AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSE NOTE SERIES #40 Field Guide For AAPG Hedberg Field Research Conference - April 15-20,1999 Deep-Water Sandstones, Brushy Canyon Formation, West Texas R.T. Beaubouef, C. Rossen, F.B. Zelt, M.D. Sullivan, D.C. Mohrig, G D.C. Jennette Exxon Production Research Co. with significant contributions from J.A. Bellian, S.J. Friedman, R.W. Lovell, D.S. Shannon and the rest of the EPRCo. Deep-Water Reservoirs Group Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3816100/9781629810157_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 Published by the Education Department of The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Copyright O 1999 by Field Guide For The American Association of Petroleum Geologists All Rights Reserved AAPG Hedberg Field Research Conference: Printed in the U.S.A. DEEP-WATER SANDSTONES, BRUSHY CANYON FORMATION, ISBN: 0-89181-189-3 WEST TEXAS AAPG grants permission for a single photocopy of an item from this publication for personal use. Authorization for additional copies of items from this publication for personal or internal use is granted by AAPG provided that the base fee of $3.50 per copy and $.50 per page is paid directly to the Copyright April 15-20, 1999 Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, Massachusetts, 01923 (Phone: (978) 750-8400). Fees are subject to change. Any form of electronic or digital scanning or other digital transformation of por- tions of this publication into computer-readable and/or transmittable form for personal or corporate use requires special permission from, and is subject to fee charges by, the AAPG. Cover: Panoramic photograph of the western escarpment of the Guadalupe Mountains showing the northern 10 krn of the Brushy Canyon outcrop belt at the northwest margin of the Delaware Basin. The R.T. Beaubouef, C. Rossen, F.B. Zelt, M.D. Sullivan, basin margin area is to the left in this view, and the basin center is toward the right. In this setting, the D.C. Mohrig, and D.C. Jennette Brushy Canyon Formation is an onlapping wedge comprised of siltstone dominated slope facies with large, sandstone filled submarine canyons and slope channels. These channel complexes are oriented Exxon Production Research Company southeasterly and represent former point sources of siliciclastic sediment delivered to the Delaware Basin. with significant contributions from J.S. Bellian, S.J. Friedman, R.W. Lovell, D.S. Shannon, and the rest of the EPRCo. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS (AAPG) DOES NOT ENDORSE Deep-Water Reservoirs Group OR RECOMMEND ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THAT MAY BE CITED, USED OR DISCUSSED IN AAPG PUBLICATIONS OR IN PRESENTATIONS AT EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE AAPG. AAPG Continuing Education Course Note Series #40 This and other AAPG publication are available from: The AAPG Bookstore Geological Society Publishing House P 0 Box 979 Unit 7, Brassmill Enterprise Centre Tulsa OK 74101-0979 Brassmill Lane, Bath, U.K. Phone: (918) 584-2555 or (800) 364-AAPG (USA) Phone: +44 1225 445 046 Fax: (918) 560-2652 or (800) 898-2274 (USA) Fax: +44 1225 442 836 www.aapg.org www.geolsoc.org.uk Australian Mineral Foundation Affiliated East-West Press Private Ltd G-1/16 Ansari Road Darya Ganj Published by AMF Bookshop The American Association of Petroleum Geologists 63 Conyngham Street New Delhi 1 10 002 lhlsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A. Glenside, South Australia 5065 India Printed in the U.S.A. Australia Phone: +9l 11 327 9113 Phone: +61 8 8379 0444 Fax: +91 11 326 0538 Fax: +61 8 8379 4634 E-mail: [email protected] www.amf.com.au/amf Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3816100/9781629810157_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 Table of Contents Pages .. Introduction and Overview ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11- 12 Outcrop Localities .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1.1.5.3 Slope systems Upper slope canyons and channel complexes ............................................................................................................................................................................1 .1. 1.7 Middle slope channel complexes ................................................................................................................................................................................................2 1.2.3 Base of slope channel complexes ..................................................................................................................................................................................................3.1. 3.9 Basin floor systems 4 . Basin floor channel complexes .....................................................................................................................................................................................................4.1.4.8 Proximal basin floor fan ................................................................................................................................................................................................................4.2.4.4 Medial basin floor fan ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................4.5.4.8 Basin floor sheet complexes ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................5.1.5.3 Extended Bibliography pages ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................6.1. 6.2 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3816100/9781629810157_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 - Introduction Reaional Bas Settina Exceptional oblique-dip exposures of submarine fan Slope-to-basin variations in channel sue, geometry and complexes of the Brushy Canyon Fm. allow reconstruc- fill are related to variations in the degree of bypass asso- tion of channel geometries and reservoir architecture ciated with channels and the timing of channel backfill. from the slope to the basin floor. The Brushy Canyon On the slope, major feeder channels are deeply incised conslsts of 1,500 ft. of basinally restricted sandstones into thick laminated siltstones, have simple margins, and and siltstones that onlap older carbonate slope deposits are vertically stacked due to proximity of fixed point at the NW margin of the Delaware Basin. This succes- sources. The channel fills are highly variable in charac- sion represents a lowstand qequence set comprised of ter, reflecting deposition from both lower and higher- lugher frequency sequences that were deposited in the energy flows during late-stage backfilling. At the toe of basin during subaerial exposure and bypass of the adja- slope, sandstones occur in nested, multi-story channel cent carbonate shelf. Progradational sequence stacking complexes not confined by single, master erosion sur- patterns reflect changing position and character of the faces. Channel bases are commonly marked by lenticu- slope as it evolved from a relict, carbonate margin, to a lar, coarse-grained lags deposited from high-energy constructional, siltstone-dominated slope. Lowstand fan bypassing flows. Channel fills are complex, and indicate systems tracts consist of sharp-based, laterally extensive, repeated episodes of erosion, bypass, and hackfii, with sand-prone basin floor deposits and large, sand-filled thick-bedded sandstones concentrated in channel axes channels encased in siltstones on the slope. The aban- and thin-bedded sandstones and siltstones preferentially donment phase of each sequence (lowstand wedge-trans- preserved along channel margins. In down-fan, more gressive systems tract) consists of basinward-thinning aggradational settings, lags are absent. Channels are siltstones that drape the basin floor fans. The slope-to- smaller, less complex, and simply filled with thick-bed- basin distnbution of lithofacies is attributed to a three ded amalgamated sandstones. These channels are rela- stage cycle of: 1) erosion, mass wasting, and sand tively short-lived features that were rapidly plugged by bypass on the slope with concurrent deposition from high-energy flows. In distal, predominantly nonchannel- sand-rich flows on the basin floor, 2) progressive back- ized areas of the basin floor, sandstones form laterally filling of feeder channels with variable fill during wan- extensive sheets that are broadly lenticular as a result of ing stages of deposition, and 3) cessation of sand deliv- minor erosion, depositional mounding, and compensa- ery to the basin and deposition of laterally-extensive silt- tional stacking patterns. stone wedges. Paleocurrents and channel distributions indicate SE-E sediment transport from the NW basin margin via closely spaced point sources. Depositional Setting Basin Tectonics Deep-water sandstones