Abstract The lower part of the Wilcox Group of northwest Louisiana contains shallow (less than 500 ft) coal deposits that are mined for use in mine-mouth electric power-generating plants. The coal deposits, which are lignite A in apparent rank (Pierce et al., 2011), occur on the eastern part of the Sabine uplift (Figure 1). The coal zones and associated strata in the assessment area generally dip away from the axis of the Red River-Bull Bayou dome that is located in the north-central part of the Louisiana Sabine assessment area (Figure 1). This assessment area includes parts of four parishes: De Soto, Red River, Natchitoches, and Sabine (Figure 2). The assessment area was selected because of its proximity to current mining areas and the availability of stratigraphic data in the area. The assessment area is roughly 60 miles long and 15 miles wide and generally extends across the central-eastern part of the Sabine uplift in northwest Louisiana (Figure 2). More than 950 stratigraphic records from rotary and core drill holes were used to assess the coal resources of the Louisiana Sabine area. Of these, 210 are public data points and are located in or near the areas that have been permitted or proposed for surface mining (Figure 2; Appendix 1). Most of the stratigraphic data used for this assessment were provided to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on a confidential basis by various coal companies for use in regional studies.

Abstract Productive oil and gas reservoirs of Cretaceous age underlie the large inner part of the Gulf Coastal Plain from the Rio Grande toFlorida at depths within practical reach of thedrill. Productive Jurassic formations are accessible in a narrower belt of the same region. Thegross structural framework, reduced to simplestterms, consists of (1) a complex system of normal faults rimming the Gulf Coast geosynclinefrom southwest Texas across northeast Texas, southern Arkansas, and Mississippi into Alabama, (2) the Sabine uplift centering near thenorthwestern corner of Louisiana, and (3) “interior” salt basins in northeastern Texas, northern Louisiana, and southern Mississippi—southwestern Alabama (Fig. 15-1). Local structuralfeatures in the basins are due mostly to saltmovement. A regional unconformity which is ofslight consequence in southwest Texas introduces a large angular discordance betweenUpper Cretaceous and older formations northeastward from the Sabine uplift. In 1920, the only important oil productionwas on the Sabine uplift and the nearby Homerdome in northwestern Louisiana (see Chap.8.2 and 8.4). The Monroe gas field in northeastern Louisiana (see Chap. 8.3) with reserves of 7 trillion cubic feet, was supplying avoracious carbon-black industry (Meyerhoffand Forgotson, 1968; Shreveport GeologicalSociety, 1968). Full development of the vastMonroe reservoir was delayed for several yearsuntil pipelines were laid to distant markets(Fergus, 1935). A momentous discovery at Mexia, Texas, in December 1920 initiated exploitation of the prolific Wnr“ina_. gand andopened the important fault-zone territory. Thefirst producing well in southern Arkansas wascompleted near El Dorado in January 1921, and a large oil field was proven at Haynesville

Abstract The Haynesville Shale, an Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) age calcareous and locally organic-rich mudrock, is one of many prominent shale gas plays in North America. As shale plays increase in importance, the ability to define basin-wide, robust, and stable stratigraphic frameworks using data derived from well-bores becomes increasingly critical. Here, the technique of chemostratigraphy is used to define a stratigraphic framework that extends through ten wells ranging from eastern Texas to northwestern Louisiana. Stratigraphic variations in inorganic geochemistry allow clear differentiation of Haynesville Shale from the underlying Smackover Formation, the Gilmer Lime, and the overlying Bossier Formation. More importantly, however, interpretation of the results allows two chemostratigraphic packages and four geochemically distinct units to be defined and correlated within the Haynesville Shale. The lithostratigraphic units are geochemically differentiated using variations in SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , MgO, Zr, and Nb, whereas the units within the Haynesville Shale are defined using changes in CaO, Al 2 O 3 , MgO, Fe 2 O 3 , Rb/K 2 O and Th/U values, and V enrichments. By integrating the geochemistry with x-ray diffraction and total organic carbon (TOC) results, it becomes apparent that the driving forces behind the changing geochemistry within the Haynesville Shale are the amounts of anoxia in the lower portion of the Haynesville Shale and of CaO input in the upper portion. Cyclical fluctuations in the relative abundances of Zr and Nb are interpreted to represent transgressive—regressive cycles—and provide enhanced correlation within the Haynesville Shale. By combining stratigraphic changes in Zr/Nb values with V enrichments, it is shown that the most severe period of anoxia is associated with the transgressive portion of the oldest cycle. Importantly, this suggests that this stratigraphic horizon is where maximum TOC can be expected. Lateral changes in geochemistry within the Haynesville Shale demonstrate that terrigenous input was highest in the northwest sector of the basin, primarily in East Texas, and anoxia was greatest in the east of the basin, primarily in Louisiana.

