AAPG Studies in Geology No. 50, (Section Title: General Geology of the Ferron Sandstone) Chapter 10: Facies and Permeability Relationships for Wave-Modified and Fluvial-Dominated Deposits of the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone, Central Utah, by Ann Mattson and Marjorie A. Chan, Pages 251 - 276
from:
AAPG Studies in Geology No. 50: Regional to Wellbore Analog for Fluvial-Deltaic Reservoir Modeling: The Ferron Sandstone of Utah, Edited by Thomas C. Chidsey, Jr., Roy D. Adams, and Thomas H. Morris
Copyright © 2004 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. All rights reserved.

General Geology of the Ferron Sandstone

Chapter 10:
Facies and Permeability Relationships for Wave-Modified and Fluvial-Dominated Deposits of the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone, Central Utah

Ann Mattson¹ and Marjorie A. Chan^1
1Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

ABSTRACT

Two parasequence intervals in the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale exhibit contrasting facies and permeability relationships that can be used as models for reservoir characterization. Stratigraphic sections, permeability transects, photomosaic panels, and drill-hole core data are combined to establish relationships between sedimentary features and permeability, and to create a three-dimensional (3-D) framework. The fluvial-dominated bedset of one parasequence locally exhibits seaward-dipping clinoform geometries. In contrast, the wave-modified parasequence set contains tabular facies that range from foreshore to prodelta environments. Acomparison of these two depositional types shows the fluvial-dominated deposits contains: (1) higher percent shale, (2) lower degree of bioturbation, (3) finer average grain size in reservoir facies, (4) overall lower permeability values, and (5) low-permeability bounding layers between bedforms.