1

SummaryBoundaries Neogene-age shelf-slope break of

the San Joaquin Basin on the west; onlap of Neogene rocks on Sier-ran basement to the east; petroleum system limit on the north; White Wolf Fault on the south; topographic surface to crystalline basement.

Source Rocks Miocene Monterey Formation; pos-sibly minor other sources.

Reservoir Rocks Mainly Oligocene to Pleistocene and even Holocene sandstones; minor older sandstones and crystal-line basement rocks.

Traps Pinchouts, truncations, tar seals, extensional faults.

Migration Eastward and up-dip through sand-stones, fractures, and faults.

Timing Oil generation from mid-Pliocene

to present from Monterey Forma-tion.

Existing Fields Ant Hill, Dyer Creek, Edison, Edison Northeast, Fruitvale, Kern Bluff, Kern Front, Kern River, Mount Poso, Mountain View, Poso Creek, Rosedale Ranch, Round Mountain, Union Avenue.

Exploration Status Heavily explored (2.3 wells per square mile and 67 percent of all sections have at least one explor-atory well).

Resource Potential Mainly growth of reserves in exist-ing fields.

Description The confirmed stratigraphic and structural-stratigraphic

Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit (AU) of the Miocene Total Petroleum System (San Joaquin Basin Province) com-prises all hydrocarbon accumulations within the geographic limits of the AU. Traps typically display low dip angles, gentle folds, and normal faults. Reservoirs, which range in age from fractured Mesozoic basement rocks to Holocene nonmarine rocks, are mainly Oligocene to Miocene sandstones from the uppermost slope and adjacent shelf of the San Joaquin Basin, shallow marine shelf sandstones mainly of Miocene age, and nonmarine sandstones and conglomerates mostly of Pliocene-Pleistocene age. Faults have relatively small vertical displace-ments.

Map boundaries of the assessment unit are shown in fig-ures 13.1 and 13.2; this assessment unit replaces the Southeast Stable Shelf play 1002 considered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in its 1995 National Assessment (Beyer, 1996).

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

By Donald L. Gautier and Allegra Hosford Scheirer

Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

Chapter 13

ContentsSummary----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1Description------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Source Rocks---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Maturation--------------------------------------------------------------------------------2Migration--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Reservoir Rocks------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Traps and Seals--------------------------------------------------------------------------3Exploration Status and Resource Potential------------------------------------------ 3References Cited------------------------------------------------------------------------4Figures------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8Table-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------19Appendixes (.pdf files)

2

Stratigraphically, the AU extends from the uppermost crystal-line basement to the topographic surface (fig. 13.3). The AU is bounded on the west by the approximate location of the shelf-slope break of the San Joaquin Basin in late Miocene time, thus excluding reservoirs in the deep-water Stevens sand of Eckis (1940). The eastern boundary of the AU is the edge of onlap of Neogene sedimentary sequences on crystalline basement rocks of the Sierra Nevada. The northern AU boundary is placed at the approximate northern extent of oils in shelf-facies reservoirs known to be sourced by the Miocene Total Petroleum System. This northern boundary explicitly excludes the Deer Creek and Jasmin fields, which were included in the corresponding earlier (1995) USGS play (Beyer, 1996), but which are now known to contain oil generated from Eocene source rocks. The White Wolf Fault bounds the AU on the south.

Source RocksOil correlation analyses conducted for the San Joaquin

Basin Province assessment (Lillis and Magoon, this volume, chapter 9) confirm earlier studies (Peters and others, 1994), which indicate that all known oil and gas accumulations in this AU are derived from source rocks of middle and late Miocene age. The principal source for oil in this AU is the fine-grained, biosiliceous, organic-rich facies of the Monterey Formation located on the basin’s southwest margin (figs. 13.4 and 13.5). However, in considering the resource potential of this assessment unit, it is important to empha-size that the richest (most oil prone) facies of the Monterey Formation were deposited on slopes and in bathyal settings to the west and outside of this AU. Though less likely, pre-Monterey Formation organic-carbon-rich shales, such as those of the Tumey formation of Atwill (1935) and Krey-enhagen Formation, could also have served as hydrocarbon source rocks. However, oils analyzed to date are derived exclusively from Miocene-aged source rocks (Lillis and Magoon, this volume, chapter 9).

