Oriskany Formation, Appalachian Basin

Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Eastern Kentucky

General Setting

The Appalachian Basin is part of an ancient foreland basin in the eastern United States that contains a thick sequence of relatively undeformed Paleozoic strata. The basin, approximately 300 mi wide (in the north) and 600 mi long, encompasses a broad area between the Allegheny front to the east, the Cincinnati and other contiguous arches to the west, and the Canadian Shield to the north. The south portion of the basin (which in not covered in the GIS) narrows between the Nashville Dome and the Pine Mountain thrust (Schumaker, 1996). The region around Pittsburgh, Morgantown, and Cleveland is near the axis of the basin and is therefore underlain by a thick succession (>10,000 ft) of strata. Because a number of these strata are porous and permeable sandstones that are regionally continuous (Milici, 1996), they are potential targets for CO2 sequestration. Moreover, the Pittsburgh/Morgantown/Cleveland vicinity has a large concentration of CO2-producing power plants.

Information Search and Selection

The subsurface of this area has been well studied, the research driven by the search for domestic and industrial water supplies, petroleum, and brine disposal. Because shallow aquifers in the area contain copious water supplies, there is little need for hydrogeologic studies of deeper brine aquifers. However, oil and gas exploitation has a long history in this area and has promoted research and analysis of Appalachian Basin stratigraphy (Oliver and others, 1967; Roen and Walker, 1996).

A number of potential porous, permeable, and continuous sand units are beneath the area that could potentially be used for CO2 sequestration. These strata tend to be shallow in the west, and they progressively deepen eastward toward the Allegheny Front (east of the Allegheny Front the strata are folded and faulted). Therefore, optimal sequestration horizons vary according to the position in the basin; optimal horizons are typically older on the flanks (such as the Tuscarora, Keefer, and Oriskany Sandstones) and younger in the central basin (such as the Oriskany, Pocono, Berea, and Princeton Sandstones) (Dennison, 1975; Roen and Walker, 1996).

We selected the Lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone to characterize in the GIS because it is widespread and porous and it occurs at a depth range conducive to CO2 sequestration over a large portion of the Appalachian Basin. Note that there are a large number of potential horizons, the Appalachian Basin stratigraphy and structure are well known (Roen and Walker, 1996), and there are a number of areas where CO2 emissions are high (fig. 1). Moreover, because the Oriskany is the principal horizon for brine disposal in western Pennsylvania, it is a proven reservoir for subsurface disposal (Steve Platt, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, personal communication, 2000).

References

Abel, K. D., and Heyman, L., 1981, The Oriskany Sandstone in the subsurface of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Mineral Resources Report 81, 9 p.

Asquith, G., 1982, Basic well log analysis for geologists: Tulsa, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 216 p.

Cate, A. S., 1961, Subsurface structure of plateau region of north-central and western Pennsylvania on top of the Oriskany Formation: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Map 9.

Dennison, J. M., 1975, Stratigraphy of Precambrian through Cretaceous strata of probable fluvial origin in southeastern United States and their potential as uranium host rocks: Southeastern Geology, Special Publication No. 5, 210 p.

Diecchio, R. J., Jones, S. E., and Dennison, J. M., 1984, Oriskany Sandstone regional stratigraphic relationships and production trends: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Map WV-17, 8 plates.

Dressel, P. E., 1985, The geochemistry of oil-field brines from western Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, Master's thesis, 128 p.

Fetter, C. W., 1988, Applied hydrogeology, 2nd ed.: New York, Macmillan Publishing Company, 592 p.

Hall, J. F., 1952, Oriskany sand study: Ohio Geological Survey Report of Investigation 13, Petroleum and Natural Gas Series, Part 2, p. 39–58.

Harper, J. A., and Patchen, D. G., 1996, Play Dos: the Lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone structural play, in Roen, J. B., and Walker, B. J., eds., The atlas of major Appalachian gas plays: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Publication V-25, p. 109–117.

Headlee, A. J. W., and Joseph, J. S., 1945, Permeability, porosity, and water content of natural gas reservoirs, Kanawha-Jackson and Campbells Creek Oriskany fields: West Virginia Geological Survey Bulletin No. 8, 16 p.

Milici, R. C., 1996, Stratigraphic history of the Appalachian Basin, in Roen, J. B., and Walker, B. J., eds., The atlas of major Appalachian gas plays: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Publication V-25, p. 4–7.

National Imagery and Mapping Agency, 2000, Digital terrain elevation data (DTED Level 0).

Oliver, W. A., DeWitt, W., Jr., Dennison, J. M., Hoskins, D. M., and Huddle, J. W., 1967, The Appalachian Basin, United States, in Oswald, D. H., ed., International Symposium on the Devonian System: Calgary, Canada, Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, p. 1001–1040.

Opritza, S. T., 1996, Play Dop: the Lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone updip permeability pinchout, in Roen, J. B., and Walker, B. J., eds., The atlas of major Appalachian gas plays: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Publication V-25, p. 126–129.

Patchen, D. G., and Harper, J. A., 1996, Play Doc: the Lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone combination traps play, in Roen, J. B., and Walker, B. J., eds., The atlas of major Appalachian gas plays: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Publication V-25, p. 118–125.

Roen, J. B., and Walker, B. J., eds., 1996, The atlas of major Appalachian gas plays: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Publication V-25, 201 p.

Rosenfeld, M. A., 1954, Petrographic variation in the Oriskany Sandstone: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 65, p. 1298–1299.

Schumaker, R. C., 1996, Structural history of the Appalachian Basin, in Roen, J. B., and Walker, B. J., eds., The atlas of major Appalachian gas plays: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Publication V-25, p. 8–22.

Stow, M., 1938, Conditions of sedimentation and sources of the Oriskany Sandstone as indicated by petrology: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 2, p. 541–564.

Trapp, H., Jr., and Horn, M. A., 1997, Ground water atlas of the United States—segment 11, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas No. HA-730-L, 30 p.

Prepared by Andrew Warne.

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