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GEOLOGICREPORT FORTHE CHUKCHI SEA PLANNING AREA, ALASKA Regional Geology, Petroleum Geology, Andenvironmental Geology

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GEOLOGICREPORT FORTHE CHUKCHI SEA PLANNING AREA, ALASKA Regional Geology, Petroleum Geology, Andenvironmental Geology OCS REPORT MMS 87-0046 GEOLOGICREPORT FORTHE CHUKCHI SEA PLANNING AREA, ALASKA Regional Geology, Petroleum Geology, andEnvironmental Geology by DENNIS K. THURSTON LESLIE A. THEISS March 1987 United States Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Alaska OCS Region Anchorage, Alaska Edited by Kirk W. Sherwood Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of these products by the Minerals Management Service. Available from Library, U.S. Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, 949 E. 36th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska, 99508,telephone (907) 261-4000, and from the NationalTechnical InformationService, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia, 22161. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wishto thank their technical editor KirkW. Sherwood for his diligent work and many helpful suggestions, and technical reviewers JamesCraig, David Steffy, Bruce Herman, David Risley, and Harshadray Pate1 for their assistance in creating the final report. The technical and clerical staff are appreciated for not only doing their job but for doing their job well. We are grateful to Geophysical Service Incorporated and Western Geophysical Company for generously allowingus to publish selected seismic profiles from their surveys. CONTENTS Abstract ................... 1 Introduction................. 5 PART 1: REGIONAL GEOLOGY 1 Regional Structural and Tectonic Frameworkof the North Slope .......................... 11 2 Stratigraphy and Stratigraphic Trends of the North Slope. 16 FranklinianSequence ................. 16 EllesmerianSequence ................. 20 Lower Ellesmerian Sequence ............ 20 EndicottGroup ............... 21 Group Lisburne ............... 22 SequenceEllesmerian Upper ............ 23 Brookian Sequence ................... 26 Sequence Brookian Lower ............. 26 Sequence Brookian Upper ............. 29 3 Seismic Stratigraphy of the Chukchi Sea Planning Area. 30 AcousticBasement .................. 33 EllesmerianSequence ................. 35 Lower Ellesmerian Sequence ............ 41 Control ................... 41 Bounding Surfaces .............. 41 Eastern Margin ............. 41 Central Area .............. 42 Western Margin ............. 42 Thickness and Distribution ......... 42 AcousticCharacter ............. 43 Margin Eastern ............. 43 CentralAreaandWestern Margin .... 46 Provenance and Depositional Setting ..... 46 Upper Ellesmerian Sequence............ 49 Control ................... 49 Bounding Surfaces .............. 49 Thickness and Distribution ......... 51 AcousticCharacter ............. 52 ProvenanceDepositionaland Setting ..... 52 55 Sequence Brookian ................ Lower Brookian Sequence ........... 55 Control ................ 55 BoundingSurfaces ........... 55 Thickness and Distribution....... 56 Acoustic Character ........... 58 Provenance and Depositional Setting . 58 Upper Brookian Sequence........... 60 Control ................ 60 BoundingSurfaces ........... 60 Thickness and Distribution....... 61 Acoustic Character ........... 61 Provenance and Depositional Setting . 63 Hope Basin Sequence ............. 63 Control ................ 63 BoundingSurfaces ........... 64 DistributionThicknessand ....... 64 Character Acoustic ........... 64 Provenance and Depositional Setting . 65 4 Structural Provinces of the Chukchi Sea Planning Area . 66 HeraldArch .................... 67 Chukchi Platform ................. 71 Central Chukchi Basin............... 74 Colville Basin................ 75 Northcentral Subbasin ............ 75 North Chukchi Basin................ 76 North Chukchi High ................ 76 Wainwright Fault Zone............... 79 Northeast Chukchi Fault Zone........... 60 Hanna Wrench-Fault Zone .............. 81 5 Summary of the Geologic History ............. 86 PART 2: PETROLEUM GEOLOGY 6 Exploration History ................... 91 7 Source Rocks and Inferred Maturation History ...... 93 Acoustic(Economic)Basement ............. 93 EndicottGroup .................... 95 LisburneGroup .................... 95 Sadlerochit Group ................... 96 Shublik Formation ................... 96 Sag River Formation .................. 98 vi KingakFormation ................... 98 Pebbleshale ..................... 98 Torok Formation.................... 101 Nanushuk Group .................... 101 Colville Group .................... 102 8 Geothermal Gradients of Western NPRA and the Chukchi Shelf............... 103 9 Oilwindow ....................... 107 10 Potential Reservoir Rocks. .............. 111 Endicott Group ...... .............. 111 Lisburne Group ...... .............. 