Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 8-2016 Pore Characterizations and Distributions within Niagaran – Lower Salina Reef Complex Reservoirs in the Silurian Northern Niagaran Pinnacle Reef Trend, Michigan Basin Agam Arief Suhaimi Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Geology Commons, and the Sedimentology Commons Recommended Citation Suhaimi, Agam Arief, "Pore Characterizations and Distributions within Niagaran – Lower Salina Reef Complex Reservoirs in the Silurian Northern Niagaran Pinnacle Reef Trend, Michigan Basin" (2016). Master's Theses. 710. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/710 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PORE CHARACTERIZATIONS AND DISTRIBUTIONS WITHIN NIAGARAN – LOWER SALINA REEF COMPLEX RESERVOIRS IN THE SILURIAN NORTHERN NIAGARAN PINNACLE REEF TREND, MICHIGAN BASIN by Agam Arief Suhaimi A thesis submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Department of Geosciences Western Michigan University August 2016 Thesis Committee Members: Dr. David A. Barnes, Chair Dr. William B. Harrison III Dr. Peter J. Voice PORE CHARACTERIZATIONS AND DISTRIBUTIONS WITHIN NIAGARAN – LOWER SALINA REEF COMPLEX RESERVOIRS IN THE SILURIAN NORTHERN NIAGARAN PINNACLE REEF TREND, MICHIGAN BASIN Agam Arief Suhaimi, M.S. Western Michigan University, 2016 The Northern Niagaran Pinnacle Reef Trend (NNPRT) has generated significant oil and gas production in Michigan. The best reservoir rock in the Reef Trend reservoirs are from porous and permeable dolomite of the Guelph Dolomite. Low-to-non reservoir limestone occurs interstratified with reservoir dolomite in many locations. This study utilizes available cores data, thin section Petrographic Image Analysis (PIA), Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP) and a newly developed Niagaran Reef depositional model (Rine, 2015) to characterize the distribution of pore geometry within each dolomitized Niagaran Reef Complex (Brown Niagaran – Lower Salina Group) reservoir facies and lithofacies. This study shows that three distinct pore types are present in dolomitized Niagaran Reef Complex Reservoirs: interparticle (intercrystalline), separate vugs and touching vugs. Intercrystalline porosity is the most predictable pore type in dolomitized reef reservoirs where a high correlation in porosity and permeability occurs. Both separate vugs and touching vugs pore types possess a low correlation between porosity and permeability. A new method to describe the uniformity of pore geometry using Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) allows for more reliable characterization of petrophysical properties and permeability prediction from well log-derived porosity. Copyright by Agam Arief Suhaimi 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, all praises to almighty Allah SWT, the most beneficent and the most merciful, for the blessing, kindness and inspiration in accomplishing my thesis study. Peace and blessing of Allah SWT be upon Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) and his family and companions. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my thesis advisor, Dr. David A. Barnes, for his help and guidance, constant support, funding and worldly knowledge about Reservoir Geology throughout the process of this study. I would also like to express my special gratitude to my thesis committee members, Dr. William B. Harrison III, for his guidance and unlimited knowledge about Michigan Geology, as well as Dr. Peter J. Voice, for his guidance and his attention to detail in carbonate world. I would like to thank to Kathryn Wright, Linda Harrison and Jennifer Trout and the rest of MGRRE staff for their help in providing the cores and data for this study and to Battelle for their funding of this study and Ohio State University for their facility. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to my father, my mother, my grandmother and my two siblings for their strong support and understanding, and to my friends who have been very supportive throughout my study and for their help, Jonathan Garrett, Matthew Rine, Cameron Manche, Zaid Nadhim, Bryan Currie, Anthony Boxleiter, Nanda Ayu Wijayanti, Anil Arakkal, Joanna Russo, Nerine Liauw and Alejandro Carassco. Agam Arief Suhaimi ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... x LIST OF PLATES ......................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION …………...