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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 64 (1980)

Issue: 5. (May)

First Page: 729

Last Page: 729

Title: Organic Facies--Stratigraphic Concept and Exploration Tool: ABSTRACT

Author(s): R. W. Jones, G. J. Demaison

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

An organic facies is a mappable subdivision of a stratigraphic unit, distinguished from the adjacent subdivisions on the basis of its organic matter (OM), without regard to the inorganic aspects of the sediment. Both the concept of organic facies and its usefulness to explorationists are based on the following facts: (1) OM in sediments consists of several types which can be distinguished by microscopic and geochemical techniques; (2) different types of OM generate and migrate different amounts and types of oil and gas; (3) the same types of OM, and consequently similar generation products, commonly extend over thousands of square miles laterally and hundreds of feet vertically; (4) the distribution of organic facies is not capricious, but is determined by the origin of t e organic remains and the free oxygen of the depositional environment; (5) organic facies can be mapped and extrapolated; and (6) the organic facies concept is a major exploration tool because it aids in understanding and predicting both the location and types of oil and gas deposits.

Several organic facies are defined by the microscopic, geochemical, generation, and migration characteristics of their OM, and examples are given of their geologic setting, vertical and horizontal distribution, and their economic significance.

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Copyright 1997 American Association of Petroleum Geologists