ABSTRACT Organic-rich mudstones of the Appalachian Basin hold a sizable portion of the natural gas produced in the United States. Indeed, in 2015, Pennsylvania and West Virginia accounted for 21% of produced natural gas, driven in part by production from the Point Pleasant Limestone. The critical role that unconventional reservoirs will play in future global energy use necessitates the need for an enhanced understanding of those geological aspects that shape and influence their reservoir architecture. Foremost among these is a clearer understanding of the preservation and accumulation of organic carbon, as it is the source of hydrocarbons, and often provides the dominant host of interconnected porosity and hydrocarbon storage. To this end, pyrite morphology can offer insight into the redox conditions of the bottom and pore water environment at the time of sediment deposition and early diagenesis and can be especially useful in the analysis of deposits devoid of redox sensitive trace metals. Pyrite contained in cuttings and core chips retrieved from vertical and horizontal Point Pleasant Limestone wells were analyzed by scanning electron microscope. Results demonstrate a dearth of pyrite in the Point Pleasant (0.02–1.7% of the surface area analyzed). Pyrite morphology is dominated by euhedral grains and masses (~80% of pyrite encountered) co-occurring with infrequent framboids. Framboids are uniformly small (average = 4.7 μm) with just a few examples >10 μm. The presence of small amounts of euhedral pyrite grains and masses is consistent with accumulation under a dysoxic water column. Conversely, the size of the framboids suggests that they formed in a water column containing free hydrogen sulfide. A model invoking a lack of reactants necessary to sustain diagenetic pyrite growth in anoxic pore waters may explain this apparent paradox. In such a case, the framboid size distribution may reflect newly forming diagenetic framboids competing for a finite amount of reactants resulting in a population of small framboids and few large examples. Indeed, the low total iron/aluminum (Fe/Al) content of the Point Pleasant (average Fe/Al = 0.45) would indicate a low delivery of reactive iron to the seafloor during Point Pleasant deposition. The data suggests a model in which organic carbon preservation occurred by rapid burial and removal from oxygen-bearing water. In turn, more organic-rich and potentially higher quality reservoir facies of the Point Pleasant Limestone occur in areas of higher clastic delivery to basin.

A bed by bed analysis of the Bonarelli Level (late Cenomanian) in the Bottaccione Gorge and the Contessa Valley (Gubbio, Italy, area) reveals ichnofabric variations that follow lithofacies changes. Ichnofabric analysis has been approached in ~60 samples for every section, using thin sections of rocks and wet cut surfaces for three-dimensional observations. The ichnofabric includes five ichnotaxa: Chondrites isp., Planolites isp., Thalassinoides isp., Trichichnus linearis , and Zoophycos isp.; their abundance and preservation fluctuate with the substrate consistency, oxygen content, and productivity. The ichnotaxa are absent in many beds that show primary lamination and were deposited under true anoxic conditions, but it is surprising that they are present in many thin beds inside the Bonarelli interval (10 in Bottaccione and 14 in Contessa). In the underlying and overlying Scaglia Bianca (late Cenomanian) carbonate deposits, the presence of a totally bioturbated background, together with superimposed discrete trace fossils (the same ichnotaxa as in the Bonarelli Level), reveals the absence of anoxic conditions (except for cherty layers), but the presence of minor fluctuations between aerobic and slightly dysaerobic conditions is marked by changes in ichnotaxa abundance.

Abstract Foraminiferal palaeoecological analyses were carried out on 124 upper Maastrichtian chalk samples from the M-10X and E-5X wells of the Danish Central Graben. The two wells demonstrate similar trends, with some notable differences. Both are strongly dominated by planktic foraminifers, of which the small, biserial Heterohelix globulosa is by far the most common species. Based on variations within five significant, benthic foraminiferal morphogroups and the plankton/benthos ratio, eight specific foraminiferal intervals have been described. The faunal and palaeoenvironmental changes observed during the late Maastrichtian period were, in most places and especially in the lower part, not very distinct, and it is believed that the palaeoenvironment during the majority of the interval was a mostly stable, deep outer-shelf environment characterized mainly by pelagic sedimentation under temperate, suboxic conditions. More unstable conditions characterized the latest Maastrichtian. The analyses show that the sediments in the M-10X well were deposited in a generally deeper palaeoenvironment than those from E-5X. The influx of common Pseudotextularia elegans (three acmes), together with scattered specimens of the typical Tethyan species Abathomphalus mayaroensis and Pseudoguembelina hariaensis (in E-5X only), indicate that relatively warm conditions prevailed, at least periodically, during the latest part of the late Maastrichtian in both areas.