Woodford Shale Enclosed Min-Basin Fill on the Hunton Paleo Shelf
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE WOODFORD SHALE ENCLOSED MINI-BASIN FILL ON THE HUNTON PALEO SHELF. A DEPOSITIONAL MODEL FOR UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCE SHALES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By EMILIO J. TORRES-PARADA Norman, Oklahoma 2020 WOODFORD SHALE ENCLOSED MINI-BASIN FILL ON THE HUNTON PALEO SHELF. A DEPOSITIONAL MODEL FOR UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCE SHALES A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES BY THE COMMITTEE CONSISTING OF Dr. Kurt J. Marfurt, Chair Dr. Roger M. Slatt, Co-chair Dr. Deepak Devegowda Dr. Michael Engel Dr. R. Paul Philp © Copyright by EMILIO TORRES-PARADA 2020. All Rights Reserved. To Heydi, Simón, Antonia, Lorenzo and all my family With them on my side, everything is possible! In memoriam of Jose M. Torres-Mantilla (1954-2012), my beloved Dad In memoriam of Dr. Roger Slatt. It’s been an awesome ride! “at any rate!...” “Con Dios todo y sin el nada” iv Acknowledgments I want to express my highest gratitude to many different people who supported and encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams. I have really enjoyed my years as a sooner. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Roger M. Slatt, who very generously accepted to be my advisor. I am very grateful for his guidance, mentoring, friendship and support throughout many years. He has always believed in me and been a constant support to all my research projects. He has kindly advised and helped my family and myself for coming to OU during the past ten years and also nicely accepted to be leading my faculty committee and supported “Emilio’s ideas.” He is more than a friend and mentor. I will continue your legacy. To Dr. Kurt Marfurt, “El Cacique!”. Many thanks for all your help and constant support. For influencing and encouraging me the passion of the quantitative seismic analyses. Many thanks for your reviews, suggestions, talks and co-authoring my work. To Dr. R. Paul Philp, for serving on my committee, for your kind and constant support. Many thanks for guiding me all these years in my petroleum geochemistry learning curve. I highly appreciate the time and dedication of co-authoring my technical products and review of this manuscript. I wish to extend my gratitude to Dr. Michael Engel and R. Deepak Devegowda for serving as committee members and helping me in reviewing my technical products and guiding my research. v My most profound appreciation to 89 Energy, it has been a great ride! To John-Mark Beaver, Kyle Shipley, Farsheed Rock, Darien Whitehurst, Ryan Rickett, Brian Collins, Lexy Sikes, James Head, Kurt Hibbard, Jacob Hendrickson, Adam Chapman, Andrew Haraway, Kevin Manning, Kim McAuliffe, and Megan Honeycutt. I have learned and accomplished a lot that without your kind support, it couldn’t be possible. I miss the MEP challenges and the “the thirsty kids.” Special thanks to the American Association of Petroleum Geologist AAPG grants-in-aid program (GIA), to The Society of Exploration Geophysicists SEG scholarship foundation and to the OU Colombian Student Association COLSA COUAA foundation. To all of them for honoring me as an active member and as a recipient of scholarship awards, which provided me financial support to conduct and conclude my doctoral studies. My special gratitude to the OU Institute of Reservoir Characterization (IRC) staff and students, for their financial and technical support. Also, I would like to thank IRC current and former members and sponsors for all the technical discussions and recommendations during my doctoral research experience and field trips that I was able to lead. Special thanks to Henry Galvis- Portilla and Daniela Becerra-Rondon for their friendship, technical data sets and support. My thankfulness to the people from the OU Organic Geochemistry Laboratories, in particular to Mr. Jon Allen for his helpful technical support; to Dr. Xiaolei Liu, Dr. Tomaz Kurder, Dr. Than Nguyen, Carl Symcox, Cecilia Lopez-Gamundi, Lydia Jones, Gregory T. Connock, Britney Tamborello, Larry Hayde and Tara Putri for their assistance; special thanks to Dr. Andreina Liborius-Parada for her time, advice and recommendations. vi My special appreciation to the OU AASPI consortium director, staff, students, and sponsors. It has been an enjoyable experience to learn geophysics with them. Special thanks to Humble Geological Services for the Rock-Eval pyrolysis analyses and to Schlumberger and CGG for their software academic licenses and support. I want to acknowledge the entire directors, faculty, and staff members