Energy-related studies during the 2014 field season, western Cook Inlet, Alaska
Wartes MA (ed). 2015. Energy-related studies during the 2014 field season, western Cook Inlet, Alaska. Preliminary Interpretive Report 2015-5. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Geological and Geophysical Surveys
Resource assessments of the Cook Inlet region in south-central Alaska indicate that significant hydrocarbons likely remain to be discovered in the basin (BOEM, 2011; Stanley and others, 2011). The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys is leading a multi-agency collaborative effort to acquire new geologic data relevant to the petroleum system in Cook Inlet. This type of information is critical to improving the understanding of the basin’s evolution and provides new constraints on exploration models. The Cook Inlet program has resulted in a number of publications to date, most notably a milestone synthesis of the frame-work geology of the basin, published as a book chapter by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (LePain and others, 2013). Earlier noteworthy reports stemming from this program include a series of papers on the geology of reservoir analogs exposed in the Kachemak Bay area (LePain, 2009). Investigations along the western margin of Cook Inlet have also produced vital new information on the migration of oil within the basin, including the discovery of several new examples of oil-stained Cretaceous and Jurassic outcrops (LePain and others, 2012; Stanley and others, 2013a; Wartes and others, 2013a; Wartes and Herriott 2014a, 2014b). Petrologic work on newly collected samples has dramatically increased the available data on the reservoir quality of various units around the basin (Helmold and others, 2013). In addition to field geologic studies, the program has also integrated oil and gas well and seismic data to produce an important new map of the depth of the basal Tertiary unconformity in the Cook Inlet subsurface (Shellenbaum and others, 2010). To provide timely results from ongoing studies, the program has produced an annual series of short reports highlighting noteworthy aspects of the previous year’s field studies (Gillis, 2013, 2014). This volume includes preliminary summaries of topical studies undertaken during the 2014 field season in western Cook Inlet. Much of this new information will contribute to a planned geologic mapping effort north of Chinitna Bay in summer 2015 (Gillis and others, 2014).
- Type
- Published Report
- Date of Issue
- 2015-06
- Publisher
- State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Geological and Geophysical Surveys
- Units
- LACL , SWAN
- Keywords
- Alaska Range Batholith, arkose, Bajocian, Batholith, Bathonian, Bruin Bay Fault, Callovian, Channel, Chinitna Bay, Chinitna Formation, Chisik Conglomerate Member, contact metamorphism, Cook Inlet, Cook Inlet Basin, Cynthia Falls Sandstone, Dissected Arc, early Jurassic, Energy, Energy Resources, Exploration, Facies Analysis, fault displacement, faulting, feldspar, Folds, Forearc Basin, Fossils, Gaikema Sandstone, Gas, Geochemistry, Geology, Hydrocarbon, Hydrocarbon Potential, Iliamna Volcano, Iniskin Bay, Iniskin Peninsula, Jurassic, Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic, late Triassic, Laumontite, Limestone, lower sandstone member, marine sedimentation, Marine Transgressions, Measured Sections, Mesozoic, Middle Jurassic, Naknek Formation, Oil and Gas, Oil and Gas Basin, Oxfordian, Paveloff Siltstone Member, Permeability, Petrography, Petroleum, plutonic, Point Count, Pomeroy Arkose Member, Porosity, pyroclastic flow, pyrolysis, Quartz, Red Glacier, Red Glacier Formation, redoubt, Reservoir, Reservoir Quality, Rock-Eval Pyrolysis, Sandstone, Sediment Gravity Flow, sedimentary, Sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, Slope, Snug Harbor Siltstone Member, Source Rock, Strike-Slip, Talkeetna Arc, Talkeetna Formation, Tuxedni Bay, Tuxedni Group, Type Section, unconformity, Undissected Arc, Uplift, Ursus Head, Ursus Member, Volcanic, volcanic arc, Volcanic Rocks, volcaniclastics
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Coastal/Oceanographic Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Geothermal Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Volcanic Features and Processes