Pre-San Andres Stratigraphy and Oil-Producing Zones in Southeastern New Mexico a PROGRESS REPORT
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NEW MEXICO BUREAU OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES A DEPARTMENT OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES E. C. ANDERSON Director BULLETIN 29 Pre-San Andres Stratigraphy and Oil-Producing Zones in Southeastern New Mexico A PROGRESS REPORT By E. RUSSELL LLOYD SOCORRO 1949 CONTENTSP Page The New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources ------------------------ 6 Board of Regents ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 Explanatory note ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Acknowledgments --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Principal structural features --------------------------------------------------------- 11 General 11 Pedernal Mountains -------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Matador uplift -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Eunice uplift ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Stratigraphy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 General outline 17 Permian system ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Classification 18 Guadalupe-Leonard contact ----------------------------------------------- 19 Guadalupe or Leonard series --------------------------------------------- 22 Glorieta sandstone ---------------------------------------------------- 22 Leonard series --------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Yeso formation --------------------------------------------------------- 23 Victorio Peak reef zone 27 Leonard and Wolfcamp ( ?) series ---------------------------------------- 28 Abo formation ---------------------------------------------------------- 28 Wolfcamp series ------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Hueco limestone 31 Bursum formation ---------------------------------------------------- 32 Hueco and Bursum formations in subsurface -------------------- 33 Pennsylvanian system ----------------------------------------------------------- 34 General features ------------------------------------------------------------ 34 Virgil series ------------------------------------------------------------------ 37 Missouri series 38 Des Moines series ----------------------------------------------------------- 39 Atoka series ----------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Mississippian system ------------------------------------------------------------ 40 General features 40 Chester series --------------------------------------------------------------- 42 Helms formation ------------------------------------------------------ 42 Meramec series -------------------------------------------------------------- 44 Rancheria formation -------------------------------------------------- 44 Osage series ----------------------------------------------------------------- 45 Lake Valley formation ------------------------------------------------- 45 Kinderhook series ----------------------------------------------------------- 45 Caballero formation -------------------------------------------------- 45 Devohian system ----------------------------------------------------------------- 46 General features 46 3 4 CONTENTS Page Upper Devonian 48 Woodford formation -------------------------------------------------- 48 Percha shale 48 Contadero and Sly Gap formations 49 Middle Devonian------------------------------------------------------------- 49 Oñate formation ------------------------------------------------------- 49 Canutillo formation --------------------------------------------------- 50 Lower Devonian ------------------------------------------------------------- 51 Silurian system ------------------------------------------------------------------- 52 Ordovician system --------------------------------------------------------------- 54 Upper Ordovician ----------------------------------------------------------- 54 Montoya formation ---------------------------------------------------- 54 Middle Ordovician ---------------------------------------------------------- 56 Simpson group -------------------------------------------------------- 56 Lower Ordovician 57 Ellenburger group and El Paso limestone ------------------------- 57 Cambrian system ---------------------------------------------------------------- 59 Geological history 59 Cambrian -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59 Ordovician 59 Silurian ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60 Devonian 61 Mississippian --------------------------------------------------------------------- 61 Pennsylvanian 62 Permian ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63 Oil and gas pools 64 General ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 64 Permian pools of the Leonard and Wolf camp series ------------------------ 67 Pennsylvanian pool 67 Mississippian pool --------------------------------------------------------------- 68 Devonian pool --------------------------------------------------------------------- 68 Silurian pools --------------------------------------------------------------------- 68 Ordovician pools ----------------------------------------------------------------- 69 Future possibilities for pre-San Andres production ------------------------------- 69 Selected bibliography ------------------------------------------------------------------ 73 Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 77 Publications of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources 81 PLATES Facing • Page 1. Pre-San Andres oil and gas map of southeastern New Mexico In pocket 2. Comparative sections of Permian formations: Surface sections -------------------------------------------------------- In pocket 3. Comparative sections of Yeso formation in selected wells In pocket 4. Comparative sections of Pennsylvanian system: Surface and subsurface ----------------------------------------------- In pocket 5. Outline cross section: Guadalupe County to eastern Lea County ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 6. Outline cross section: Chaves County to eastern Lea County 30 7. Outline cross section: Southwestern Chaves County to northern Lea County ----------------------------------------------------------- 32 8. Outline cross section; south to north: eastern Lea County 42 9. Outline cross section ; west to east: Eunice area 56 10. Composite stratigraphic section, Lea County --------------------------- 64 FIGURES Page 1. Index map ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 2. Pre-Cambrian elevations in southeastern New Mexico ----------------- 12 3. Correlation chart, Permian formations in New Mexico ----------------- 16 4. Pennsylvanian system in southeastern New Mexico ------------------- 36 5. Mississippian system in southeastern New Mexico -------------------- 43 6. Devonian and Silurian systems in southeastern New Mexico 47 7. Ordovician system in southeastern New Mexico ------------------------ 55 THE NEW MEXICO BUREAU OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES The New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, designated as "a department of the New Mexico School of Mines and under the direction of its Board of Regents," was established by the New Mexico Legislature of 1927. Its chief functions are to compile and distribute information regarding mineral industries in the State, through field studies and collections, laboratory and library research, and the publication of the results of such investigations. A full list of the publications of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources is given on the last pages of this Bulletin. BOARD OF REGENTS HIS EXCELLENCY, HONORABLE THOMAS J. MABRY, Governor of New Mexico, ex-officio ----------------------------------------------------------------- Santa Fe CHARLES L. ROSE, Superintendent of Public Instruction, ex-officio ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Santa Fe J. H. RUSSELL, President --------------------------------------------------------------------- Santa Fe T. M. CRAMER, Secretary and Treasurer ---------------------------------------------- Carlsbad T. E. DABNEY --------------------------------------------------------------------- Socorro COOPER SHAPLEY -------------------------------------------------------------- Deming G. T. HARLEY ------------------------------------------------------------------ Carlsbad EXPLANATORY NOTE By E. C. ANDERSON The four years since the release of Bulletin No. 23, a preliminary report compiled by Robert E. King, have seen much work done and great progress made in the search for oil at depth in southeastern New Mexico. Many wells have been drilled, many producers have been brought in, and several new fields developed. Much new information on the stratigraphy and producing zones of the pre-San Andres formations has been accumulated. The Bureau deemed it desirable that a new report be compiled and published that would include all the information, new and old, available as of July 1, 1949—that a "Progress Report" be made to replace Mr. King's "Preliminary Report". To do the job properly it was essential that a person familiar with what has been done in the area be persuaded to undertake the work. It was not only essential that