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DECEMBER 2011 AAPG BULLETIN NOW ONLINE

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:28:54 CST

Pore types in the Barnett and Woodford gas shales: Contribution to understanding gas storage and migration pathways in fine-grained rocks

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:27:40 CST

Roger M. Slatt and Neal R. O?Brien

Unconventional gas plays and pores
A variety of pore type large enough to store gas molecules exist in the Barnett and Woodford shales, northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. Porosity due to flocculation, microfractures, and organoporosity provide storage and permeability pathways for the migration of hydrocarbons.

Mudstone diversity: Origin and implications for source, seal, and reservoir properties in petroleum systems

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:25:50 CST

Andrew C. Aplin and Joe H. S. Macquaker

Mudstones are heterogeneous
Muddy successions are typically interpreted using sequence stratigraphy. Early bioturbation homogenizes mud, and early chemical diagenesis causes cementation. The nature of deeper burial diagenesis is pre-conditioned by depositional and early diagenetic characteristics of the mud.

Three-dimensional seismic geomorphology and analysis of the Ordovician paleokarst drainage system in the central Tabei Uplift, northern Tarim Basin, western China

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:24:49 CST

Hongliu Zeng, Robert Loucks, Xavier Janson, Guizhong Wang, Yiping Xia, Bingheng Yuan, and Ligui Xu

Reconstructing an extensively karstified unconformity
High-quality 3D seismic supplemented by core and outcrop data in the Tarim Basin, western China, provide a rare opportunity to characterize in exceptional detail the 3D geomorphology of a deeply buried Ordovician unconformity and the related paleokarst drainage system.

An alternative model of producing topography in the crest region of deep-water levees

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:23:00 CST

Zishann A. Kahn, Bill Arnott, and Andre Pugin

Reflectors in deep water levees
It has been assumed that dipping reflectors in levees reflect stratal dip that occurs from the vertical stacking of individual levee beds that vary laterally in thickness. However, this paper raises the possibility that dipping reflectors may record lateral changes in lithofacies rather than dip.

D&R: Dating petroleum emplacement by illite 40Ar/39Ar laser stepwise heating

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:17:08 CST

Discussion: Norbert Clauer, Fred Jourdan, and Horst Zwingmann
Reply: He-Sheng Shi, Jian-Bing Yun, and Hua-Ning Qiu

Discussion and Reply
Clauer et al. discuss the difficulties of applying the 40Ar/39Ar method to clay minerals and believe that He-Sheng Shi et al. discarded 39Ar recoil in their paper. The authors reply that they removed most of the organic matter prior to 39Ar extraction and that unirradiated illite samples were baked for preliminary tests.

2011 Annual Report & Index

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:11:44 CST

2011 Annual Report
The 2011 Annual Report includes reports from the president, treasurer, editor, Advisory Council, House of Delegates, Foundation, and AAPG divisions, sections, and committees.

2011 Index
The index of volume 95 (2011) is presented in this issue. Papers are listed by title, author, and key word.

NOVEMBER 2011 AAPG BULLETIN NOW ONLINE

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:10:10 CST

Along-strike variations and internal details of chevron-style, flexural-slip thrust-propagation folds within the southern Livingstone Range anticlinorium, a paleohydrocarbon reservoir in southern Alberta Foothills, Canada

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:07:19 CST

Michael A. Cooley, Raymond A. Price, John M.Dixon, and T. Kurtis Kyser

An invaluable method
The Livingstone Range anticlinorium is a well-exposed analog to hydrocarbon-bearing buried hanging-wall ramp anticlines. Such thrust-propagation anticlines form important traps but the steeply-dipping limbs are difficult to study. Analogous structures provide good opportunities.

Stable-isotope geochemistry of syntectonic veins in Paleozoic carbonate rocks in the Livingstone Range anticlinorium and their significance to the thermal and fluid evolution of the southern Canadian foreland thrust and fold belt

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:05:37 CST

Michael A. Cooley, Raymond A. Price, T. Kurtis Kyser, and John M. Dixon

Fluid flow and hydrocarbons
The stable-isotope geochemistry of host rocks and syntectonic veins in the Livingstone Range anticlinorium was investigated in order to deduce the isotopic composition of evolving formation waters that were in equilibrium with host rocks or with vein minerals throughout the geologic history.

From outcrop to flow simulation: Constructing discrete fracture models from a LIDAR survey

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:04:22 CST

Christopher E. Wilson, Atilla Aydin, Mohammad Karimi-Fard, Louis J. Durlofsky, Amir Sagy, Emily E. Brodsky, Oliver Kreylos, and Louise H. Kellogg

Characterizing fracture networks
Two methods to extract the three-dimensional positions of natural fractures from a LIDAR survey are evaluated. The results indicate that, for this particular fracture network in the Austin chalk, secondary fracture sets marginally impact the breakthrough time of water injected into an oil-filled reservoir.

