Abstracts for v. 21, no. 3, 1999, September
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THE EAST COAST PETROLEUM PROVINCE: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Robert R. Jordan
Delaware Geological Survey and
University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
ABSTRACT: The U.S. Atlantic offshore,
especially the mid-Atlantic, was an exciting exploration
area from the 1970s
into the 1980s. Much pioneering "frontier" activity in both scientific and
policy
matters occurred in this area. Although production was not achieved,
objective geological evidence
indicates that the province does have
potential. Major population centers of the mid-Atlantic area
demand large
amounts of energy and enormous amounts of crude and product are shipped through
East Coast waters. Nevertheless, exploration has been shut down by
moratoria, environmental concerns,
and international pricing. It is
suggested that the province will be revisited in the future and that the
geologic and environmental information that has been generated at great cost
should be preserved for
use by the next generation of explorationists and
policy-makers.
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SOIL AND SOIL-SOLUTION CHEMISTRY OF OUTER ISLAND, BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT
1Catherine A. Carlson and 2Dwight K.
Gledhill
1Environmental Earth Science Department, Eastern Connecticut
State University, 83 Windham Street,
Willimantic, CT
06226
2Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College
Station, Texas 77843
ABSTRACT: Soil and soil-solution chemistry were
characterized for Outer Island, a small offshore island in
Long Island
Sound. The chemistry of the soil is similar to that expected for soil derived
from the island bedrock
and is essentially homogenous spatially and with
depth. The dominant cation and anions of the soil solutions
and rain were
sodium, chloride, and sulfate, as would be expected for a region influenced by
sea spray. Soil-
solution chemistry was successfully modeled using NETPATH.
The main controls on near surface soil-solution
chemistry are rain
chemistry, evaporation, sea spray (NaCl), cation exchange, soil mineralogy
(feldspar, biotite,
pyrite), calcite (soil pH amendment), and
montmorillonite formation. Soil-solution at depth is controlled mainly
by
soil mineralogy (K-spar and biotite), cation exchange, sulfate reduction,
montmorillonite production, and
seasonal chemical variation of recharged
rain.
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HYDROSTRATIGRAPHY OF THE CRETACEOUS-AGE POTOMAC,
RARITAN, MAGOTHY, AND
MERCHANTVILLE FORMATIONS AND HOLOCENE-AGE DELAWARE
RIVER ALLUVIUM,
GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
John W. Jengo, PG, CPG
ThermoRetec Consulting
Corporation, 1005 West Ninth Avenue, Suite A, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania,
19406
ABSTRACT: A detailed stratigraphic and
palynological study of an industrial site in Gloucester County, New
Jersey
was conducted to determine the lithostratigraphic equivalents to the
commonly-used United States
Geological Survey (USGS) hydrostratigraphic
units in the southwestern New Jersey Coastal Plain. Overlying
Wissahickon
Formation saprolite, the interbedded sands, silts, and clays of the Potomac
Formation comprise the
lower and middle Potomac-Raritan-Magothy (PRM)
aquifers and the lower/middle and middle/upper PRM
confining units. In one
location, the middle/upper PRM confining unit contains taxa representative of
the
Complexiopollis-Atlantopollis pollen assemblage zone (Zone IV),
indicating an equivalency to the Woodbridge
Clay member of the Raritan
Formation. However, this occurrence represents an isolated erosional remnant;
the
Raritan Formation, as defined in the northeastern New Jersey Coastal
Plain, is not present elsewhere in this study
area. Silt and clay beds
equivalent to the South Amboy Fire Clay member, reassigned to the Magothy
Formation,
were recognized by identification of the Complexiopollis
exigua-Santalacites minor pollen assemblage zone (Zone
VA). Interbedded
throughout the upper PRM aquifer, these Zone VA silts and clays indicate the
upper PRM aquifer
is the Magothy Formation and equivalent to the Old Bridge
Sand member. Therefore, all the PRM units in this area
are either the
Potomac or Magothy Formation. Contrary to statements in previous hydrogeological
studies of the region,
the Raritan Formation is not a significant component
of the PRM aquifer system in the southwestern New Jersey
Coastal Plain. The
Merchantville Formation was also mapped throughout this study area utilizing
lithological analyses
and identification of pollen assemblages
representative of Zone CA-2B.
Core samples of Delaware River alluvium were also analyzed for
palynological content and selected Carbon-14 dating.