Abstract The Wilcox Group (Paleocene to Eocene) of the Sabine uplift, a structural arch in northeastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana (Figure 1), has lignite zones that approach subbituminous rank (see Chapter 4, this publication). These coals are among the highest quality resources known within the Gulf Coastal Plain because of their low ash yield and sulfur content. The surface expression of the Sabine uplift is defined by the contact between coal-bearing rocks of the Wilcox Group and overlying fluvial rocks of the Carrizo Sand, which is the basal unit of the Claiborne Group (Figures 2, 3). The Sabine uplift study area includes parts of Harrison, Marion, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, and Shelby Counties in Texas and Bossier, Caddo, De Soto, Natchitoches, Red River, and Sabine Parishes in Louisiana (Figure 1). Adjacent counties and parishes that include the subsurface Wilcox Group extend the regional Sabine uplift area. The Wilcox in the subsurface is underlain by the Midway Group (Figure 3), a mudstone-dominated marine sequence of Paleocene age. Quaternary alluvium and terrace deposits overlying the Wilcox Group at the surface are limited to areas of modern drainage. The total thickness of the Wilcox Group within the Sabine uplift area ranges from approximately 400 ft on outcrop to 2500 ft in subsurface (Kaiser, 1990). In a few places, the contact between the overlying Carrizo Sand and Wilcox Group is erosional, but in other places, the contact is gradational.

Abstract The Bellevue oil field, in northwestern Louisiana, has produced in five years 8,500,000 barrels of 19.30 Bé. gravity oil from the Nacatoch sand, of Upper Cretaceous age, at a depth ranging from 300 to 400 feet. The field lies at the apex of a broad dome having a closure of about 800 feet. The accumulation of the oil is directly associated with a series of tensional faults. The faults in the Upper Cretaceous range in throw from 20 to 250 feet, but in the Lower Cretaceous a central horst has been faulted up 800 feet. Recently a deep well on this dome has penetrated much older beds than any hitherto encountered in Louisiana.

Abstract A method is described for reservoir characterization in fine-grained and thinly bedded shales based on a probabilistic clustering procedure (PCP) of well logs followed by a forward modeling procedure that results in the calculation of profiles for porosity, water saturation (Sw), and permeability. The credibility of results relies on calibration using porosity, permeability, and mineralogy analyses of core samples. Complementary analysis using a nuclear spectroscopy log, if available, can add confidence to the results. Kerogen needs to be included during the forward modeling because it is a matrix component of the bulk rock and the matrix grain density (GD) can be significantly affected by kerogen. Kerogen profiles can be estimated if kerogen core analyses are included in the PCP. In addition, a total organic carbon (TOC) profile, which is needed to determine the amount of adsorbed gas, can be estimated based on core analyses of TOC. The relationships between TOC and kerogen, including a discussion of Rock-Eval pyrolysis, are outlined. The estimation of free gas gross pay in gas shales is fraught with difficulty because of the vagaries of estimating porosity and Sw. Although not realistic in terms of gross storage capacity, the use of the combination of total porosity (TPOR) and total water saturation (Swt) gives the same pay as the combination of effective porosity (EPOR) and effective water saturation (Swe). However, the combination of EPOR and Swt is ill-construed and results in underestimation of gross pay. The estimation of adsorbed gas in gas shales relies on a methodology and equations adopted from the coalbed methane industry. The workflow is easily implemented, but the credibility of results hinges on the assumption that the adopted methodology and equations are valid for gas shales, and on having sufficient and proper laboratory-derived gas adsorption isotherm measurements to represent the TOC heterogeneity of the reservoir. An example is given using analysis of a cored well from the Upper Jurassic Haynesville Shale of northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas. The analysis generated profiles for TPOR and EPOR, Swt and Swe, permeability, and net feet of pay.