ABSTRACT
At the time of its deposition during the Devonian Period, the Chattanooga Shale apparently covered all of Tennessee west of the Unaka Mountains except for two small areas. Erosion has removed the shale from west Tennessee, most of the Central Basin, and most of the Valley and Ridge. Folding and faulting further obscure its distribution in the Valley and Ridge. Five cores from a seven-county Eastern Highland Rim area were analyzed for shale thicknesses, organic elements, mineralogy, major inorganic elements, trace elements, and Modified Fischer Assay. Analyses indicate that in the initial study area, the Putnam-NW White County area is the best potential mine-plant site. Six additional cores were taken in this restricted area and analyzed as before. These data were also compared with similar data from an east Tennessee Chattanooga Shale core. One square mile of Chattanooga Shale in the restricted study area contains 14.4 × 106 bbl of oil—11.5 × 106 bbl from the Gassaway member and 2.9 × 106 bbl from the Dowelltown member using normal retorting methods. Topography, nature and depth of overburden, other geologic conditions, and environmental considerations almost dictate underground mining. Underground methods give approximately 50% resource recovery. Hydrogen retorting should increase the oil yield by a factor of two. Although the east Tennessee section is 21 times thicker than the Eastern Highland River section, it is much leaner as far as extractable materials and is thus eliminated as an oil source. Organic analyses indicate potential carcinogenic materials present. Oil samples derived from the cores darken upon standing for a few weeks. This aging may cause problems during storage.