……………………………………………… 1 Research Objectives …...………………………………………………. 3 Research Questions …...……………………………………………….. 5 Previous Studies ……..………………………………………………… 6 Porosity, Permeability and Their Complexity in Carbonate Rock ……... 9 Characteristics of Carbonate Pore Types ………...…….………………. 11 Dolomite vs. Limestone in Niagaran Pinnacle Reef Reservoir …….….. 14 II. REGIONAL GEOLOGY …………………………………………………….. 16 Carbonate Reef Characteristics ………………………..……………….. 19 Silurian Niagaran Reef Facies …………….…………………………… 20 iii Table of Contents – Continued III. METHODOLOGY...…………….…………………………………………… 24 Core Description …………..…………………………………………… 24 Thin Section …………..………………………………………………... 26 Petrographic Image Analysis (PIA)…………………..………………… 28 Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP) ……..…………………... 31 Wireline Logs ………………..…………………………………………. 33 Pore Types and Pore Sizes Measurement………..……………………... 34 Dominant Pore Size………………………..…………………………… 39 Statistics and Pore Size and Pore-Throat Size Distribution ……………. 40 IV. RESULTS ……………………………………….……………………………. 42 Brown Niagaran (Guelph Dolomite)……………………………………. 42 Bioherm……………………………………………………….. 42 Reef Core ………………………………..…………………… 53 Reef Apron ……………………………..…………………….. 63 Reef-Rubble Conglomerate………………..…………………. 74 iv Table of Contents – Continued Supratidal Island Stages …………………..………………….. 82 Lower Salina Group ………………………………..…………………... 90 A-0 Carbonate ……………………………………………….. 90 A-1 Evaporite ……………………….……………………….. 92 A-1 Carbonate ……………………..…………………………. 93 V. DISCUSSIONS ………………………………………………………………. 106 Crystal Size, Pore Type and Pore Geometry Relationships in The Reef Reservoir Facies Assemblages……….……………………………. 110 Porosity Classifications in The Reef Reservoir…………………….…… 127 Relationship of Pore Size and Pore-Throat Size to Permeability..………………………………..……………………….. 132 Integrated Porosity vs. Permeability Transforms ………….…………… 135 VI. CONCLUSIONS……………………….…………………………………….. 143 v Table of Contents – Continued BIBLIOGRAPHY ….……………………………..………………………………….. 148 APPENDICES …………………………………..…………………………………… 154 A. PIA Data for All Samples ………………………………………..…………….. 154 B. Additional Thin Sections and Pore Size Distribution Charts …………….……. 160 C. PIA Data for Interparticle, Separate vug and Touching vug Dominated Samples ……………………………………………….…………… 175 vi LIST OF TABLES 1A. Range of crystal size and the average of crystal size of the Bioherm facies …………………………………………………………….…. 49 1B. PIA results of the Bioherm facies representative samples …………………… 49 1C. MICP result of the Bioherm facies…………………………………………… 49 2A. Range of crystal size and the average of crystal size of the Reef Core facies ……………………………………………………………… 59 2B. PIA results of the Reef Core facies representative samples………………….. 59 2C. MICP result of the Reef Core facies …………………………………………. 59 3A. Range of crystal size and the average of crystal size of the Reef Apron facies ……………………………………………………………. 70 3B. PIA results of the Reef Apron facies representative samples………………… 70 3C. MICP result of the Reef Apron facies ……………………………………….. 70 4A. Range of crystal size and the average of crystal size of the Reef – Rubble Conglomerate facies …………………………………………. 78 4B. PIA results of the Reef – Rubble Conglomerate facies representative samples ………………………………………………… 78 4C. MICP result of the Reef – Rubble Conglomerate facies……………………… 78 5A. Range of crystal size and the average of crystal size of the Supratidal Island Stage facies………………………………………………… 86 5B. PIA results of the Supratidal Island Stage facies representative samples………………………………………………………… 86 vii List of Tables – Continued 5C. MICP result of the Supratidal Island Stage facies…………………………….. 86 6A. Range of crystal size and the average of crystal size of the A-0 Carbonate facies ……………………………..………………………….. 100 6B. PIA results of the A-0 Carbonate facies representative sample …..…………. 100 6C. MICP result of the A-0 Carbonate facies …………………………………… 100 7A. Range of crystal size and the average of crystal size of the A-1 Carbonate facies ……………………………………………………….. 101 7B. PIA results of the A-1 Carbonate facies representative sample ……………. 101 7C. MICP result of the A-1 Carbonate facies …………………………………… 101 8. A summary of MICP results from each depositional facies assemblages ………………………..………………………………….. 107 9. A summary of PIA results and average core analysis porosity and permeability from each lithofacies …………………………….. 108 10. Assigned Class Transform based on lithofacies……………………………… 142 viii LIST OF FIGURES 1. Map