of the OU Mewbourne college of earth and energy (MCEE) and Mewbourne school of geosciences. For honoring me with student award recognitions, scholarships, helping me to continually grow as a professional and contributing to achieving my doctoral degree. I also would like to show my special appreciation to Mrs. Rebeca Fay, Mrs. Nancy Leonard, and Mrs. Yoana Walschap. Many thanks to all my friends from the University, COLSA, and outside OU, who have accompanied me during this journey. For their joy, help, and support to the “Emilio’s team”: Saurabh Sinha, Dr. Lennon Infante-Paez, Dr. Jing Zhang, David Duarte, David Prado, Dr. Rafael Pires Da Lima, Dr. Benmadi Milad, Dr. Sayantan Ghosh, Carolina Mayorga, Dr. Antonio Cervantes, Alexandro Vera, Gustavo Leon, Maria Cofano, Andres Hernan Ruiz, Thang Ha, Dr. Fuge Zhou, Jean Amorocho, Hernando Delgado, Marco Vignali, Juan Ramon Torres, Jose Moreno, Michael Mendez, Sergio Mendez, Dr. Carlos Molinares, Luis Castillo, Dr. Richard Brito, Dr. Gabriel Machado, and Dr. Andreina Liborius-Parada. In memoriam of Mr. Jerry Wilson. My most special thanks extended to my mom Ana Mercedes, brother Jose Manuel Jr., sister Laura, nephews Sebastian, and Camilo. To my family-in-law Rodrigo, Gladys, Laura and Thomas. Both families are the dearest people in my life. Thank you for your love, patience, support, and for always trusting in me. In the loving memory of my father, Jose Manuel Torres- Mantilla, who always believed, advised and encouraged me. Viejito, I am still missing you a lot! vii Last but never least, a special dedication to my lovely, energetic, caring and wonderful wife, Heydi Rodriguez-Cardenas, for her priceless love and support. For believing that coming to OU has been the best journey of our lives. For co-authoring in my technical work and also and for always encouraging me through each step of the way. You are a fantastic person for giving me the best things I ever had, our kids Simon and Antonia. Heydi, “you are the real MVP!”. Simon and Antonia, when you read this, I hope you feel proud of your dad. This journey has always been planning about the best for you guys. This journey is made with lots of love for you, my beloved kids. Also, a special dedication to our puppy Lorenzo! Thanks, y’all very much!!! “Gracias, totales!!!” viii Table of contents Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... 5 Table of contents ............................................................................................................................. 9 List of figures ................................................................................................................................ 14 List of tables .................................................................................................................................. 30 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 31 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 33 Chapter I: The concept of enclosed mini-basin fill ......................................................................... 1 1.1. Geological definition of mini-basin fill ............................................................................ 6 1.2. Geological definition of a paralic depositional environment ........................................... 6 1.3. The enclosed mini-basin fill system ................................................................................. 7 1.4. Geological and geochemical characterization of unconventional systems .................... 11 1.4.1. Organic richness and type ....................................................................................... 11 1.4.2. Biomarker characterization that serves as indicators of anoxic and oxic depositional environmental conditions. ..................................................................................................... 12 1.5. The Woodford Shale in Oklahoma, USA....................................................................... 13 1.6. Geological framework of enclosed mini-basin fill in unconventional systems ............. 19 1.7. The scientific hypothesis of an enclosed mini-basin fill deposit within a marine shale 24 1.7.1. Minerals as indicators of anoxic and oxic depositional environmental conditions 25 1.8. Sustainability of project and main objectives ................................................................ 26 1.9. Petroleum industry relevance ......................................................................................... 28 1.10. Cited References ......................................................................................................... 29 Chapter II: 3D seismic identification of