Thus, for the purposes of assessment, the Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit is assigned to the Miocene Total Petro-leum System, which consists of two pods of active source rock in the Buttonwillow and Tejon depocenters (fig. 13.5; Magoon and others, this volume, chapter 8; Peters, Magoon, Lampe, and others, this volume, chapter 12). On the basis of spatial and geochemical considerations, the most likely provenance for the hydrocarbons found in the assessment unit is the Tejon depocenter, although hydrocarbons generated farther to the northwest in the Buttonwillow depocenter may also have charged reservoirs in the AU (fig. 13.5).

Maturation The Monterey Formation may have generated sulfur-

rich liquids early in its burial history (Fischer and others,

1988), but burial depths of 3 to 4 kilometers are generally thought necessary for significant oil generation in strata of the Monterey Formation (Graham and Williams, 1985; Kruge, 1985). Geochemical analyses and petroleum systems model-ing conducted for the San Joaquin Basin Province assess-ment confirm this interpretation and constrain burial depths of Monterey Formation source rocks to 4 to 4.6 kilometers (Peters, Magoon, Lampe, and others, this volume, chapter 12).

Shales of the Monterey Formation, which are interpreted to be the likely source for all known oil in this AU, prob-ably achieved maturation sufficient for initial oil generation by early Pliocene time (4.6 Ma); generation continues to the present (Peters, Magoon, Lampe, and others, this volume, chapter 12). Since initial maturation of the Monterey source rock, well in excess of four billion barrels of oil and unknown quantities of associated gas have migrated into and through reservoirs of this AU.

Migration Source rocks within the Monterey Formation, from which

the oil in this AU was generated, were deposited in funda-mentally different settings than were the reservoir rocks of this AU. Although the eastern boundary of the pod of active source rock lies adjacent to the AU (fig. 13.5), the bulk of thermally mature source rock in the Tejon depocenter lies ~20 miles west-southwest of the center of the assessment unit. Therefore, relatively long and somewhat complex migra-tion pathways are necessary to transport oil from bathyal and slope-deposited source rocks into the upper slope, shelf, and nonmarine sandstone reservoirs of the assessment unit (fig. 13.6). Complex submarine canyon, channel, and fan depos-its that intersect the western margins of the shallow shelf are postulated as the conduits for hydrocarbon fluids (Lamb and others, 2003). Up-dip migration pathways are believed to have included faults and fractures, as well as porous and per-meable sandstones.

Reservoir RocksOil accumulations have been found in sandstones of

nearly all Oligocene- through Pleistocene-age formations that were deposited on the stable southeastern shelf of the San Joaquin Basin (fig 13.4). In addition, oil has been found in older sandstones of the nonmarine Walker Formation of Eocene age in Edison field and in fractured crystalline base-ment rocks in parts of the Edison (White, 1955) and Mountain View fields (Park, 1966). The most prolific hydrocarbon pro-ducing reservoirs in this assessment unit are upper slope, shel-fal, and nonmarine sandstones of the Kern River and Chanac Formations, Santa Margarita Sandstone, Jewett Sand, Freeman Silt, and Vedder Sand. Generally, reservoirs tend to pinch

Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

3

out to the east and to pass into deep-water facies to the west (MacPherson, 1978). Reservoirs typically exhibit high poros-ity and permeability, but diagenesis adversely affects reservoir quality in the deeper parts of the AU.

Figure 13.7 illustrates the paleogeography of the San Joaquin Basin in the Pliocene between 4 and 3 Ma. At this time, the southeast stable shelf occupied an entirely nonma-rine depositional environment following a marine regression that began during the middle to late Miocene (Bartow, 1991). The nonmarine Chanac Formation, which is the principal oil reservoir at Rosedale Ranch and Fruitvale fields, was deposited on the basin’s southeast margin during the marine regression.

The major reservoir in this assessment unit, the Kern River Formation, was deposited between 8 Ma and 0.7 Ma (Graham and others, 1988), although recent evidence suggests the upper age of the formation may be as old as 6 Ma (Miller, 1999; Golob and others, 2005). The Kern River Formation consists mainly of a series of coarse-grained, braided stream deposits that emanated from the adjacent Sierra Nevada to the east and were delivered to the basin by the ancestral Kern River (Graham and others, 1988). In the subsurface, the lower Kern River Formation grades basinward into marine Etchegoin Formation, while the upper Kern River Formation grades laterally into the San Joaquin and Tulare Formations (Bartow and McDougall, 1984).

