AAPG Studies in Geology No. 48 / SEG Geophysical References
Series No. 11, Chapter 3: Case Studies Relating Soil-iodine Geochemistry to
Subsequent Drilling Results, by Jay S. Leaver and M.
Ray Thomasson, Pages 41 - 57
from:
AAPG Studies in Geology No. 48 /
SEG Geophysical References Series No. 11: Surface
Exploration Case Histories: Applications of Geochemistry, Magnetics, and Remote Sensing,
Edited by Dietmar Schumacher and Leonard A. LeSchack
Copyright © 2002 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the
Society of Exploration Geophysicists. All rights reserved.
Chapter 3
Case Studies Relating Soil-iodine Geochemistry to Subsequent Drilling Results
Jay S. Leaver
Thomasson Partner Associates, Inc.
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
M. Ray Thomasson
Thomasson Partner Associates, Inc.
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
One means of evaluating the effectiveness of a surface geochemical method for petroleum
exploration is to compare the results of the method used with the drilling success. Four
case histories show how one surface geochemistry technique, which measures the
concentration of iodine in soils, relates to postsurvey wildcat and development success.
The four cases are in separate basins in the onshore U.S.A.: the Denver-Julesburg Basin in
Colorado, the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, the Williston Basin in North Dakota, and the
Illinois Basin in Illinois. In each case, properly processed soil-iodine data demonstrate
a correlation between soil-iodine anomalies and petroleum accumulations.
