Possible Continuous-Type (Unconventional) Gas Accumulation in Lower Silurian "Clinton" Sands, Medina Group, and the Tuscarora Sandstone in the Appalachian Basin: A Progress Report of 1995 project activities

Robert T. Ryder, Kerry L. Aggen, Robert D. Hettinger, Ben E. Law, John J. Miller, Vito F. Nuccio, William J. Perry, Jr., Stephen E. Prensky, John R. SanFilipo, and Craig J. Wandrey

Open-File Report 96-42

DATA STORAGE AND DIGITAL MAPS

Land use-land cover and political-boundary data from the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota were converted into ARC/INFO coverage for this project. When combined with existing play boundary maps and oil and gas cell maps from the 1995 National Assessment (Ryder,1995; Beeman, 1995), also in ARC/INFO format, they illustrate the types of environments that are impacted by Clinton/Medina sandstone gas plays. PI's Well History Control System (WHCS) file, consisting of over 100,000 wells for the Appalachian basin, was used by Beeman (1995) to create the oil and gas cell maps. Figure 11 shows a representative piece of the resulting map for northeastern Ohio and adjoining Pennsylvania.

Land use and land cover on Figure 11is differentiated with colors coded by general type (see explanation for fig. 11). Each 1/4-mile-square area(cell) of figure 11 that was drilled into or through the Clinton/Medina interval is shown by an X. The X's are color-coded according to the production status of the drill holes (see explanation for fig. 11). For example, a red X indicates that at least one gas well produces from the Clinton/Medina play in the cell.

Also for this project, an oil and gas field map was compiled for "Clinton" sands, the Medina sand, Medina Group sandstones, and the Tuscarora Sandstone at a scale of 1:500,000. States that are shown on the map and have production from the Clinton/Medina/Tuscarora interval are Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. An example of this oil and gas map from a three-county area of southeastern Ohio is shown in figure 12. This map probably will be digitized into ARC/INFO format in FY1996.

Analyses of formation water produced from the "Clinton" sands, Medina sand, Medina Group sandstones, and the Tuscarora Sandstone are available in a brines data file compiled for a joint USGS/Department of Energy/University of Oklahoma project in the 1970's. The file contains approximately 6,000 analyses for the Appalachian basin. An additional 100 brine analyses, with interpretations, were acquired from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Bureau of Oil and Gas Regulation, Division of Mineral Resources). These formation water analyses are stored in a USGS database for future studies of water quality and water volume in gas-bearing Clinton/Medina/Tuscarora sandstone reservoirs.

Created by the EERT WWW Staff.