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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
2003. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of fan-delta and river-delta deposystems, Pennsylvanian Minturn Formation, Colorado
Richard G. Hoy,1 Kenneth D. Ridgway2
1Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1397; current address: Geology and Geophysical Interpretation Services, ChevronTexaco—Exploration and Production Technology Company, ChevronTexaco Heritage Plaza, 1111 Bagby Street—2769, Houston, Texas 77002
2Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1397; email: [email protected]; email: www.eas.purdue.edu/basin
AUTHORS
Richard G. Hoy received a B.S. degree from Kent State University and an M.S. degree and his Ph.D. from Purdue University. His graduate research focused on Laramide and Ancestral Rocky Mountains basin development. At ChevronTexaco, he is involved with seismic and well-log interpretation, and field development/reservoir simulation studies.
Kenneth D. Ridgway is an associate professor of geology at Purdue University. His research focuses on a broad spectrum of problems related to sedimentary basins, including ancient and modern basin formation along collisional plate boundaries in Alaska and Taiwan, stratigraphic controls on groundwater flow in Cenozoic sedimentary basins adjacent to the proposed nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain, understanding Cenozoic global climate change impact on high-latitude terrestrial environments, and relating basinal parameters to building damage in earthquake zones of Turkey and Taiwan.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project has been supported by grants to R. Hoy from AAPG, Geological Society of America, SEPM, Purdue Research Foundation, and the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of Purdue University, and to K. Ridgway by the Purdue Research Foundation. Our research on the Ancestral Rocky Mountains has benefited from discussions with David Lindsey, Chuck Kluth, Jeff Manuszak, Jeff Trop, Dave Barbeau, and Lynn Soreghan. Field assistance was provided by M. J. Durdella and R. Gerhold. Reviews by G. T. Bertram, Frank Ethridge, John Lorenz, and John Robinson greatly improved the manuscript.
ABSTRACT
Fan-delta and river-delta strata of the middle Pennsylvanian Minturn Formation were deposited in the Central Colorado trough and are well exposed in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Proximal fan-delta strata were deposited in lowstand, transgressive, and highstand systems tracts, whereas distal fan-delta strata were deposited in lowstand, highstand, and forced regressive systems tracts. Fan-delta strata were deposited adjacent to coeval westward-dipping thrust faults along the western margin of the Central Colorado trough. Inferred high subsidence rates caused by thrust loading along the western margin of the basin created accommodation space closer to the basin margin and resulted in localized aggradation of fan-delta deposits.
Proximal river-delta strata were deposited in transgressive, highstand, and early regressive systems tracts, whereas distal river-delta strata were deposited during all stages of sea level change. River-delta deposystems are interpreted to have formed in parts of the basin that experienced relatively less subsidence associated with Pennsylvanian thrust loading. Lower subsidence rates associated with river-delta deposystems resulted in progradation into more distal parts of the basin.
Results of our study point out that lateral changes in depositional systems, related to local variation in tectonic subsidence, may produce significant along-strike differences in the sequence stratigraphic framework of flexural basins. Our analysis also shows that potential reservoir facies in coeval fan-delta and river-delta deposystems form at different times and in different parts of the basin during sea level fluctuation.
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