Initial reservoir pressures in existing fields of the assess-ment unit range from 100 to 3,200 pounds per square inch, at reservoir depths of 400 to 7,300 feet, respectively (CDOGGR, 1998). The mean reported reservoir depth of ~3,600 feet indicates that typical exploration depths are moderate. Within the AU, reservoir depths generally decrease from west to east approaching the basin margin. Oil gravity ranges from about 10 degrees API in the Kern River Field to 45 degrees API in the deepest reservoirs of the Mountain View field. Average reservoir porosity varies from 15 to 45 percent, with a median porosity of 30 percent (CDOGGR, 1998).

Traps and SealsTraps are commonly controlled by high-angle extensional

faults (down-to-the-east) that place west-dipping sandstone reservoirs against low-permeability mudstones (fig. 13.8). Stratigraphic traps are present at the lateral limits of sandstone reservoirs, where highly permeable sandstones and conglom-erates are adjacent to lower permeability mudstones. Sand-stone pinchouts and truncations are common along the eastern margin of the AU. Unusual trapping mechanisms exist in the dominant field of the assessment unit, the Kern River field, within which tar seals and hydrodynamic trapping near the eastern onlap of Neogene sediments on Sierran basement are responsible for the largest accumulations in the AU (fig. 13.9; table 13.1). Gentle structures, including anticlines and faulted anticlines, form traps as well. Diagenetic traps remain a pos-sibility, especially at depth in the AU.

Exploration Status and Resource Potential

The AU has been intensively drilled along the up-dip basin margin to the east and southeast of the Bakersfield Arch (fig. 13.2). Other areas of the AU have also been extensively explored, and little space remains for undiscov-ered resources other than small, subtle, and difficult-to-find traps. Known accumulations are found at depths between ~8,000 feet and the surface, if oil seeps on the east side of the assessment unit are considered. No new accumulation has been found in this assessment unit in the last several decades in spite of more than 250 exploratory wells drilled since 1960 (fig. 13.10).

The largest discoveries within the Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit, in order of decreasing recoverable oil volume, are shown in table 13.1. Two-thirds of the ~3.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil in this assessment unit are in the Kern River field. Mount Poso and Kern Front fields account for ~9 percent and ~6 percent of the known oil, respectively.

Undiscovered accumulations are expected to be small and located primarily in the deeper areas near the western margin of the AU. Down-dip sandstone objectives at depth in the northern part of the AU have not been as extensively drilled as other areas within the AU. Additionally, sandstones in the Vedder Sand-Jewett Sand stratigraphic interval have not been exhaustively explored, and a high probability exists for the discovery in these sandstones of small (less than 10 million barrels of oil) accumulations in subtle stratigraphic traps.

The estimates of undiscovered petroleum resources in this AU reflect the judgment of the USGS that all but the smallest, most subtle traps have already been tested during more than 100 years of nearly unrestricted exploration. Because the discovery history reveals no accumulations of less than one million barrels, we are convinced that at least one, and probably several, small fields remain to be found. The volume of total undiscovered oil is estimated to be small, however, ranging from nearly nothing to 70 mil-lion barrels of oil (MMBO), with a mean of 24 MMBO (fig. 13.11). However, we think that this AU has considerable potential for significant additions to reserves in the form of reserve growth within the large, existing fields as a result of technological developments, extensions, and higher average oil prices in the future (see Tennyson, this volume, chapter 23, for a discussion of reserve growth in Kern River, Fruit-vale, Edison, Kern Front, Mount Poso, and Round Mountain fields).

All assessment results and supporting documentation for the Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province are available in files c100401.pdf (data form for conventional assessment unit), d100401.pdf (summary of discovery history), em100401.pdf (probabi-listic estimates), g100401.pdf (graphs of exploration and

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

4

discovery data for grown volumes), and k100401.pdf (graphs of exploration and discovery data for known volumes). Klett and Le (this volume, chapter 28) summarize the contents of these files.

