Geology of the Tularosa Basin, New Mexico

Sandeen, William M.

doi:10.56577/ffc-5.81

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Merging with the study area to the east and southeast is the High Plains province. This province masks much of the Permian Basin, which, in many respects, has a geologic history similar to that of the study area (Sandeen, 1954). Unlike the study area, the Permian Basin is a major hydrocarbon-producing province.…”

Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Studies of the Tularosa Basin region include the geology and water resources (Meinzer and Hare, 1915;Sandeen, 1954;Jicha, 1954), a study of the tectonics and general geology of the northern part of the basin (Kelley and Thompson, 1964), the geology of the Jarilla Mountains in the southern part of the basin (Schmidt and Craddock, 1964), the ground-water hydrology (Sloan and Garber, 1971), and a gravity survey (Healy et al, 1978).…”

Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oil and gas potential of the Tularosa Basin-Otero Platform-Salt Basin graben area, New Mexico and Texas

King¹,

Harder²

1985

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The Tularosa Basin--Otero platform--Salt Basin graben area has until now remained inadequately explored for hydrocarbons. Examination of numerous lithological logs, borehole geophysical logs, and gravity data together with the construction of four detailed cross sections reveal a complex fault-block structure of the Tularosa Basin. Noteworthy is the distribution of predominately Paleozoic source and reservoir beds. Analyses of drill-stem tests of the Houston Oil and Minerals No. 1 Lewelling and the Hodges No. 1 Houston test wells drilled near Three Rivers, New Mexico, indicate a potential for significant gas reservoirs in the Pennsylvanian and Permian portions of the strati-graphic section. A structural contour map on the top of the Precambrian and isopach--lithofacies maps of the Tularosa Basin show a thick and varied Paleozoic section to be explored with a high probability of success in the search for hydrocarbons.The Otero platform is heavily influenced by the buried Pedernal uplift, as shown by isopach maps and two east-west cross sections. Although no oil and gas tests indicate a strong probability of production, possible hydrocarbon-bearing traps on the east and west flanks of the Pedernal uplift are postulated. There could be reef trends of Permian age. Problems that exist, however, are t he uncertainty of the presence of adequate trap-sealing beds, the distance from major hydrocarbon source beds in the Delaware and Otero Basins, and the introduction of fresh water into reservoir beds due to Plio-Pleistocene faulting.The Salt Basin graben area of New Mexico and Texas is illustrated by north-south and east-west cross sections showing both source and reservoir beds. However, wells drilled to date have been less than promising, in a large measure due to recent faulting which allowed fresh water to flush the reservoirs.

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Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 88%