In low-relief basins mapping the subtle structural and stratigraphic features required for effective exploration and production of hydrocarbons can be difficult. The Hugoton Embayment, containing the giant Hugoton and Panoma gas fields, is an example of such a basin. We have used digital wireline logs and a new approach, termed pseudoseismic, to map subtle structural and stratigraphic features on the western edge of the Hugoton Embayment in Morton County, Kansas. Mapped were four previously poorly constrained faults and low-relief structural noses plunging into basin.

Eight Wolfcampian sequences also were defined and mapped. The extreme landward position of these sequences has influenced their geometries and results in a modified sequence-stratigraphic model for the Wolfcampian rocks of southwestern Kansas. The sequence model places nonmarine-dominated strata in the late-highstand systems tract. Pinchouts of marine-dominated reservoir-prone lithologies within the Wolfcampian sequences, coupled with structural features, seem to be controlling factors on production from the Hugoton and Panoma gas fields.

These stratigraphic and structure problems are not unique to the Hugoton Embayment. The approaches and results could have widespread application in other basins and mature exploration provinces.