References Cited

Adkison, W.L., 1973, Lithologic characteristics of upper Oligocene and Miocene rocks drilled at Elk Hills, Kern County, California: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1375, 113 p.

Atwill, E.R., 1935, Oligocene Tumey Formation of California: Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 19, no. 8, p. 1192-1204.

Bartow, J.A., 1991, The Cenozoic evolution of the San Joaquin Valley, California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1501, 40 p.

Bartow, J.A., and McDougall, K., 1984, Tertiary stratigraphy of the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, California: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1529-J, 41 p.

Bawden, G.W., 2001, Source parameters for the 1952 Kern County earthquake, California—A joint inversion of leveling and triangulation observations: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 106, no. 1, p. 771-785.

Bent, J.V., 1985, Provenance of upper Oligocene-middle Miocene sandstones of the San Joaquin Basin, California, in Graham, S.A., ed., Geology of the Temblor Formation, western San Joaquin Basin, California: Los Angeles, Pacific Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, v. 44, p. 97-120.

Beyer, L.A., 1996, San Joaquin Basin Province, in Gautier, D.L., Dolton, G.L., Takahashi, K.I., and Varnes, K.L., eds., 1995 National assessment of United States oil and gas resources—Results, methodology, and supporting data, U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-30, release 2.

Callaway, D.C., 1962, Distribution of upper Miocene sands and their relation to production in the North Midway area, Midway Sunset field, California: Selected Papers Presented to San Joaquin Geological Society, v. 1, p. 47-55.

CDOGGR, 1998, California oil and gas fields: Sacramento, Calif., California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Publication No. CD-1, 1472 p.

CDOGGR, 2003, 2002 Annual Report of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor: Sacramento, Calif., California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Publication No. PR06, 263 p. [also available at ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/annual_reports/2002/].

Eckis, R., 1940, The Stevens sand, southern San Joaquin Valley, California [abs.]: Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 24, no. 12, p. 2195-2196.

Edwards, E.C., 1943, Kern Front area of the Kern River oil field, in Jenkins, O.P., ed., Geologic formations and

economic development of the oil and gas fields of California: San Francisco, State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines Bulletin No. 118, p. 571-574.

Fischer, K.J., Heasler, H.P., and Surdam, R.C., 1988, Hydrocarbon maturation modeling of the southern San Joaquin Basin, California, in Graham, S.A., and Olson, H.C., eds., Studies of the geology of the San Joaquin Basin: Los Angeles, Pacific Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, book 60, p. 53-64.

Golob, E.M., Baron, D., Negrini, R., and Sarna-Wojcicki, A., 2005, Trace-element analysis of four Neogene volcanic ashes—Implications for the stratigraphy of petroleum-bearing formations in the San Joaquin Valley, CA [abs.]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, no. 7, p. 181.

Graham, S.A., Carroll, A.R., and Miller, G.E., 1988, Kern River Formation as a recorder of uplift and glaciation of the southern Sierra Nevada, in Graham, S.A., and Olson, H.C., eds., Studies of the geology of the San Joaquin Basin: Los Angeles, Pacific Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, book 60, p. 319-331.

Graham, S.A., and Williams, L.A., 1985, Tectonic, depositional, and diagenetic history of Monterey Formation (Miocene), central San Joaquin Basin, California: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 69, no. 3, p. 385-411.

Hoots, H.W., Bear, T.L., and Kleinpell, W.D., 1954, Geological summary of the San Joaquin Valley, California, in Jahns, R.H., ed., Geology of southern California: San Francisco, State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines Bulletin No. 170, p. 113-129.

Kasline, F.E., 1942, Edison oil field, in Summary of operations, California oil fields: San Francisco, Annual Report of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, v. 26, p. 12-18 [also available in California Division of Oil and Gas, Summary of Operations, 1915-1999: California Division of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Publication No. CD-3, and at ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/Summary_of_Operations/1940/].

Kodl, E.J., Eacmen, J.C., and Coburn, M.G., 1990, A geologic update of the emplacement mechanism within the Kern River Formation at the Kern River field, in Kuespert, J.G., and Reid, S.A., eds., Structure, stratigraphy, and hydrocarbon occurrences of the San Joaquin Basin, California: Bakersfield, Calif., Pacific Sections, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists and American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 64, p. 59-71.

