Oil-oil correlations to establish a basis for mapping
petroleum systems, San Joaquin Basin, California
Compiled PowerPoint Slides
by Lillis, P.G.1, and Magoon, L.B.2
This report is preliminary and has
not been reviewed for conformity with the U.S. Geological Survey editorial
standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code.
Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply
endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Open-File Report 2004-1037
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
1U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225
2U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
94025
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Contents
Preface
References
List of Slides
Preface
The PowerPoint presentation in this report was
given at a public forum presented by the U.S. Geological Survey entitled
“Petroleum Assessment of San Joaquin Basin-Project Details and Workshop,”
which was hosted by the San Joaquin Geological Society in Bakersfield,
California, April 2, 2003. It presents new results of a petroleum geochemical
study of the San Joaquin basin based on recently analyzed data combined with
published data in order to characterize oil types and establish a basis for
mapping petroleum systems in the basin. Some diagrams that appeared in the
original presentation have been updated in this report.
The
approach for this study was to first correlate the crude oils into genetic types
or families by evaluating the similarities of various bulk and molecular
geochemical parameters using x-y plots and hierarchical cluster analysis,
then map the distribution of the oil types in the basin. Chemical parameters
most useful for oil correlation are stable carbon isotope ratios and
biomarker composition including pristane/phytane, sterane, and terpane ratios
In
previous studies, the middle and upper Miocene Monterey and the middle Eocene
Kreyenhagen formations were recognized as the main sources of petroleum in
the basin, while the Upper Cretaceous portion of the Moreno Formation was
considered a minor source. The results of the current study show that there
are three main oil types: the Kreyenhagen, upper Eocene Tumey Formation, and
the Monterey Formation and equivalents. The Moreno Formation is again
recognized as only a minor oil type.
Mapping
the distribution of the oil types shows that the Miocene Monterey is largely
restricted to Kern County at the southern end of the basin, while the Eocene
Kreyenhagen is widely distributed along the western half of the basin. Tumey
oil is also predominantly present along the west side, but a few occurrences
are found on the east side. The Cretaceous Moreno oil has been found only in
the Coalinga area, southwestern Fresno County, and the Griswold Canyon area
of Vallecitos field, San Benito County (McGuire, 1988). These maps provide
the basis for petroleum system maps that incorporate source rock distribution
and burial history, migration pathways, and geologic framework. Petroleum
system maps are, in turn, used for USGS resource assessments of the basin.
[Back to Contents]
References
Beyer,
L.A., 1995, San Joaquin Basin Province (010), in Gautier, D. L.,
Dolton, G.L., Takahashi, K.I., and Varnes, eds., 1995 National assessment of
United States oil and gas resources--Results, methodology, and supporting
data: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-30, Release 2, one
CD-ROM.
Curiale,
J.A., Cameron, D. and Davis, D.V.,1985, Biological marker distribution and
significance in oils and rocks of the Monterey Formation, California:
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 49, p. 271-288.
Kaplan,
I.R., Alimi, M.H., Lu, S.T., Jeffrey, A., Shepard, L.S., Meredith, D.E., and
Polovini, J.S., 1988 [2000], The petroleum geochemistry of crude oils and
potential source rocks from the Paleogene of the San Joaquin and
Ventura/Santa Barbara Basins, data synthesis and text, v.1, in Kaplan,
I.R., ed., Collection of papers about the oil, gas, and source rock
investigations carried out in the San Joaquin Santa Maria, Santa Barbara,
Ventura, and Los Angeles basins, California, Pacific Section American
Association of Petroleum Geologists CD ROM Series 1, 283 p.
Lillis,
P.G., Magoon, L.B., Stanley, R.G., McLaughlin, R.J., and Warden, A., 2001,
Characterization of Northern California Petroleum by stable carbon isotopes:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-164, 13p.
McGuire,
D.J., 1988, Stratigraphy, depositional history, and hydrocarbon source-rock
potential of the Upper Cretaceous-lower Tertiary Moreno Formation, central
San Joaquin Basin, California: Stanford, Calif., Stanford University, Ph.D.
dissertation, 308 p.
Orr,
W.L., 2001, Evaluating kerogen sulfur content from crude oil properties:
Cooperative Monterey Organic Geochemistry Study, in Isaacs, C.M.
and Rullkotter, J., eds., The Monterey Formation – from rocks to molecules:
Columbia University Press, New York, p.348-367.
Peters,
K.E., Pytte, M.H., Elam, T.D., and Sundararaman, P., 1994, Identification of
petroleum systems adjacent to the San Andreas Fault, California, in
Magoon, L.B. and Dow, W.G., eds., The petroleum system – from source to trap:
American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 60, p. 423-436.
