Open-file Report - 522
New regional structural log cross sections, Permian Basin, New Mexico

Five regional structural wireline log cross sections are being prepared for the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources to summarize stratigraphy and tie key subsurface and surface sections. Emphasis is on Permian stratigraphy but the entire stratigraphic column in Eddy and Lea counties is correlated. Four of the cross sections will pass through the Shell # 1 James Ranch (Eddy Co., NM: API 30 -015 - 04735), a Lower Ordovician (Ellenburger) test which is selected as a "type section" for the northern Delaware Basin. Although it is an older well, it is near numerous modern logged wells; has been well studied; and is on several published classic cross sections.

The five planned cross sections include:

1. NW- SE section A-B-C from the flank of the Pedernal Uplift (Chaves Co., NM) to the southeastern corner of Lea Co., NM on the Central Basin Platform.
2. N- S section D-B -E extending from the Pecos Slope (Chaves Co., NM) through the Artesia Group type section; the Chevron (Gulf) PDB 04 cored research well in the Capitan ·Reef complex; a Precambrian test in Reeves Co., TX and to the Chevron (Gulf) PDB 03 cored research well in Loving Co., TX.
3. W-E section F -B -G from the Algerita Escarpment (Guadalupe Mountains) through the Capitan Reef complex in the Dark Canyon area just south of Carlsbad and eastward to the New Mexico portion of the WTGS (1992) cross section which crosses the Central Basin Platform.
4. SW -NE section H -B -I from the Sierra Diablo (Hudspeth Co., TX) to the San Simon Channel (central east Lea Co., NM). This section summarizes a cross section presented at the 2007 WTGS Fall Symposium and included on the CD (Pub. 07 -119) for that meeting.
5. N- S outcrop (classic Guadalupe Mountains) to subsurface. This section J -K extends from the Algerita Escarpment through the McKittrick Canyon area and ties section H -B -I above.

Only the N-S regional cross section (2 above) and a supplementary section in Vacuum Field are presented as "work in progress" posters at this (2009) symposium. The latter is included to show possible San Andres -Brushy Canyon relationships based on the published seismic section in Pranter, Hurley and Davis (2004, AAPG Mem. 81 ).

CD or DVD-ROM format

Download

Most open-file reports are PDF files and require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view. These reports may also contain GIS data or other file types, and some are collections of files that are intended to run from a CD-ROM or local hard drive.