Kruge, M.A., 1985, Organic geochemistry and comparative diagenesis—Monterey Formation, Lost Hills oil field and vicinity, west San Joaquin Basin, California: Berkeley, University of California, Ph. D. thesis, 266 p.

Lamb, M.A., Anderson, K.S., and Graham, S.A., 2003, Stratigraphic architecture of a sand-rich, deep-sea depositional system—The Stevens sandstone, San Joaquin Basin, California: Bakersfield, Calif., Pacific Section, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Publication

Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

5

MP-47, 64 p.MacPherson, B.A., 1978, Sedimentation and trapping

mechanism in upper Miocene Stevens and older turbidite fans of southeastern San Joaquin Valley, California: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 62, p. 2243-2274.

McMasters, J.H., 1948, Oceanic sand [abs.]: Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 32, no. 12, p. 2320.

Miller, D.D., 1999, Sequence stratigraphy and controls on deposition of the upper Cenozoic Tulare Formation, San Joaquin Valley, California: Stanford, Calif., Stanford University, Ph.D. dissertation, 179 p.

Miller, R.H., and Bloom, C.V., 1939, Mountain View oil field, in Summary of operations, California oil fields: San Francisco, Annual Report of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, v. 22, no. 4, p. 5-36 [also available in California Division of Oil and Gas, Summary of Operations, 1915-1999: California Division of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Publication No. CD-3, and at ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/Summary_of_Operations/1937/].

Noble, E.B., 1940, Rio Bravo oil field, Kern County, California: Bulletin of the American Association of

Petroleum Geologists, v. 24, no. 7, p. 1330-1333.Park, W.H., 1966, Main area of Mountain View oil field, in

Summary of operations, California oil fields: Sacramento, Calif., Annual Report of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, v. 52, no. 1, p. 37-45 [also available in California Division of Oil and Gas, Summary of Operations, 1915-1999: California Division of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Publication No. CD-3, and at ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/Summary_of_Operations/1966/].

Peters, K.E., Pytte, M.H., Elam, T.D., and Sundararaman, P., 1994, Identification of petroleum systems adjacent to the San Andreas Fault, California, USA, in Magoon, L.B., and Dow, W.G., eds., The petroleum system—From source to trap: Tulsa, Okla., American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 60, p. 423-436.

White, J.L., 1955, Edison oil Field, in Summary of operations, California oil fields: San Francisco, Annual Report of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, v. 41, no. 2, p. 5-23 [also available in California Division of Oil and Gas, Summary of Operations, 1915-1999: California Division of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Publication No. CD-3, and at ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/Summary_of_Operations/1955/].

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

6 Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

Other than this note, this page intentionally left blank.

7

Figures

8 Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

PacificOcean

1995 Play Boundary2003 Assessment Unit

0 25

miles

Figure 13.1

121˚W 120˚W 119˚W

35˚N 35˚N

36˚N 36˚N

37˚N 37˚N

38˚N 38˚N

Figure 13.1. Map of the San Joaquin Basin, illustrating San Joaquin Basin Province boundary (bold line), county boundaries (thin gray line), Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit boundary (blue line), play boundary from previous USGS assessment (purple line), and oil (green) and gas (red) fields in the province. Gray shading shows the location of the Bakersfield Arch, which is mapped on the basement surface in a three-dimensional geologic model of the basin (Hosford Scheirer, this volume, chapter 7). In figures 13.1 and 13.2, dashed line indicates surface and subsurface traces of the White Wolf Fault, as modeled by Bawden (2001).

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin ProvinceMiocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

9

25S/28

E

29S/25

E

32S/27

E

B

Figure 13.2

119°00'W 118°30'W

35°30'N 35°30'N

35°00'N 35°00'N

0 10

miles

RM

UA

F

KB

MP

MV

PC

KFRR

AH

Ed

KR

DC

EdNE

Figure 13.2. Detailed map of Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit (AU). The blue line indicates the geographic limit of the AU. Oil fields in the AU are colored green. Fields outside the AU are outlined in black. Filled circles represent 1705 exploratory wells drilled for petroleum within the AU between 1901 and 1995. Well locations are from the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geother-mal Resources, and are available in databases at ftp://ftp.conservation.ca.gov/pub/oil/maps/dist4. Township and range grid is indicated forscale and location; scattered labels are relative to the Mount Diablo baseline and meridian. Gray shading shows the location of the Bakersfield Arch. City of Bakersfield (B) denoted with filled square. Oil field labels are: AH=Ant Hill, DC=Dyer Creek, Ed=Edison, EdNE=Edison North-east, F=Fruitvale, KB=Kern Bluff, KF=Kern Front, KR=Kern River, MP=Mount Poso, MV=Mountain View, PC=Poso Creek, RR=Rosedale Ranch, RM=Round Mountain, and UA=Union Avenue.

