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Research about Oklahoma

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Oklahoma.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources
USGS1991

Chemical analysis of water samples and geophysical logs from cored test holes drilled in the central Oklahoma Aquifer, Oklahoma

Chemical analyses of water from eight test holes and geophysical logs for nine test holes drilled in the Central Oklahoma aquifer are presented. The test holes were drilled to investigate local occurrences of potentially toxic, naturally occurring trace substances in ground water. These trace substances include arsenic, chromium, selenium, residual alpha-particle activities, and uranium. Eight of the nine test holes were drilled near wells known to contain large concentrations of one or more of the naturally occurring trace substances. One test hole was drilled in an area known to have only small concentrations of any of the naturally occurring trace substances. Water samples were collected from one to eight individual sandstone layers within each test hole. A total of 28 water samples, including four duplicate samples, were collected. The temperature, pH, specific conductance, alkalinity, and dissolved-oxygen concentrations were measured at the sample site. Laboratory determinations included major ions, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, and trace elements (aluminum, arsenic, barium, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, silver, strontium, vanadium and zinc). Radionuclide activities and stable isotope (5 values also were determined, including: gross-alpha-particle activity, gross-beta-particle activity, radium-226, radium-228, radon-222, uranium-234, uranium-235, uranium-238, total uranium, carbon-13/carbon-12, deuterium/hydrogen-1, oxygen-18/oxygen-16, and sulfur-34/sulfur-32. Additional analyses of arsenic and selenium species are presented for selected samples as well as analyses of density and iodine for two samples, tritium for three samples, and carbon-14 for one sample. Geophysical logs for most test holes include caliper, neutron, gamma-gamma, natural-gamma logs, spontaneous potential, long- and short-normal resistivity, and single-point resistance. Logs for test-hole NOTS 7 do not include long- and short-normal resistivity, spontaneous-potential, or single-point resistivity. Logs for test-hole NOTS 7A include only caliper and natural-gamma logs.

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USGS1991

Water resources data, Oklahoma, water year 1990

Water resources data for the 1990 water year for Oklahoma consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes or reservoirs. This report contains discharge records for 132 gaging stations; stage and contents for 30 lakes or reservoirs; water quality for 46 gaging stations and 2 lakes. Also included are 6 partial-record stations and 34 ground-water sites. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Oklahoma.

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USGS1990

Iron sulfide minerals at Cement oil field, Oklahoma: Implications for magnetic detection of oil fields

Aeromagnetic anomalies at Cement oil field (Anadarko basin, Oklahoma) have been attributed to authigenic magnetite. The following characteristics of the magnetite, however, indicate that it is contamination introduced by drilling: (1) occurrence as sharp angular blades and as spheres, commonly with metallographic textures typical of industrial alloys and with associated steel and wustite (FeO); (2) presence only in well cuttings and absence from core and quarry samples; and (3) lack of association with detrital framework grains or with authigenic carbonate and sulfide minerals. Ferrimagnetic pyrrhotite occurs in well cuttings, cores, and quarry samples at Cement and is a possible natural source of the magnetic anomalies. Pyrrhotite, which is intergrown with more abundant FeS 2 minerals, formed as a result of hydrocarbon seepage. Pyrrhotite is confined to beds above oil and gas reservoirs. These beds, which lack detrital organic matter, contain higher mineral sulfide and lower mineral sulfate sulfur (1.7 and 0.1 wt %, respectively) than do correlative beds off the field (0.2 and 1.1 wt %, respectively). In the field, isotopic values of sulfide S show a systematic decrease upward through the Permian section from positive values (maximum, +12 per mil at ∼610-760 m depth) to negative values (-1 to -11 per mil between 32 and 230 m; -26 to -30 per mil at the surface). Geochemical results, together with time-temperature data derived from burial curves, limit the major sources of the sulfide in the Fe-S minerals to two possibilities. Isotopically heavy sulfide was generated either inorganically at temperatures >∼90 °C in beds beneath Permian beds, or by bacterial sulfate reduction at temperatures <∼60 °C in Permian strata. If the latter, microbial sulfate reduction occurred under sulfate-limited conditions. The isotopically light sulfide occurring in minerals near the present surface is attributed to bacterial reduction of sulfate. Sulfate-reducing bacteria derived metabolic energy from leaking hydrocarbons and associated organic compounds.

