Subsurface and Outcrop Examination of the Capitan Shelf Margin, Northern Delaware Basin

Shelf sandstone reservoirs are becoming a more and more common exploration target. What they are, how they may be characterized, and how they differ from shoreline and deep-water deposits in the subject of this publication. Shelf sands and sandstone reservoirs are among the more poorly understood types of sandstones. Continental, shoreline and deep water sandstones have all been studied in much more depth than have shelf sands and sandstones. However, during the last fifteen years significant progress has been made in understanding shelf sands and sandstones. Studies of modern sediments have allowed us to understand many of the depositional processes active on the shelf. This book is intended to be an up-to-date summary of shelf processes and products. The papers are intended for those new to shelf sands and sandstones as well as the shelf specialist.
Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Shattuck Member (Queen Formation) and Lowermost Seven Rivers Formation (Guadalupian), North Mckittrick and Dog Canyons, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and West Texas Available to Purchase
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Published:January 01, 1989
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CiteCitation
Christopher Wheeler, 1989. "Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Shattuck Member (Queen Formation) and Lowermost Seven Rivers Formation (Guadalupian), North Mckittrick and Dog Canyons, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and West Texas", Subsurface and Outcrop Examination of the Capitan Shelf Margin, Northern Delaware Basin, Paul M. Harris, George A. Grover
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Abstract
The Permian Basin Complex is characterized by a prograding and aggrading shelf-marginal megafacies which is flanked by a shelf megafacies and a basinal megafacies. Guadalupian units of the shelf-marginal megafacies are the Goat Seep Dolomite and the younger, overlying Capitan Limestone. Shelf strata equivalent to these shelf-marginal units comprise the Artesia Group. The subdivisions of the Artesia Group are the Grayburg, Queen, Seven Rivers, Yates, and Tansill formations. In the Grayburg, Seven Rivers, and Tansill, a broad band of shelf carbonates separates the shelf-margin megafacies from bedded evaporites and evaporite-bearing carbonates further shelfward (Fig. 1). Similar rocks and relationships occur in the Queen and Yates, but, in addition, the Queen and Yates contain several siliciclastic intervals which extend like sheets across the shelf and up to the shelf margin. The Shattuck is one of these siliciclastic intervals. The origin of the siliciclastic intervals is still controversial, some workers advocating predominantly subaqueous transport over a submerged shelf, while others argue for predominantly eolian transport during low sea stands.