112 Ivishak Sandstone.... .............. 113 Sag River Sandstone.................. 114 Pebble Shale Sandstones. .............. 115 Lower Brookian Sandstones. .............. 116 Upper Brookian Sandstones. .............. 117 11 Hydrocarbon Play Concepts and Traps........... 118 Northern Hope Basin.................. 118 Herald Arch and Herald Thrust Zone.......... 118 Chukchi Platform ................... 118 Central Chukchi Province ............... 123 Colville Basin and Fold and Thrust Belt..... 123 Central Chukchi Basin .............. 123 Northeast Chukchi Fault Zone........... 125 Wainwright Fault Zone .............. 125 125 Subbasin Northcentral .............. Basin Chukchi North .................. 127 Northeast Chukchi Plateau............... 129 North Chukchi High .................. 131 Hanna Wrench-Fault Zone................ 133 12 Summary of the Petroleum Geology ............ 131 PART 3: QUATERNARY GEOLOGYAND GEOLOGIC HAZARDS 13 Bathymetry ....................... 141 14 Coastal Physiography .................. 143 143 Foothills Southern .................. Foothills Northern .................. 143 Foothills Silt Surfaceof the CoastalPlain 143 ...... BarrowPoint145 Coastalof WestPlain .......... Primary Coasts .................... 145 Land Erosion................... 145 River Dominated ................. 145 vii Secondary Coasts ................... 145 Wave Erosion................... 145 Marine Deposition ................ 146 15 Seafloor Geology ................. 147 Bedrock Subcrops ................ 147 Quaternary Sediments .............. 147 Surficial Sediments............... 147 16 Migrating Bedforms ... 151 17 Ice Gouging 161 18 ShallowGas....................... 168 19 Seismicity and Recent Faulting.... 173 20 Subsea Permafrost 175 21 Summary of Potential Geologic Hazards.......... 176 Conclusions............. 178 References 183 Figures Figure 1 Chukchi Sea Planning Area............... 6 2 Regional North Slope Structural Trends........ 12 3 Generalized Regional Geological History........ 13 4 Location Map forNPU Wells .............. 17 5 Regional NPRA Stratigraphic Column.......... 19 6 Lower Cretaceous Corwin Delta............. 28 7 WGC Seismic Coverage Map ............... 31 8 GSI Seismic Coverage Map ............... 32 9 Regional Time-Depth Curves .............. 34 10 Structural Provinces and Sedimentary Basins...... 36 11 Seismic-Stratigraphic Correlation Column ....... 37 12 Structure Map of Acoustic Basement. Chukchi Platform ................... 38 13 Structure Map of Acoustic Basement. Hope Basin.... 39 14 Graben Along the Margin of the Northeast Chukchi Fault Zone.................. 45 15 Seismic Profile over western Central Chukchi Basin..................... 47 16 Lower Ellesmerian Depositional Patterns........ 48 viii Figure 17 Structure Map of the Lower Cretaceous Unconformity . , . , . 50 18 Upper Ellesmerian Depositional Patterns. , . 53 19 Structure Map of the Mid-Brookian Unconformity . 57 20 Lower Brookian Depositional Patterns . 59 21 Upper Brookian Depositional Patterns . 62 22 Early Cretaceous to Tertiary Structural Features . 68 23 Paleozoic Structural Elements. , . 69 24 Continental Margin Northof Alaska and Major Physiographic Features of the Arctic Ocean . 70 25 Seismic Recordof Tilted Graben and Piercement Diapir. , . 72 26 Seismic Record of "Pillow" Structure . , . 73 27 Seismic Record of "Positive Flower Structure". , , . 84 28 Plot of Extractable C15+ Hydrocarbon Content (HC) vs. Organic Carbon Content (OC) . 94 29 Present-Day Location of Oil Window for Shublik Formation ....................... 97 30 Present-Day Location of Oil Window for Kingak Formation....................... 99 31 Present-Day Location of Oil Window for Pebble Shale. , . , . 100 32 Geothermal Gradient Map -- NPRA . 104 33 Thermal Gradient Plot -- Western NPRA Wells . 105 34 Oil Window -- Western NPRA Wells (basedon R, values) . , . , . 108 35 Plot of Ro vs Depth -- Western NPRA Wells . 109 36 Play Concepts andPotential Trap Configurations in Brookian Strata inthe Herald Thrust Zone and in Tertiary Strata in Northern Hope Basin . 119 37 Play concepts and Potential Trap Configurationsin Ellesmerian and Brookian Stratain the Chukchi Platform . , . , . , . 121 38 Play Concepts and Potential TrapConfigurations in Ellesmerian and Brookian Stratain the Chukchi Platform . , . 122 39 Play Concepts and Potential Trap Configurations in Brookian Strata in the Central ChukchiProvince. 124 40 Play Concepts and Potential Trap configurations in Ellesmerian Strata in the Northeast Chukchi and Wainwright fault zones . , , . 126 41 Play Concepts and Trap Configurations in Brookian Strata in the North Chukchi Basin. 128 42 Play Concepts and Potential Trap Configurations in Ellesmerian and Brookian Strata in the Northeast Chukchi Basin. 130 43 Play Concepts and Trap Configurations in Ellesmerian and Brookian Strata in the North ChukchiHigh. 132 44 Play Concepts and Potential Trap Configurations in
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