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USGS1990

Geohydrology and water quality of the Roubidoux Aquifer, northeastern Oklahoma

The Roubidoux aquifer is an important source of freshwater for public supplies, commerce, industry, and rural water districts in northeastern Oklahoma. Ground-water withdrawals from the aquifer in 1981 were estimated to be 4.8 million gallons per day, of which about 90 percent was withdrawn in Ottawa County. Wells drilled at the beginning of the 20th century originally flowed at the land surface, but in 1981 water levels ranged from 22 to 471 feet below land surface. A large cone of depression has formed as a result of ground water withdrawals near Miami. Wells completed in the Roubidoux aquifer have yields that range from about 100 to more than 1,000 gallons per minute. An aquifer test and a digital ground-water flow model were used to estimate aquifer and confining-layer hydraulic characteristics. Using these methods, the transmissivity of the aquifer was estimated to be within a range of 400 to 700 square feet per day. The leakance of the confining layer was determined to be within a range from 0 to 0.13 per day, with a best estimate value in a range from 4.3 x 10-8 to 7.7 x 10-8 per day. Analyses of water samples collected as part of this study and of water-quality data from earlier work indicate that a large areal change in major-ion chemistry occurs in ground water in the Roubidoux aquifer in northeastern Oklahoma. The ground water in the easternmost part of the study unit has relatively small dissolved-solids concentrations (less than 200 milligrams per liter) with calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate as the major ions. Ground water in the westernmost part of the study unit has relatively large dissolved-solids concentrations (greater than 800 milligrams per liter) with sodium and chloride as the major ions. A transition zone of intermediate sodium, chloride, and dissolved-solids concentrations exists between the easternmost and westernmost parts of the study unit. Three water-quality problems are apparent in the Roubidoux aquifer in northeast Oklahoma: (1) Contamination by mine water, (2) large concentrations of sodium and chloride, and (3) large radium-226 concentrations. Many wells in the mining area have been affected by mine-water contamination. At present (1990), all instances of ground-water contamination by mine water can be explained by faulty seals or leaky casings in wells that pass through the zone of mine workings and down to the Roubidoux aquifer. None of the data available to date demonstrate that mine water has migrated from the Boone Formation through the pores and fractures of the intervening geologic units to the Roubidoux aquifer. Ground water with large concentrations of sodium and chloride occurs at some depth throughout the study unit. In the eastern part of the study unit, chloride concentrations greater than 250 milligrams per liter are found at depths greater than approximately 1,200 to 1,500 feet. Data are too few to determine the depth to ground water with large concentrations of sodium and chloride in the southern and southwestern parts of the study unit. Large concentrations of gross-alpha radioactivity in ground water occur near the western edge of the transition zone. Generally, ground water with large concentrations of gross-alpha radioactivity was found to exceed the maximum contaminant level for radium-226. (available as photostat copy only)

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USGS1990

Water quality in Gaines Creek and Gaines Creek Arm, Eufaula Lake, Oklahoma

Based on samples collected from May 1978 to May 1980 and analyzed for major anions, nitrogen, trace elements, phytoplankton, and bacteria, the water in Gaines Creek and the Gaines Creek arm of Eufaula Lake was similar with respect to suitability for municipal use. Water from Gaines Creek had a pH range of 5.7 to 7.6 and a maximum specific conductance of 97 microsiemens per centimeter at 25° Celsius, whereas water from the Gaines Creek arm of Eufaula Lake had a pH range of 6.0 to 9.2 and a maximum specific conductance of 260 microsiemens per centimeter at 25° Celsius. Dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and specific conductance values for the lake varied with depth. With the exceptions of cadmium, iron, lead, and manganese, trace-element determinations of samples were within recommended national primary and secondary drinking-water standards. When compared to the National Academy of Sciences water-quality criteria, phytoplankton and bacteria counts exceeded recommendations; however, water from either Gaines Creek or Eufaula Lake could be treated similarly and used as a municipal water supply.

