Abstract

In outcrop in the Guadalupian Mountains, six high frequency sequences (HFSs) are seen in the Permian lower San Andres while two are seen in the upper San Andres (Kerans and Kempter, 2002). Kerans (2006) and Saller et al. (2012) have previously attempted to correlate the Permian Basin Slaughter Field in Cochran and Hockley Counties, Texas to the lower San Andres HFSs identified in outcrop. These studies correlated the Slaughter Field in the Guadalupian 1-3 HFSs. These interpretations were based on log and core analysis as well as comparisons to previous studies in the Slaughter-Levelland Trend.

For this study, core from the Sundown Slaughter Unit 1349 and Bob Slaughter Block 611W in the Slaughter Field in Hockley County was analyzed for lithology, texture, sedimentary structures, grain types, depositional environment, and diagenesis, and both low and high frequency cycles identified. This analysis was then compared to other Slaughter-Levelland Trend studies on the Northwest Shelf of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. This analysis aided in creating a new proposed correlation of the San Andres HFSs in the Slaughter Field to Guadalupian 3-4. If this conclusion is supported by future studies, it would indicate that the model for deposition on the Slaughter-Levelland Trend on the Northwest Shelf needs to be revised for the lower San Andres since Slaughter deposition would be time-equivalent to that of the Wasson, Seminole, and Goldsmith fields instead of G-1 & G-2, where it had been previously correlated (Kerans, 2006).