SEPM Core Workshop No. 14 Miocene and Oligocene Petroleum Reservoirs of the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara-Ventura Basins, California Edited by: MargaretMargaret A.A. KellerKeller and Mary K. McGowen ISBN 978-1-56576-268-8, CD catalog 71014 Originally published in print as SEPM Core Workshop (CW) No. 14 ISBN 10-918985-84-6, catalog 70014 Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A., 1990 www.sepm.org Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Miocene and Oligocene Petroleum Reservoirs of the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara-Ventura Basins, California RELATIVE EUSTA TIC! SEA LEVEL TEC TONIC PLIOCENE A UPPER MONTEREY LOWER "=- = MONTEREY= MIOCENE - 'I\\ --\,-, \,--,\;--,\,---,\,---,\,--,,---,-,-/ji,,...._\,,--- ,--../,-,,-.. /,-/,-../,-.. ..--,-\, ......-,-,--,,,_/_\/.,,-,. .,.. --,,--\-\,-,_.,,_,,_,,,,..\,-,--,,,,.,..,,,i-,,,,. OLIGOCENE SEPM SEPM Core Workshop No 14 San Francisco, June 3, 1990 1926 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 COVER DIAGRAM: The left column is a schematic representation of Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene climate and basin development.The two right columns are schematic diagrams illustrating the interaction of tectonic and eustatic processes with resulting relative sea level and lithostratigraphic evolution in Western Santa Barbara County, California by K. Bohacs, Exxon Production Research Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 122° 20° 36°-o ONSHORE SANTA MARIA BASIN rs -6 GUADALUPE offshore SAN MIGUEL Santa Mana onshore SANTA MARIA VALLEY Santa Maria oo CASMALIA rs CAT CANYON OFFSHORE ORCUTT% Santa Barbara-Ventura SANTA MARIA \ 34° BASIN JESUS FOUR DEER ZACA MARIA 74144 INDEX MAP LOMPOC POINT BARHAM RANCH PEDERNALES LOS ALAMOS >,- BONITO o ROCK xkci,\c) o0-s 0 POI o ov 4r- cso\- O'). are. rosa rar .)V9 POINT ARGUELLO VP* A SACATEIZZ='UARTA AO A '\- 0...A.C".1;),9Y )Ik SWORD '73 SOUTH COAL 11 HONDO OIL GOVERNMENT ELWOOD POINT PESCADO POINT tel:2 PITAS POINT 00 SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL SANTA CLARA SANTA ROSA SOCKEYE o 20 Km HUENEME C:z) Index map of oil and gas fields in the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara- Ventura Basins. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Miocene and Oligocene Petroleum Reservoirs of the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara-Ventura Basins, California A Core Workshop Organized and Compiled by Margaret A. Keller and Mary K. McGowen SEPM Core Workshop No. 14 San Francisco, June 3, 1990 Copyright 1990 by SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 ISBN #0-918985-84-6 Additional copies of this publication may be ordered from SEPM. Send your order to: SEPM Post Office Box 4756 Tulsa, Oklahoma 74159-0756 U.S.A. 0 Copyright 1990 by SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Printed in the United States of America Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 PREFACE This volume presents papers that have been assembled for Core Workshop #14 of SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) on Miocene and Oligocene Petroleum Reservoirs of the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara - Ventura Basins, California. The main emphasis of the workshop is the Miocene Monterey Formation, the most important petroleum reservoir in both the Santa Maria Basins and a very important reservoir in the Santa Barbara- Ventura Basin,particularly in the offshore. In addition to the Monterey Formation, core studies are also presented on the post-Monterey Sisquoc Formation and on pre-Monterey reservoirs including the Sespe, Alegria, and Vaqueros Formations. We thank the many people from the United States Geological Survey, the oil industry, academia, and SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), who helped make this core workshop possible,especially ARCO,Chevron, Exxon,Shell, Texaco, and Unocal who donated either or both core and staff time. Margaret A. Keller Mary K. McGowen V Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Organizers and Editors Margaret A. Keller Mary K. McGowen U. S. Geological Survey ARCO Oil and Gas Authors Bonnie Bloeser University of Southern California Kevin Bohacs Exxon E.P.R. Mary Lou Cotton-Thornton Unocal John Dunham Unocal Nuel Henderson Unocal Nancy Hinman University of Montana Greg Miles Exxon, U.S.A. Peter Ramirez University of California Santa Cruz Phil Rarey Chevron U.S.A. Cathy Rigsby Long Beach State University Kumbe Sadler Chevron U.S.A. Dan Schwartz Shell Western E & P vi Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 122° 2b° ONSHORE SANTA MARIA BASIN 36 offshore Santa Maria 8 MUSSEL 5 SANTA MARIA VALLEY ROCK CASMALIA OFFSHORE 9ti4 Santa Barbara-Ventura SANTA MARIA 34 BASIN INDEX MAP o 496 #1 8 4 POINT PEDERNALES CAPITÁN 3 6 POINT ARGUELLO SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL SOCKEYE 1 20 Km czr:) Location map of cores and outcrop studies in this volume; numbers are keyed to the Table of Contents. vii Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO STRATIGRAPHY AND HYDROCARBON OCCURRENCE IN OLIGOCENE AND MIOCENE ROCKS OF THE SANTA BARBARA-VENTURA AND SANTA MARIA BASINS OF CALIFORNIA by M. A. Keller 1 SEDIMENTOLOGICAL AND RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE UPPER SESPE FORMATION AT SOCKEYE FIELD, OFFSHORE CALIFORNIA by P. J. Rarey 12 LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY AND DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS OF THE VAQUEROS AND UPPER SESPE/ALEGRIA FORMATIONS, HONDO FIELD, SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL, CALIFORNIA by G. A. Miles and C. A. Rigsby 39 LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY AND DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS OF THE VAQUEROS FORMATION, CAPITAN FIELD, CALIFORNIA by C. A. Rigsby and D. A. Schwartz 88 SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE MONTEREY FORMATION, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: INTEGRATION OF PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND BIOFACIES DATA FROM OUTCROP AND SUBSURFACE by K. M. Bohacs 139 LITHOLOGY OF THE MONTEREY FORMATION IN THE WESTERN SANTA MARIA VALLEY FIELD, SANTA MARIA BASIN, CALIFORNIA by J. B. Dunham and M. L. Cotton-Thornton 202 THE RELATIONSHIP OF LITHOLOGY AND TECTONICS TO FRACTURING IN THE MONTEREY FORMATION, POINT ARGUELLO FIELD, OFFSHORE CALIFORNIA by R. K. Sadler. 245 7 LITHOLOGIC AND DIAGENEITC SEQUENCES OF THE MONTEREY FORMATION, MOLINO FIELD, OFFSHORE SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA by N. W. Hinman and D. E. Schwartz 271 viii Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 DEPOSITIONAL RHYTHMICITY IN THE MONTEREY FORMATION -- THE NATURE AND TIMING OF CYCLIC PATTERNS by B. Bloeser 337 CONTROL EXERTED BY LITHOLOGIC VARIATIONS AND PEBBLY UNITS ON PETROLEUM OCCURRENCES IN THE PLIOCENE UPPER SISQUOC FORMATION, CASMALIA HILLS, SANTA MARIA BASIN, CALIFORNIA by N. C. Henderson, Jr. and P. C. Ramirez 339 ix Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 (t C -H cl) it ..Q ro -H ,I1 X It ,., C (15 (I) "O C ni cc) S-1 -0 W > 1 ro ro -Q Q ro crl ro _,_) ro (f) O O -H .0 it o O ,-1 tT) -H O .. cn ro -H O 4-I -H --I orti S-i .0 CO 4-, 0. a) H (f)--- 4-1 ti) '-1 o(U o., roo 4-' a) 75Q tr -Hft .a ,a, E ), f-r1 4-4 c4 a) co F-I rci L.,oa Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3801372/9781565762688_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 INTRODUCTION TO STRATIGRAPHY AND HYDROCARBON OCCURRENCE IN OLIGOCENE AND MIOCENE ROCKS OF THE SANTA BARBARA-VENTURA AND SANTA MARIA BASINS OF CALIFORNIA Margaret A. Keller U.S. Geological Survey 345 Middlefield Road M.S. 999 Menlo Park, California 94025 ABSTRACT TheSanta Barbara-Ventura and Santa Maria basinsof southern California have been of great interest to the oil industry because oil or gas has been produced from nearly all the sedimentary units ranging in age from the Cretaceous to the Pleistocene. In particular, the Neogene section of these basins is oil-rich, containing eight giant oil fields (greater than 100 million barrels) in the onshore and at least five in the offshore. In the Santa Barbara-Ventura basin the sedimentary sequence includes marine beds ranging in age from Cretaceous to Pleistocene and two nonmarine sequences of Eocene-Oligocene and Pleistocene ages. The main reservoir for hydrocarbons in this basin is the thick deep-sea sand sequence of the Pliocene and Pleistocene Pico Formation. The other important production in this basin is from reservoirs in the Miocene and,to a lesser extent, the Oligocene sequences. These reservoirs, including the nonmarineSespeFormation andthe marine Alegria, Vaqueros, Monterey, and Sisquoc Formations,are the emphasis of this core workshop. In the Santa Maria basins to the north and northwest of the Santa Barbara-Ventura basin, the Paleogene sequence is absent for the most part, and the upper Neogene sequence does not include the thick Pliocene and Pleistocene Pico Formation. In both the onshore and offshore Santa Maria basins the fractured rocks of the deep-marine Miocene Monterey Formation are the main reservoir for hydrocarbons. Another important reservoir is the upper Miocene and Pliocene marine Sisquoc Formation; both Monterey and Sisquoc cores from the Santa Maria basin are shown in this workshop. As in the Santa Barbara-Ventura basin, the pre-Monterey sedimentary sequence of the Santa Maria basins also contains minor petroleum accumulations. INTRODUCTION AND GEOLOGIC SETTING The Santa Maria and Santa Barbara-Ventura basins are located in southern California at the junction of the western Transverse Ranges and southern Coast Ranges geomorphic provinces (Figs.