space and sediment supply, which are controlled Outcrop geology, westside San Joaquin Basin Oil and gas fields, southern San Joaquin Basin Diablo Panoche Hills Diablo Range Range (R.) Range Panoche Lodo Gulch Vallecitos R.14E R.16E R.18E R.20E R.22E R.24E Valley syncline "Cretaceous and Basement Rocks" T.16S Tumey Gulch outcrop outline of Callaway (1990) Tumey Hills Vallecitos Syncline T.18S Sierra E. Coalinga Nevada B C' T.20S D' Guijarral Hills Oil City Coalinga Township (T.) Kettleman Reef North Dome Tulare T.22S Temblor RangeRidge San Andreas Fault Lake Harvester Coalinga San Joaquin Valley Kettleman Middle Dome Trico Devil's T.24S A Den A' Kettleman North Dome Reef Ridge C Jasmin B' Temblor T.26S Range Beer Lost Semitropic Big Tar Canyon Nose Hills Kern Pyramid Hills Kettleman Middle Dome Antelope Hills / River Belridge T.28S h rc Kettleman South Dome D a ld Bakersfield fie Cymric rs N ke 0 5 10 20 miles Devil's Den Ba T. 30S King Belgian 0 5 10 20 kilometers Canyon Antelope anticline Elk Hills miles Cedar Valley Antelope Hills / San Andreas Fault 0 10 20 30 40 Canyon N. Belridge oil field Packwood 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Outcrop Geology Key Creek kilometers Media Agua Creek N Stone Corral Chico Martinez Creek Faults (dashed where inferred) Canyon 2D seismic grid Temblor Creek (digital only) Carneros Pliocene and Younger Strata Creek Oil field Oligocene Miocene Strata Zemorra Creek Gas field Eocene Strata Cross sections (electric log and A A' outcrop correlation). Figs. 6.2 (A-A'), Paleocene Strata 6.3 (B-B'), 6.6 (C-C'), and 6.5 (D-D'). Upper Cretaceous Marine Strata Cretaceous and Older, Undifferentiated (includes basement rocks and Franciscan Complex) Figure 6.1 Fig. 6.1. Location map of study area, showing (right side) oil and gas fields of the southern San Joaquin Basin, part of the grid of two-dimensional seismic data used in this study (figure shows only those surveys available in digital format), and cross section lines for well correlations presented in figures 6.2, 6.3, and 6.6. Not shown are more than 200 key well locations for other boreholes used in this study. Left-side shows Upper Cretaceous through Miocene outcrop geology of the western San Joaquin Basin. Geologic relations are simplified from California Division of Mines and Geology Middle Tertiary Stratigraphic Sequences of the San Joaquin Basin, California 3 by a complex interplay of factors including global eustatic reflects long-term tectonic controls on basin evolution (table sea-level changes, local tectonic subsidence and uplift, and 6.1) Graham, 1987; Johnson and Graham, 2004); these mega- climate change (Emery and Myers, 1996; Posamentier and sequences provide a context for the third-order sequences usu- Allen, 1999; Coe, 2003). Isolating the signatures and relative ally emphasized in petroleum-related studies. However, in this importance of each of these individual factors is both chal- paper, we focus not on the megasequences, but on the third-or- lenging and controversial. The San Joaquin Basin records a der and fourth-order sequences of the Eocene through middle long history (> 100 m.y.) of marine and marginal-marine de- Miocene stratigraphic section that are principal concerns of position,