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

10 Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

Bakersfield

Stockton

Fresno

Merced

Parkfield

Modesto

N

Figure 13.3

~100 miles

~230 miles

~10

mile

s

alluvium/nonmarine

Etchegoin FmFruitvale shale of Miller and Bloom

(1939), RoundMountain Silt

Olcese Sand,Jewett Sand,Vedder Sand,

Walker Fm,upper Famoso

sand of Edwards (1943)

lower Famoso sand of Edwards

(1943)

(Domengine Fm equivalent)

Basement rocks

unnamed

5

10

15

20

25

35

40

30

45

50

120 ~ ?

Ma

Figure 13.3. Three-dimensional stratigraphy model of the Southeast Stable Shelf AU extracted from the EarthVision® model of the basin by Hosford Scheirer (this volume, chapter 7). The bounding polygonal block illustrates the model space within which the EarthVision® model is constructed. The major stratigraphic units within the AU are listed; see figure 13.4 for stratigraphic relationships between the units. Forma-tion names in italics are informal. Note that Eocene-aged rocks rest directly on basement, indicating the absence of Cretaceous rocks on and south-southeast of the Bakersfield Arch. Pliocene-aged San Joaquin Formation is absent in this AU. Oil fields (green) are draped on the topo-graphic surface. The San Joaquin Basin Province boundary (bold line), AU boundary (dashed line), and city names and locations float above the surface of the model. View is from due south at a 30° inclination angle. Vertical exaggeration is 4. EarthVision is a registered trademark (Marca Registrada) of Dynamic Graphics, Inc., Alameda, Calif. Fm, Formation.

11

Oceanic sandTumey formation

Antelope shStevens sd

Fruitvaleshale

Nozu sd

Rio Bravo sdFa

mos

o sa

nd

Alluvium

Basement rocks

Sa

nto

s

Wygal Ss Mbr

Cymric ShaleMbr

Agua SsBed

Vedd

er S

and

CarnerosSs Mbr

Kreyenhagen Formation

PLEIS.

PLIO.

ZE

MO

RR

IAN

CH

EN

EY

IAN

YN

E-

ZIA

NP

EN

UT

IAN

UL

AT

SIA

NN

AR

IZIA

NB

UL

I-T

IAN

REF.

MIO

CE

NE

NE

OG

EN

E

Co

nve

rgen

t m

arg

in a

nd

Sie

rran

mag

mat

ism

OL

IGO

CE

NE

EO

CE

NE

PA

LE

OG

EN

EP

AL

EO

CE

NE

MA

AS

TR

ICH

.

CR

ETA

CE

OU

S

CA

MP

AN

IAN

SANT.

AL

BIA

NC

EN

O.

TUR.

CON.

Tra

ns

-p

res

sio

n

Dia

blo

Ran

ge

up

lift

and

bas

in

sub

sid

ence

Pointof Rocks SsMbr

Tulare Fm

KR

San Joaquin Fm

McDonald Sh Mbr

Round Mtn Silt

FreemanSilt

Jewett Sand

OlceseSand

Media Sh Mbr

Devilwater ShMbr/Gould Sh

Mbr, undiff

B=Buttonbed Ss Mbr

Etchegoin Fm

Chanac

Fm

Reef Ridge Sh Mbr

SYSTEM SERIES STAGE

West EastSOUTH

DE

L.LU

I.R

EL.

