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.
The Massive Facies of the Capitan Limestone Guadalupe Mountains, Texas and New Mexico Available to Purchase
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Published:January 01, 1989
Abstract
The Guadalupe Mountains provide dramatic exposures of the Capitan Limestone along the northwest margin of the Delaware Basin. These exposures provide unparalleled opportunities to examine lateral and vertical variations in the Capitan Limestone along a portion of the basin margin. Our work (Babcock, 1974, 1977; Yurewicz, 1976, 1977a) focused on outcrops of the massive facies of the Capitan Limestone in Slaughter, McKittrick, Walnut, and Dark canyons, and was supplemented by studies in Big, Rattlesnake, Bear, and Pine Springs canyons and Jurnigan Draw. These exposures show distinct, progressive changes in the Capitan as it prograded into the Delaware Basin. This paper summarizes those observations (Table 1). In order to document changes within the Capitan, we have divided it into three informal stratigraphic units: the lower, middle, and upper Capitan equivalent to the Seven Rivers, Yates, and Tansill formations on the shelf (Fig. 1). It is important to emphasize that our observations, although extensive, are not necessarily representative of the entire reef trend or even the entire exposed trend in the Guadalupe Mountains.