ABSTRACT

Studies of the Pleasant Bayou #1 and #2 test wells and of data from the Chocolate Bayou oil and gas field have yielded the most complete picture of a geopressured geothermal aquifer systen yet obtained from the Texas Gulf Coast. The principal geothermal reservoir, the "C" (Andrau) sandstone, has outstanding porosity and permeability owing to (1) initially high porosity resulting from deposition in a winnowed distributary-mouth-bar complex, (2) enhancement of porosity by secondary leaching by acid waters, and (3) isolation from late carbonate cementation. The maturity profile obtained for the test well is anomalous, but can be molded using various time-paleotemperature and burial-history configurations. These models fall into two groups: The first assumes the present geothermal gradient, modified by cooling of the lower Frio section by water flow. In the second, anomalously cool paleogeothermal gradients must be enhanced by the passage of warm waters through the middle Frio section. Both models indicate a fairly late origin of secondary porosity.