SA

UC

ES

IAN

MO

HN

IAN

Ma

Mega-sequences(2nd order)

Monterey Fm

Temblor Fm

LA

TE

EA

RLY

Fla

t sl

ab s

ub

du

ctio

nan

d L

aram

ide

oro

gen

y

basin axis

unna

med

unna

med

unna

med

unnamedCanoas Slts Mbr

PH=Pyramid Hill Sd MbrKR=Kern River Fm

Wal

ker

Fm

Sh

Mb

r

B

PH

120 Ma160 Ma

Trip

le ju

nct

ion

m

igra

tio

nS

ub

du

ctio

n a

nd

m

agm

atis

m

undifferentiatedCretaceous

Figure 13.4

SantaMargaritaSs

0

5

10

15

20

25

35

40

30

45

50

65

80

75

70

60

55

85

90

95

100

105

110

~~

~~

Gas reservoir rock

Potential marine reservoir rock

Potential nonmarine reservoir rock

Oil-prone sourcerock/

Gas-prone sourcerock

Nonmarine coarse grained

rock

Marine coarse grained rock

Coast Range ophiolite/Granitic basement

Clay/shale/mudstone/

biosiliceous

Hiatus or loss by erosion

Oil reservoir rock

PacificOcean

North

Central

South

WWF

SIERRA NEVADA

SAN ANDREAS FAULT

San Joaquin Basin Province

basin axis

Bakers�eld Arch

0 25

miles

121˚W 120˚W 119˚W

36˚N

35˚N

37˚N

38˚N

DDPH

DRT

J

DCNDC

SAN EMIGDIO

,

TECHAPI

MOUNTAINS

COAST RANGES

Stockton Arch

Figure 13.4. Generalized stratigraphic column for the southern San Joaquin Basin, showing hydro-carbon reservoir rocks and potential hydrocarbon source rocks. See Hosford Scheirer and Magoon (this volume, chapter 5) for complete explanation of the figure. Formation names in italics are infor-mal and are defined as follows: Antelope shale of Graham and Williams (1985), Stevens sand of Eckis (1940), Fruitvale shale of Miller and Bloom (1939), Nozu sand of Kasline (1942), Rio Bravo sand of Noble (1940), Oceanic sand of McMas-ters (1948), Tumey formation of Atwill (1935), and Famoso sand of Edwards (1943).

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

12 Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

Figure 13.5

0 25

miles

121°W 120°W 119°W

35°N 35°N

36°N 36°N

37°N 37°N

38°N 38°N

Oil fromMonterey Formation

Oil suspectedfrom Monterey Formation

Pod of activesource rock

Buttonwillow

Tejon

Figure 13.5. Location of Southeast Stable Shelf AU (blue line) with respect to the pods of active source rock of the Miocene Total Petroleum System as mapped by Peters, Magoon, Lampe, and others (this volume, chapter 12). The bold line is the San Joaquin Basin Province bound-ary, and thin gray lines are county boundaries. Gray shading shows the location of the Bakersfield Arch. See Magoon and others (this volume, chapter 8) for details of oil field assignment to petroleum systems based on geochemical analyses.

13

6 miles

6 m

iles

Ker

n R

iver

fie

ld

Ro

un

d M

uu

nta

infi

eld

Fru

itva

le f

ield

Bel

levu

e fi

eld

McC

lun

g f

ield

Str

and

fie

ld

Can

al f

ield

No

rth

Co

les

fiel

d

Elk

Hill

s fi

eld

Asp

hal

to f

ield

Olcese

Sd

Wal

ker

Fm

Fruitvale sh

Stevens sand1

Round Mountain Silt

Rio Bravo sd

of Noble (1

940)

Vedder Sand

Tumey fm

of Atwill (1935)

Walker F

m

Rio Bravo sd

Walk

er

Fm

Pleistocene-Pliocene,undifferentiated

Santa Margarita

Ss

Round

Mou

ntai

n Si

lt

Santa

Mar

garit

a Ss Olce

se S

and

Santos Sh Mbr

Wygal Ss M

br

Cym

ric Sh M

br

Fruitvale shale of Miller and Bloom (1939)

Macoma shale

Southeast Stable Shelf AU

Pleistocene

Etchegoin Fm

Antelope shale of

Graham

and William

s (1985)

Stevens sd 1

2

3

Freeman Silt-

Jewett Sand

Olig sd-Potter sd

San Joaquin Formation

Kern River FormationAlluvium (Holocene)

Reef Ridge Shale

Stevens sand1

Chanac Fm

Mioce

ne

(Jura

ssic

(?) g

ranit

ics an

d

pre-

Cretac

eous

meta

-sedim

ents)