Surface sediment hydrocarbons as indicators of subsurface hydrocarbons: Field calibration of existing and new surface geochemistry methods in the Marco Polo area, Gulf of Mexico

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:03:13 CST

Michael A. Abrams and Nicola F. Dahdah

Evaluating surface geochemical methods
A Gulf of Mexico field calibration survey was undertaken to better understand seabed geochemical results. The gas and liquid hydrocarbon extraction methods that best characterize migrated hydrocarbons in near-surface sediments are discussed

Diagenetic controls on reservoir quality in Middle to Upper Jurassic sandstones in the South Viking Graben, North Sea

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:01:31 CST

Tom Erik Maast, Jens Jahren, and Knut Bjorlykke

Investigating reservoir quality
Quartz cementation exerts the main control on the highly variable reservoir quality in the deeply buried sandstones of the South Viking Graben, North Sea. This integrated approach presents a regional and stratigraphic framework that may be incorporated into play models in the area.

Seismic geomorphology and high-resolution seismic stratigraphy of inner shelf fluvial, estuarine, deltaic, and marine sequences, Gulf of Thailand

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:00:29 CST

Hernan M. Reijenstein, Henry W. Posamentier, and Janok P. Bhattacharya

Gulf of Thailand continental shelf investigated
This paper integrates plan-view geomorphic images of shelf depositional systems from three-dimensional seismic data with detailed facies architecture derived from high-resolution two-dimensional seismic lines. Depositional systems were identified and described in the Gulf of Thailand continental shelf.

Permeability prediction in chalks

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:07:55 CST

M. Monzurul Alam, Ida Lykke Fabricus, and Manika Prasad

Permeability from velocity data
Permeability prediction in chalk could be improved significantly by using the specific surface. If the specific surface of a particular chalk unit is known, the velocity-permeability relationship for that unit can be applied to predict permeability directly from the compressional wave velocity.

OCTOBER 2011 AAPG BULLETIN NOW ONLINE

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:51:28 CDT

GEOLOGIC NOTE: Geologic analysis of the Upper Jurassic Haynesville Shale in east Texas and west Louisiana

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:50:06 CDT

Ursula Hammes, H. Scott Hamlin, and Thomas E. Ewing

A prolific shale-gas play
The structural setting, stratigraphy, depositional environment, fracturing, and production challenges of the Haynesville shale-gas play are addressed. It has estimated play resources of several hundred trillion cubic feet and spans more than 16 counties of eastern Texas and western Louisiana.

Salt tectonics in the western Gulf of Cadiz, southwest Iberia

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:47:58 CDT

Hugo Matias, Pedro Kress, Pedro Terrinha, Webster Mohriak, Paulo T. L. Menezes, Luis Matias, Fernando Santos, and Frode Sandnes

A possible deepwater petroleum province
Salt units in the western Gulf of Cadiz supplied salt for an eastern domain with a conspicuous allochthonous salt nappe, a central domain dominated by salt diapers, and a southwestern domain where present-day tectonics have caused salt deformation. These regions have hydrocarbon potential.

Prediction of lithofacies and reservoir quality using well logs. Late Cretaceous Williams Fork Formation, Mamm Creek field, Piceance Basin, Colorado

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:44:34 CDT

Aysen Ozkan, Stephen P. Cumella, Kitty L. Milliken, and Stephen E. Laubach

Field-scale reservoir quality prediction
The authors evaluate the potential of predicting core-derived porosity and permeability from log-derived porosity. The most characteristic log types for building an algorithm for field-scale application of lithofacies and a reservoir quality prediction model are established.

Overpressure and mudrock compaction in the Lower Kutai Basin, Indonesia: A radical reappraisal

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:42:48 CDT

Agus M. Ramdhan and Neil R. Goulty

A new hypothesis
Overpressure generation due to compaction of Miocene mudrocks is shown in a sharp transition zone in the shelfal area of the Lower Kutai Basin. It appears that porosity reduction is controlled by chemical compaction, and that cementation has caused overcompaction.

Partial dolomitization of a Pennsylvanian limestone buildup by hydrothermal fluids and its effect on reservoir quality and performance

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:41:33 CDT

Arthur H. Saller and John A. (Tony) D. Dickson

Dolomite raceways cause heterogeneous oil
Dolomite in the Reinecke Field, west Texas, formed diagenetically late and precipitated during deep burial. These rocks have lower porosity but much higher permeability than most nearby Permian dolomites that formed in evaporated seawater during shallow burial.

The sequence stratigraphy of Mesozoic successions in the Levant margin, Southwestern Israel: A Model for the evolution of southern Tethys margins

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:40:25 CDT

Michael Gardosh, Paul Weimer, and Akiva Flexer

Evolution of the southern Tethys margin
The stratigraphic evolution of the shelf-edge and slope for the Levant Margin in southwestern Israel and in the adjacent Mediterranean Sea is described, emphasizing the reservoir potential of deepwater, lowstand wedges offshore Israel where extensive exploration efforts are currently taking place.

On-shelf lower Miocene Oakville sediment-dispersal patterns within a three-dimensional sequence stratigraphic architectural framework and implications for deep-water reservoirs in the central coastal area of Texas

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:38:02 CDT

Robert G. Loucks, Brian T. Moore, and Hongliu Zeng

Defining the framework
This study of the Oakville Formation of the Texas Gulf coast is an example of the integration of sequence stratigraphic concepts with wireline log systems tract analysis, depositional system interpretations from seismic strata slices, and genetic subdivision of stratigraphic units.