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USGS1990

Hydrology of the Arbuckle Mountains area, south-central Oklahoma

Rocks that make up the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer crop out over ~500 mi 2 in the Arbuckle Mountains province in south-central Oklahoma. The aquifer consists of limestone, dolomite, and sandstone of the Arbuckle and Simpson Groups of Late Cambrian to Middle Ordovician age and is about 5,000-9,000 ft thick. The rocks were subjected to intensive folding and faulting associated with major uplift of the area during Early to Late Pennsylvanian time.

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USGS1989

Ground-water quality assessment of the central Oklahoma aquifer, Oklahoma - Analysis of available water-quality data through 1987

Beginning in 1986, the Congress annually has appropriated funds for the U.S. Geological Survey to test and refine concepts for a National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of a full-scale program would be to: Provide a nationally consistent description of current water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources; Define long-term trends (or lack of trends) in water quality; and Identify, describe, and explain, as possible, the major factors that affect the observed water-quality conditions and trends. The results of the NAWQA Program will be made available to water managers, policy makers, and the public, and will provide an improved scientific basis for evaluating the effectiveness of water-quality management programs. At present (1988), the assessment program is in a pilot phase in seven project areas throughout the country that represent diverse hydrologic environments and water-quality conditions. The Central Oklahoma aquifer project is one of three pilot ground-water projects. One of the initial activities performed by each pilot project was to compile, screen, and interpret the large amount of water-quality data available within each study unit. The purpose of this report is to assess the water quality of the Central Oklahoma aquifer using the information available through 1987. The scope of the work includes compiling data from Federal, State, and local agencies; evaluating the suitability of the information for conducting a regional water-quality assessment; mapping regional variations in major-ion chemistry; calculating summary statistics of the available water-quality data; producing maps to show the location and number of samples that exceeded water-quality standards; and performing contingency-table analyses to determine the relation of geologic unit and depth to the occurrence of chemical constituents that exceed water-quality standards. This report provides an initial description of water-quality conditions in the Central Oklahoma aquifer study unit. No attempt was made in this report to determine the causes for regional variations in major-ion chemistry or to examine the reasons that some chemical constituents exceed water-quality standards.

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USGS1989

Water resources data, Oklahoma, water year 1987

Water resources data for the 1987 water year for Oklahoma consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes or reservoirs. This report contains discharge records for 123 gaging stations; stage and contents for 30 lakes or reservoirs; water quality for 38 gaging stations and 3 lakes. Also included are 5 partial-record stations. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Oklahoma.

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USGS1989

Thermal maturity of the Anadarko Basin

Levels of thermal maturity are estimated for Paleozoic strata in five areas of the central Anadarko basin for times between the Paleozoic and the present, and depths of the oil window are plotted as a function of geologic time. Mean surface temperature assumed here for calculating Lopatin's time-temperature index of thermal maturity (TTl) in the central Anadarko basin declines from 80°F (27°C) to 60°F (16°C) from early Paleozoic time to the present. Shallow-water carbonates and lower paleolatitudes suggest warmer climates in the Paleozoic for this area. The geothermal gradient is assumed to equal 4.0°F/100 ft (7.3°C/100 m) in the Late Cambrian and to decay over a 100-m.y. period to the present regional gradient of 1.3°F/100 ft (2.4°C/100 m). Initial basin formation was caused by crustal thinning. Accumulation of thick Pennsylvanian sediments in a foreland-style basin dominated by vertical lithospheric flexure represents a second major period of subsidence. An elevated geothermal gradient during this time is not assumed for TTl calculations, because mathematical models suggest time-invariant heat flows in such basins. TTl computations based on these assumptions indicate that oil could have been generated in the ancestral Anadarko basin >350 m.y. ago. By the end of the Pennsylvanian, significant volumes of kerogen were in the oil window (and perhaps beyond), and significant volumes have remained in the oil window up to the present day. These circumstances may partially explain the unusual richness of the Anadarko basin as a Paleozoic hydrocarbon province.