Seifert,
W.K., and Moldowan, J.M., 1978, Applications of steranes, terpanes and
monoaromatics to the maturation, migration and source of crude oils:
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 42, p. 77-95.
Sellers,
C., Fox, B., and Pautz, J. 1996, Bartlesville Project Office crude oil
analysis user's guide: U.S. Department of Energy DOE/BC-96/3/SP, 23 p.
Sofer,
Z., 1984, Stable carbon isotope compositions of crude oils: application to
source depositional environments and petroleum alteration: American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 68, p. 31-49.
[Back to Contents]
List of Slides:
Slide 1. Title. Oil –oil correlations to establish a basis for mapping
petroleum systems, San Joaquin Basin, California.
Slide 2. Acknowledgments.
Slide 3. Talk outline.
Slide 4. Index map. Map of San Joaquin Basin (gray shading) showing
location of cities, counties, and oil (green) and gas (red) fields.
Slide 5. Generalized stratigraphic chart. San Joaquin Basin
stratigraphy showing the Cretaceous through Eocene. Potential source
rocks are identified with green stars.
Slide 6. Generalized stratigraphic chart. San Joaquin Basin
stratigraphy showing the Oligocene through Pliocene. Potential source rocks
are identified with green stars.
Slide 7. List of previous geochemical studies.
Slide 8. List of conclusions of previous geochemical studies.
Slide 9. List of methods and approach.
Slide 10. Plot of San Joaquin API gravity vs. sulfur (COA data).
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Mines Crude Oil Analysis (COA) database
(Sellers and others, 1996). Most San Joaquin oil has low to moderate sulfur
content, and is not derived from Type II-S kerogen as defined by Orr (2001).
Slide 11. Plot of San Joaquin API gravity vs. sulfur (USGS data). Data
from new USGS analyses, as well as from Kaplan and others (1988) and Peters
and others (1994). Most San Joaquin oil has low to moderate sulfur
content, although some Miocene Monterey oil is derived from Type II-S kerogen
as defined by Orr (2001).
Slide 12. Description of stable carbon isotopes.
Slide 13. Plot of stable carbon isotopes of oils from Northern
California. Example of a previous study that identifies Eocene,
Cretaceous, and Miocene source oils in Northern California using stable
carbon isotopes (Lillis and others, 2001). Sofer (1984) defined a line
(dashed line) for this type of plot that best separates waxy oils from
nonwaxy oils. Waxy oils are usually derived from terrigenous organic
matter, whereas nonwaxy oils are usually derived from marine organic matter.
Slide 14. Plot of stable carbon isotopes of oils from San Joaquin
Basin. Three main oil types can be identified – Eocene Kreyenhagen,
Eocene Tumey, and Miocene Monterey. Data from new USGS analyses, as well as
from Kaplan and others (1988), Curiale and others (1985) and Peters and
others (1994). Letter designation after oil type refers to reservoir age (j =
Jurassic, e = Eocene, o = Oligocene, m = Miocene). The black line separates
waxy (terrigenous source) from nonwaxy (marine source) oils (Sofer, 1984).
Slide 15. List of biomarkers. Biomarker ratios used for correlation in
this study include the pristane/phytane ratio, and various sterane (m/z 217)
and terpane (m/z 191) ratios.
Slide 16. Mass chromatograms of terpanes, Kreyenhagen. Example m/z
191 mass chromatograms of the Kreyenhagen oil type. Identified peaks are C26
tricyclic terpanes, C24 tetracyclic terpane, hopane, C31-C35
extended hopanes, and gammacerane (g). Kreyenhagen oils are characterized by
low concentrations of tricyclics and gammacerane relative to the hopanes, and
low C26 tricyclic/C24 tetracyclic values.
Slide 17. Mass chromatograms of terpanes, Tumey. Example m/z 191
mass chromatograms of the Tumey oil type. Identified peaks are C26
tricyclic terpanes, C24 tetracyclic terpane, oleanane (o), hopane,
C31-C35 extended hopanes, and gammacerane (g).
Slide 18. Mass chromatograms of terpanes, Monterey. Example m/z
191 mass chromatograms of the Monterey oil type. Identified peaks are C26
tricyclic terpanes, C24 tetracyclic terpane, bisnorhopane (b),
oleanane (o), hopane, C31-C35 extended hopanes, and
gammacerane (g). Monterey oils are characterized by high concentrations of
bisnorhopane relative to hopane, higher C35/C34
extended hopane values, and moderate to high C26 tricyclic/C24
tetracyclic values.