The Holocene-age Oak
zone is predominant throughout this section although in one location, the early
Holocene-age
Pine zone and the late Pleistocene-age Spruce zone are
recognized. Carbon-14 dating of wood fragments collected
within an 18.5 foot
thick alluvium section indicates deposition occurred between 2,300 and 4,450
years (yrs) BP
(±50 yrs). The Carbon-14 date of 4,450 yrs BP in the basal
alluvium section suggests a significant time interval between
deposition in
the Outer Incised-Valley System (Delaware Bay) region (approximately 9,000 to
10,000 yrs. BP) and the
Primary study area, approximately 100 miles upriver,
as would be expected in the incised-valley fill model. The use of
borehole
geophysics and cone penetrometer testing enabled the Holocene-age alluvium to be
recognized as onlapping
and overlapping the Cretaceous-age sediments. The
alluvium was a maximum of 84 feet thick in the Primary study area
in New
Jersey. On the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River in the Secondary study
area (14 miles downriver), the
alluvium reached a maximum thickness of 36
feet and overlies possible Pleistocene-age sediments dated at 31,380 yrs
BP
(+4,530/-2,880).
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SCRATCH CIRCLES: A NEW SPECIMEN FROM A LAKE-MARGIN
DEPOSIT OF THE PASSAIC
FORMATION (UPPER TRIASSIC), DOUGLASSVILLE,
PENNSYLVANIA
Robert Metz
Department of Geology and Meteorology, Kean
University, Union, New Jersey 07083
ABSTRACT: A new occurrence of ancient scratch
circles is documented from an Upper Triassic lake-margin deposit at
Douglassville, Pennsylvania. Three partial scratch circles encompass a
filled tube inferred to have been occupied by a
plant stem. Water currents,
via a sediment laden stream, likely shook the plant stem while the leaves were
whirled
around to create partial scratch circles. Sediment infilling
followed by desiccation accounts for the preservation.
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SPIRAL COPROLITES FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS WENONAH-MT.
LAUREL AND NAVESINK
FORMATIONS IN THE NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN OF NEW
JERSEY
1Martin A. Becker, 2Jessica Meier, and 3William
Slattery
1,2Department of Physics and Geology, The College of New Jersey,
Ewing, New Jersey 08628
3Department of Geologic Sciences, Wright
State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435
ABSTRACT: Rare occurrences of spiral coprolites
are preserved in the Wenonah-Mt. Laurel and Navesink Formations
in the
northern coastal plain of New Jersey. These coprolites occur as compressed, lens
and cigar shaped masses, and
attain a maximum length of 5.0 centimeters.
Preserved surface and internal structures display amphipolar to heteropolar
concentric spirals, and mucosal folds produced by the passage of fecal
material through the valvular intestine.
The origin of these spiral coprolites are most likely associated
with diverse assemblages of chondrichthyans which inhabited
epicontinental
seas along the Atlantic Coastal Plain during the Upper Cretaceous. Abundant
teeth from chondrichthyans
co-occur with these spiral coprolites, as do
fossil remains from mollusks, decapods, reptiles and bony fish.
Microscopic study of spiral coprolite thin sections reveals
fragments of bone and scales within the mucosal folds. These
fragments
provide important clues for reconstructing predation and dietary behavior of New
Jersey's Upper Cretaceous
chondrichthyans.
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SEDIMENTATION, VOLCANISM, STRATIGRAPHY, AND TECTONISM AT
THE TRIASSIC-JURASSIC
BOUNDARY IN THE DEERFIELD BASIN,
MASSACHUSETTS
John F. Hubert and James A. Dutcher
Department of
Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
ABSTRACT: The Triassic-Jurassic transition was
a time of dynamic change in the Deerfield rift basin due to an increase
in
the rate of regional crustal extension. During latest Triassic time, prior to
accelerated extension, the rate of sedimentation
exceeded subsidence in the
tropical basin, and braided rivers deposited the uppermost redbeds of the
Sugarloaf Arkose in a
topographically open basin. As the rate of extension
increased, the basin subsided rapidly, became topographically closed,
and a
west-dipping listric fault formed on the east side with an escarpment bordered
by alluvial fans. Dropping of the
Sugarloaf Arkose along the fault, combined
with erosion, produced an angular unconformity between the Sugarloaf Arkose
and the overlying closed-basin lacustrine and marsh strata of the Fall River
beds of Early Jurassic age. Partial melting of
the upper mantle led to
extrusion of the Holyoke-Deerfield flood-basalt unit from the Buttress-Ware
dike. Lava flowed
eastward down the hinged margin into a lake located in the
deepest part of the subsiding rift basin. The Turners Falls
Formation is a
sequence dominated by Milankovitch climate-controlled cycles of playa and lake
deposits that accumulated
over the lavas in the closed basin.
