In this month's AAPG BULLETIN...

March 2008

E&P NOTE

Mesozoic (Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous) deep gas reservoir play, central and eastern Gulf coastal plain

Ernest A. Mancini, Peng Li, Donald A. Goddard, Victor Ramirez, and Suhas C. Talukdar

Gulf Coast Plain Gas Potential

The potential of a deeply buried, Mesozoic gas reservoir play in the central and eastern Gulf Coast Plain, United States, is examined through sequence stratigraphic study, petroleum system analysis, and resource assessment. This and other plays in the region have significant potential.

GEOHORIZONS

Automated thermotectonostratigraphic basin reconstruction: Viking Graben case study

L. H. Rüpke, S. M. Schmalholz, D. W Schmid, and Y. Y. Podladchikov

Automated Forward Modeling

An algorithm for automating sedimentary basin reconstruction couples a 2-D thermotectonostratigraphic forward model with an inverse scheme for fitting initial stratigraphic parameters to a desired accuracy. The high potential of this method is illustrated through a case study of the Northern Viking Graben.

Identification of microbial and thermogenic gas components from Upper Devonian black shale cores, Illinois and Michigan basins

Anna M. Martini, Lynn M. Walter, and Jennifer C. McIntosh

Microbial Methane Productivity

Early identification of microbial methane from crushed core material recovered from coalbed and black shale accumulations permits more efficient and cost-effective exploration. A case study in the Illinois basin indicates that areas containing microbial gas may be more productive than pure thermogenic zones.

ARTICLES

Origin and accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Huanghua depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Tongwei Zhang, Mingjie Zhang, Baojun Bai, Xianbin Wang, and Liwu Li

Huanghua Depression CO₂ Origin and Accumulation

Understanding the origin and distribution of the CO₂ content in natural gas is important for risk assessment. Analysis of gas from the Huanghua Depression, China, indicates that gasses with high CO₂ content originated from mantle degassing and that these gasses tend to collect locally within fault zones.

Fault zone deformation controlled by carbonate mechanical stratigraphy, Balcones fault system, Texas

David A. Ferrill and Alan P. Morris

Carbonate Fault Deformation Processes

The influence of stratigraphy on structural style is explored in the Cretaceous carbonates of the Blacones fault system, Texas, providing a working model for estimating, interpreting, and inferring normal fault deformation processes and mechanical stratigraphic architecture.

About the BULLETIN

First published in 1917 as the Bulletin of the Southwestern Association of Petroleum Geologists--AAPG’s predecessor organization--in order to disseminate scientific material from annual meetings of the S.A.P.G., the AAPG Bulletin changed its name one year later when S.A.P.G. became AAPG.

The AAPG Bulletin has been delivering quality research to the scientific world ever since. The first issue contained papers written by the best-known geologists of the day, and included papers on such topics as South America, Europe, and general geologic problems of structure and sedimentation.

While the 21st-century AAPG Bulletin has undergone some changes since 1917, enlarging to 8 ½ x 11” size to incorporate more material and being published digitally as well as in print, it continues to adhere to the primary purpose of the organization, which is to advance the science of geology especially as it relates to petroleum, natural gas, other subsurface fluids, and mineral resources.

Delivered digitally or in print monthly to each AAPG Member as a part of membership dues, the AAPG Bulletin is one of the most respected, peer-reviewed technical journals in existence, with recent issues containing papers focused on such topics as the Middle East, channel detection, China, permeability, subseismic fault prediction, the U.S., and Africa.