Abstract

In the Fall of 2011, the Department of Geosciences at Texas Tech University received a donation of an estimated >7,000 biostratigraphic reports of wells drilled in the 1930’s to the early 1970’s within the greater Permian Basin region. These reports provide depth to the tops of numerous fusilinid zones and coupled with included lithostratigraphic information provide a means to spatially map out chronostratigraphic surfaces within the region. The PABZT (Permian Basin Archival of Bio-stratigraphic Zone Tops) Project was undertaken to digitally capture this data into a spatially manipulatable archive.

To date, the project is approximately ~15% complete with 18 out of 126 counties completed. 1025 total wells are included in the database, largely centered on the northern and eastern rims of the Midland Basin. Highlights of the project so far, include illuminating pro-gradation of the eastern shelf in early Permian time and the middle to late Pennsylvanian sequential development of the Horseshoe Atoll. Future goals of the project are to: 1) complete the archival of the biostratigraphic horizons from each county in the collection and 2) build a searchable, online, spatially manipulatable database for quick construction of specific biostratigraphic horizons within the greater Permian basin region. The project is powered, to date, through undergraduate theses, but starting Fall 2015 MS student Jill Garcia is taking a prominent role in the project.