ABSTRACT

It is the purpose of this paper to show that in Southwest Louisiana a relationship appears to exist between the salinity of connate waters and the facies changes of the sediments from which they are derived.

The geological setting of this immediate area is discussed and special emphasis is placed on the important role that facies changes have in determining the character and relative amounts of sand, shale or lime that are deposited.

Seventy-two salinity determinations were taken on waters from sixty-nine wells it twenty-nine oil or gas fields.

From this data it appears that the saline content of water from a sand member is inversely proportional to the quantity of shales above and below it and to the degree of their compaction.

This is in contradiction to currently accepted theories of connate water diagenesis which state that saline concentrations in connate water increase proportionately with the age and/or depth of burial of their entrapping sediments.

A tentative hypothesis is proposed which is congruous with the trends indicated by the limited quantity of available salinity data.

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Figure 1. Location map of salinity control with respect to arches and embayments.

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