Speaker: Hunter Green, Technical research analyst at Coastal Chemical
Subject: Geochemistry and Organic Matter Characterization of Wolfcampian – Virgilian Fine Grained Siliciclastics within the Northern Permian Basin: Insights to Depositional Environmental and Diagenesis using a Multiproxy Approach
Abstract: The use of mineral diagenetic indices and organic matter maturity has shown to be a key element for reconstructing the evolution of sedimentary basins. Additionally, an understanding of mineralogy and organic geochemistry at high resolutions can further provide insights to the assessment of potential source rocks and petroleum exploration. Here, fine-grained siliciclastics within the northern Midland Basin were evaluated to constrain conditions preceding burial and post-burial diagenesis to better understand the elements of shale diagenesis. Analytical techniques of whole-rock major and trace element geochemistry (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Rock-Eval pyrolysis, and organic petrography, were used to determine the depositional environment conditions and ensuing burial processes within two separate intervals (Virgilian and Wolfcampian). This multiproxy approach indicates a change in depositional regimes from hemipelagic to more detrital influence through time while bottom water conditions exhibit a mostly anoxic environment during deposition. Additionally, data show that TOC is associated primarily in the fine grain fraction (<2um) and further investigations are warranted to their associations. Post burial clay mineralogy and organic geochemistry suggest that these intervals have been through temperatures near the oil window and indicated potential for a source/reservoir unconventional system. The relationships of clay mineral diagenesis and organic matter maturations as well as high resolution chemostratigraphy contribute to the depositional and burial models of the northern Midland Basin and should be evaluated in the whole context of Permian Basin evolution.
Bio: Hunter Green graduated with his Bachelor of Science in geology from Wayland Baptist University (Plainview, Tx) in 2013. In 2016, Hunter completed his Master’s degree at Fort Hays State University (Hays, KS). During his time here his research focused on Mississippian carbonates in south central Kansas as potential reservoirs for CO2 sequestration. Upon completion, he has been a part of multiple analytical laboratory startups focusing on production brine and oil chemistries and applications of corrosion, scale, and H2S preventative products. He currently is a technical research analyst at Coastal Chemical and a PhD candidate at Texas Tech University, where his research is focused on the interactions of clay minerals and organic particles from deposition to diagenesis. Hunter has been a past recipient of various scholarships for undergraduates, multiple scholarships from AAPG, and SPWLA research grant as a graduate student. In the future, he wishes to pursue a career in academics focusing on undergraduate research opportunities within the realms of sedimentology and depositional environments.