Slide 19. Plot of d13C
aromatic hydrocarbons vs. C26 tricyclic terpanes/C24
tetracylic terpane. Kreyenhagen oils (low values) can be distinguished
from Tumey and Monterey oils (moderate to high values) using this biomarker
ratio. San Joaquin oil data from the USGS.
Slide 20. Plot of d13C
aromatic hydrocarbons vs. pristane/phytane of San Joaquin oils. Oil types can
be distinguished, in part, using the pristane/phytane ratio. San Joaquin oil
data from the USGS and from Kaplan and others (1988).
Slide 21. Hierarchical cluster analysis diagram. Full-scale
hierarchical cluster analysis dendrogram showing the degree of similarity of
oil samples based on the stable carbon isotope and biomarker composition.
Although no single biomarker parameter can distinguish oil types using x-y
plots, the combination of several biomarker parameters in the cluster
analysis distinguishes Moreno, Kreyenhagen, Tumey, and Monterey oil types, as
well as, three Monterey subtypes.
Slide 22. Hierarchical cluster analysis diagram. Enlarged portion of
the same dendrogram in the previous slide (Slide 21).
Slide 23. List of main oil types. The list of oil types based on this
study.
Slide 24. Outline of oil-source rock correlation.
Slide 25. Plot of stable carbon isotopes of oils
from San Joaquin Basin. Repeat of Slide 14.
Slide 26. Plot of stable carbon isotopes of San Joaquin source rocks.
Source rock data are plotted with the boundary boxes of the three main oil
types from Slide 25. Eocene Tumey Formation and unnamed Oligocene source rock
bitumen are similar in composition to the Tumey oil type (red box).
Data from Kaplan and others (1988) and Curiale and others (1985).
Slide 27. Plot of d13C
aromatic hydrocarbons vs. pristane/phytane of San Joaquin oils. Repeat of
Slide 20.
Slide 28. Plot of d13C
aromatic hydrocarbons vs. pristane/phytane of San Joaquin source rocks.
Source rock data are plotted with the boundary boxes of the three main oil
types from Slide 27. Eocene Tumey source rock bitumen is similar in
composition to the Tumey-Temblor oil type (red box). Data from Kaplan
and others (1988) and Curiale and others (1985).
Slide 29. List of petroleum system maps.
Slide 30. Index map of San Joaquin Basin. Map of San Joaquin Basin
(gray shading) showing location of cities, counties, oil localities, and oil
(green) and gas (red) fields.
Slide 31. Map of all oil data localities in San Joaquin Basin. Data
from new USGS analyses and from Kaplan and others (1988), Curiale and others
(1985) and Peters and others (1994). Letter designation after oil type refers
to reservoir age (j = Jurassic, e = Eocene, o = Oligocene, l = lower Miocene,
m = Miocene).
Slide 32. Map of Cretaceous Moreno oil localities. The Moreno oil type
has only been found in the Coalinga area, southwestern Fresno County, and the
Griswold Canyon area of Vallecitos field, San Benito County (McGuire,
1988).
Slide 33. Map of Eocene Kreyenhagen oil localities. The
Kreyenhagen oil type is widely distributed along the western half of the
basin.
Slide 34. Map of Eocene Kreyenhagen oil localities. Also shown is the
Kreyenhagen petroleum system boundary.
Slide 35. Map of Eocene Tumey oil localities. The Tumey oil type is predominantly present
along the west side, but a few occurrences are found on the east side.
Slide 36. Map of Eocene Tumey oil localities. Also shown is the Tumey
petroleum system boundary.
Slide 37. Map of Miocene Monterey oil localities. Miocene Monterey is largely
restricted to Kern County at the southern end of the basin. Letter
designation after oil type refers to reservoir age if older than middle
Miocene (j = Jurassic, e = Eocene, o = Oligocene, l = lower Miocene).
Slide 38. Map of Miocene Monterey oil localities. Also shown is the
Monterey petroleum system boundary. Letter designation after oil type
refers to reservoir age if older than middle Miocene (j = Jurassic, e =
Eocene, o = Oligocene, l = lower Miocene).
Slide 39. Map of Miocene Monterey oil localities. Also shown are the
locations of Monterey oil type in Oligocene (o), Eocene (e) and Jurassic (j)
age reservoirs along the margins of the basin.
Slide 40. Map of outlier oil localities. Outliers are oils with
compositions that differ from the main oil types and the confidence in the
correlation is low.
Slide 41. Map of all oil localities and petroleum systems.
Slide 42. Summary listing of San Joaquin petroleum systems.
[Back to Contents]
U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2004-1037
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