Principal Investigators:
The Triassic Shublik Formation is an important source rock and potential reservoir rock for Prudhoe Bay hydrocarbons. The Shublik Formation represents a waning phase of southward-prograding passive margin sedimentation. The depositional environment is interpreted to indicate an open marine setting influenced by upwelling that fostered the accumulation of both phosphatic and organic-rich facies.
While the Shublik Formation and correlative units have been studied throughout northern Alaska, correlations between the suface and subsurface remain obscure. Recent high-resolution subsurface analyses provide a starting point for correlation between the subsurface at Prudhoe Bay and outcrop exposures of the Shublik and equivalent units in the Brooks Range. In this project, outcrop sections of the Shublik Formation will be reevaluated in light of recent sequence stratigraphic analyses. Three scales of analysis, including documentation of depositional sequences, parasequences, and microfacies, will be employed to characterize the Shublik Formation in outcrop. Detailed stratigraphic data, lithologic samples for petrographic and TOC analysis, and outcrop spectral gamma ray profiles will be collected in the field. These data will permit the interpretation of sequence stratigraphic subdivisions, important source rock intervals, and the depositional history of the Shublik Formation. Surface to subsurface correlations will demonstrate the relationship between potential updip Shublik reservoir rocks and downdip source rocks. Comparison of the outcrop sequence stratigraphic data with previous subsurface models will provide a crucial test of the regional validity of the models and refine our understanding of the early Mesozoic history of Arctic Alaska.
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This site is maintained by C. L. Hanks
Catherine.Hanks@gi.alaska.edu
Last updated on December 1, 2001