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A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF PETROLEUM EXPLORATION PHILOSOPHY
Edward A. Beaumont
TriOks Exploration, LLC, Tulsa, OK
74119
People who find chimerical oil and gas more than once may be
thought of as more than just "lucky". They are skillful,
purposeful
professionals who we call oil and gas finders. Reflecting on their philosophies
can be very important to improving
the effectiveness of modern petroleum
exploration. From the few publications where they articulated their philosophies
we
know that: 1) oil and gas finders aree positive thinkers, negative
thinking people do not find oil and gas, 2) they develop
creativity through
visual thinking, 3) they have vivid imaginations controlled by facts, 4) they
have a great desire to find
oil and gas, 5) they are self-motivating and
self-starting, 6) they are optimistic, 7) they are persistent, and above all, 8)
they
love the thrill of discovery and the deep satisfaction of being able to
use science and art to find a valuable resource for the
benefit of all
mankind. Visual thinking skills and creativity are mentioned again and again in
articles published by oil and
gas finders as critical to finding oil or gas
in places that others have decided are barren. The essence of oil-finder
extraordinaire
Wallace Pratt's philosophy is "that oil must first be sought
in our minds". What is your philosophy? How do you approach
exploration?
Build a strong philosophy and become a more effective explorationist.
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BASIN
Donald C. Haney
Kentucky Geological Survey, 228Mining
& Mineralogical Resources Bldg.,University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
40506
The oil and gas industry in the southern Appalachian Basin had
its beginnings with drillers in the early 1800's who were
searching for salt
brine; at that time, salt was far more important than petroleum. Martin Beatty,
searching for salt in 1819 in
Kentucky near the South Fork of the Cumberland
River, near the Tennessee state line, found, much to his disappointment, a
thick,
black, slimy substance called "rock oil". The substance is better
known today as "petroleum". Approximately 9 years later, another
salt-brine
well about 40 miles west of Beatty's, which became known worldwide as the Great
American well, encountered petroleum.
Drillers in other areas were also
encountering petroleum rather than salt brine.
Drilling and recovery methods were unsophisticated in the early
1800's. Often drillers would use a cable, jack pole, and a heavy
metal
chisel to slowly pound through the rock. Shafts dug by hand in the vicinity of
oil seeps were used to recover oil. James
Watt's steam engine technology was
adapted to the locomotive about 1830, and presumably drilling technology
likewise improved
dramatically with the application of steam
power.
Initially, crude oil was used primarily for medicinal purposes.
As refining technology developed and other products such as kerosene
became
available, drilling for rock oil became economic, which no doubt was the impetus
for the Drake well in Pennsylvania and
subsequent major
discoveries.
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A HISTORIC REVIEW OF PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND
PRODUCTION IDEAS, CONCEPTS, AND
TECHNOLOGIES
Donald L. Zieglar
9409 Elsie Way, Windsor, CA
95492
Data resulting from exploration and production activities since
the Drake oil discovery in 1859 have required the development
of rational,
scientifically based explanations for the plethora of new observations and
measurements that were being made. Answers
about the when, where, why, and
how aspects of hydrocarbon accumulations provided conceptual guidelines to focus
activities but
also generated new questions which resulted in the
development and applications of new methodologies and technologies. Subsurface
mapping and graphic display techiques were and are essential to illustrate
and communicate conclusions to colleagues, company
managers, and investors.
Until the early 1900's geologists associated with federal and state geological
surveys and with university
geological departments were in the forefront of
developing basic concepts, techniques, and technologies. After that, the
geological
and geophysical groups within individual oil and gas companies
continued seeking better answers to old questions and new answers
for the
new questions which resulted from the applications of new technologies. Looking
at the "roots" of some of these basic
concepts and methodologies in a
historic time frame provides useful lessons about the applications of science to
exploration and
production activities.*******************************************************