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USGS1989

Characterization and origin of natural gases of the Anadarko Basin

Natural-gas production in the Anadarko basin is from three geographically separated areas that can be differentiated by age of reservoir and by inferred nature of thermal origin of the gases. In the central basin, nonassociated gases are produced mainly from Upper Mississippian and Pennsylvanian sandstones. Gases become isotopically heavier (&delta; 13 C 1 values range from -49.8 to -33.2 ppt) and chemically drier (C 1 /C 1&ndash;5 values range from 0.74 to 0.99) with increasing level of thermal maturity. Gas samples are from depths as much as 21,600 ft. Gases were generated mainly from interbedded shales with type-III kerogen during the mature and postmature stages of hydrocarbon generation. Deviations from the trend are due to mixing and migration of gases generated at different levels of thermal maturity over the past 250 m.y. In the giant Panhandle-Hugoton field, nonassociated gases are generally produced from Permian carbonates at depths <3,000 ft. Gases display little compositional variation &delta; 13 C 1 values range from -46.4 to -39.9 ppt, C 1 /C 1&ndash;5 values range from 0.69 to 0.96). Because organic-rich, mature source rocks are not present in the area, gases probably were generated in the central basin from Pennsylvanian or older source rocks during the mature stage of hydrocarbon generation. This implies migration over distances as much as several hundred miles. In the Sooner trend, associated gases are produced from Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian carbonates at depths as great as 9,600 ft and were generated from type-II kerogen during the mature stage of hydrocarbon generation. Associated oil correlates with extracts of the Upper Devonian and Lower Mississippian Woodford Shale. Gases are isotopically lighter (&delta; 13 C 1 values of -47.3 to -40.6 ppt) and chemically wetter (C 1 /C 1&ndash;5 values of 0.67 to 0.99) than those derived from type-III kerogen at an equivalent level of thermal maturity.

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USGS1989

Geochemistry of oils and hydrocarbon source rocks, greater Anadarko Basin: evidence for multiple sources of oils and long-distance oil migration

Organic geochemical analyses of 104 crude oils and 190 core samples of dark-colored shales from the greater Anadarko basin show three major oil types which generally correlate with reservoir age and source-rock age. Analyses include C 3 -C 30 whole-oil gas chromatography, C 10+ saturated-hydrocarbon-fraction gas chromatography, and carbon stable isotopes (ppt relative to PDB) of saturated (sat) and aromatic (arom) hydrocarbon fractions. Three samples from Middle Ordovician Simpson Group reservoirs are "typical" Ordovician oils (type 1), having strong odd-carbon predominance in the C 13 to C 19 n-alkanes, containing little or no acyclic isoprenoids, an &delta; 13 C values of -33.9 ppt (sat) and -33.7 ppt (arom). Oils from Silurian to Devonian and Mississippian reservoirs (type 2) show little or no odd-carbon predominance in the n-alkanes, a regular decrease in abundance of n-alkanes with increasing carbon number, pristane/phytane ratios (pr/ph) of 1.1 to 1.5, and &delta; 13 C values of -30.6 ppt (sat) and -30.1 ppt (arom). Oils in Pennsylvanian reservoirs (type 3) have the greatest amounts of C 15+ hydrocarbons, are isotopically heavy (-27.5 ppt [sat] and -26.4 ppt [arom]), have methyl-cyclohexane as the most abundant hydrocarbon, and have pr/ph values from 2.0 to 0.9. Oils from the Kansas shelf area of the Anadarko basin are similar to the Anadarko oil types except that they have only traces of toluene and no detectable benzene. The relative abundance of toluene in the C 7 hydrocarbons systematically decreases with distance from the depocenter of the basin. The aromatic compounds are removed by water-washing, and hence could have been lost by contact with progressively greater amounts of formation water during long-distance migration. The lack of thermally mature source rocks in southern and central Kansas supports this hypothesis.

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USGS1989

Structural evolution of the southeastern portion of the Anadarko Basin region

Field investigations in the Lake Classen-Turner Falls, Oklahoma, area of the northern Arbuckle anticline, on the southeastern margin of the Anadarko basin, indicate that transpressional (oblique compressional) deformation of Late Pennsylvanian age dominated the structural development of this area. The Arbuckle anticline is detached along the NW -trending, SW -dipping, left-reverse Arbuckle fault and is thrust obliquely onto the margin of the Tishomingo block to the east. Paleostress analysis of slip lines on mesoscopic faults along the northeastern limb of the Arbuckle anticline, associated in style and geometry with oblique Arbuckle thrusting, indicates compression directed N. 35-60° E.

Oklahoma↗
USGS1989

Anadarko Basin conodont studies

Preliminary analysis of early Paleozoic conodonts from the subsurface within and adjacent to the Anadarko basin demonstrates their utility in stratigraphic and thermal evolution studies in the basin. More than 100 samples from 30 drill holes produced conodonts that can be correlated with faunas known from rock sequences exposed along the southern flanks of the basin. For the Middle Ordovician to Devonian, extant biozonations and/or recent published literature based on Oklahoma surface sections allow good biostratigraphic correlation into the subsurface and often allow testing of physical correlations. In contrast, conodonts from the Arbuckle Group (Lower to Middle Ordovician) are less well known. Faunas from the upper half of the group are documented only in unpublished theses, and published faunas are in need of restudy and revision. However, this limited information, along with work in progress in Oklahoma and data from carbonate platform facies elsewhere in North America, still permit correlations into the subsurface with the promise of increasingly improved resolution.

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USGS1989

Diagenesis of hydrocarbon-bearing rocks in the Middle Ordovician Simpson Group, southeastern Anadarko Basin, Oklahoma

Quartzarenites and subarkoses in the Middle Ordovician Simpson Group in the Gulf Costello No. 1 and Sunray-DX Parker No. 1 Mazur wells, southeastern Anadarko basin, have undergone a complex diagenetic and petroleum-migration history. During early burial, petroleum migrated locally through sandstones; patches of bitumen in calcite and bitumen-lined quartz overgrowths containing oil-bearing inclusions reflect the introduction of petroleum-bearing fluids at shallow depths. Stable-isotope data reveal that early calcite precipitated at near-surface temperatures from fluids dominated by marine carbon. At moderate to deep burial, calcite dissolution, followed by ferroan-dolomite and clay-mineral precipitation, occurred at about the same time as the rocks reached levels of thermal maturity sufficient for the generation of hydrocarbons. Maximum paleotemperatures during deep burial are estimated from maturation models to have reached 250°F in the Costello well and 300°F in the Mazur well. Maturation-derived temperatures in the Costello well are consistent with preliminary homogenization temperatures (210-250°F) for oil inclusions along microscopic healed fractures that formed during deep burial, thus supporting an Early to Middle Pennsylvanian timing for the generation and migration of late-stage hydrocarbons. The early petroleum phase, emplaced while the rocks were at shallow burial depths, migrated from mature source rocks deeper in the basin.

Oklahoma↗
USGS1989

Depositional facies, petrofacies, and diagenesis of siliciclastics of Morrow and Springer rocks, Anadarko Basin, Oklahoma

Investigations of 6,500 ft of core and -100 thin-sectioned core samples from 30 drill holes from the Oklahoma Panhandle to the southeast part of the Anadarko basin, Oklahoma, have led to the recognition of three depositional facies of the Springer and Morrow Formations of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age, as recognized by geologists working in the subsurface of the Midcontinent region. Lithofacies include (1) fluvial-influenced coastal (FIC), (2) tidal-influenced nearshore (TINS), and (3) mixed, which shows mixed tidal and non-tidal marine influence (MT/NTM). The FIC facies is restricted to down-hole depths of 4,400-8,000 ft; the TINS facies is recognized only between down-hole depths of 4,000 and 18,000 ft. Thin-section study of sandstone indicates that quartz arenite is the most common rock type in both the FIC and TINS facies. Subarkose is present, but not common, in the FIC facies. Sublitharenite is moderately common in the TINS facies. Calcite skeletal fragments, mainly of brachiopods and crinoids, are more abundant in the FJC facies than in the TINS facies. The mixed facies includes quartz arenite, subarkose, and sublitharenite. Iron-bearing carbonate cements are observed in rocks of all three depositional facies. Porosity is typically <10%, and has been reduced by compaction and redistribution of silica, as well as by iron-bearing carbonate cements. Clay cements are less common, but are locally important. Loss of porosity due to mechanical compaction is significant in some samples from depths > 12,000 ft. Thin films of bitumen have inhibited the effects of diagenesis in some samples. Fractures are identified in core samples, but are rare in thin sections. Porosity is due primarily to dissolution of glauconite, clays or clayey matrix, and some framework grains, but many dissolution pores are partly or completely filled with various clays, and only microporosity remains.

Oklahoma↗