Basem

ent r

ocks

Vedd

er S

and

Ker

n R

iver

Fau

lt

Oligoc

ene

Pyra

mid

Hill

Sd

Eocene

Oligocene

Oligocene

Eocen

e

Kreye

nhag

en F

m1Stevens sand of Eckis (1940)2 Macoma shale of Hoots and others

(1954)3Olig sand of Adkison (1973),

Potter sand of Callaway (1962)

Tulare Fm

Pliocene

Miocene

Media Sh Mbr

Etchegoin Formation

Monterey Fm

McD

onald Shale

Mbr

Devilw

ater Sh Mbr-

Gould Sh M

br

Temblor Fm

Tumey fm

of Atw

ill (1935)

Carneros Ss Mbr

Freem

an S

ilt-

Jewet

t San

d

Figure 13.6

A

B

Figure 13.6. A, Generalized geologic cross section of the southern San Joaquin Basin. Orange fill denotes approxi-mate location of oil-generative shales of the Monterey Formation. Formations in italics denote informal geologic names. Informal units not previously defined include the Macoma shale of Hoots and others (1954), the Olig sand of Adkison (1973), and the Potter sand of Callaway (1962). B, Map view illustrating cross-section location, as well as the AU boundary and the pods of active source rock as mapped by Peters, Magoon, Lampe, and others (this volume, chapter 12). Figure modified from CDOGGR (1998). Fm, Formation; fm, formation; Mbr, Member; Sd, Sand; sd, sand; Ss, Sandstone; Sh, Shale; sh, shale.

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

14 Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

Marine deposits—Solid line indicates inferred shoreline; hachures indicate inferred shelf edge; queried where uncertain

Nonmarine deposition—Dotted line indicates inferred extent

Emergent area

Faults—Arrows indicate direction of relative movement

Probably active

Possibly active

?

?

?

San Francisco

Stockton

Mount Diablo

FresnoMonterey

Coalinga

Paso RoblesBakersfield

Santa Cruz

HA

YW

AR

D-C

AL

AV

ER

AS

FAU

LT

SA

N

GR

EG

OR

IO

FA

ULT

OR

TIG

AL

ITA

FA

ULT

SU

RFA

ULT

FAU

LT

HO

SG

RI

WHITE WOLF FAULT

GARLOCK FAULT

SA

NA

ND

RE

AS

FAU

LT

TESLA

FAU

LT

0 10 20 30 40 50 KILOMETERS

N

Figure 13.7. Paleogeography of the San Joaquin Basin (red outline) during the early Pliocene (4 to 3 Ma). The Southeast Stable Shelf AU (blue line) and known oil fields (green) are superimposed for reference. Deposition of the major reservoir rock in the AU, the Kern River Formation, began in the late Miocene. Figure modified from Bartow (1991).

15

+_

+_

+_

+_

+_ +

_

+_

+_

+_

+_

+_

+_

+_ +

B

A

A B

-5100

-5000

-5000-4900

-4800

-5200

-5200

-5200

-5300-5400

-5500-5600

-5700-5700

-5700

-5700-5800

-5800

-5800

-5800

-5300

-5300-5300

-5400

-5400

-5400

-5400

-5400

-5500

-5500

-5500-5500

-5500

-5600

-5600

-5600

-5600-5600-5900

-5900

-5900

-6000

-6000

-6000

-6100

-6100-6200-6300-6400

-6500-6600-6700-6800

-6200

Contours on top of Pyramid Hill Sand Member of Jewett Sand

T 30 S R 29 E

7

8

1718

EDISON OIL FIELDJeppi Area

6000

5800

4800

4400

4200

4000

3800

3000

2800

Kern River-Chanac Formations

(undifferentiated)

Wicker sand of Kasline (1942)

*Fruitvale shale of Miller and Bloom (1939)

Fruitvale shale*

Round Mountain Silt

**Nozu sand of Kasline (1942)

(Nozu sand**)

contoured

horizon

Pyramid Hill Sand

Vedder Sand

Santa MargaritaSandstone

Vedder SandPyramid Hill Sand

Jewett Sand

Pyramid

Hill Sand

Vedder SandJewett Sand

Jewett

Sand

Freeman Silt

30003000

4000

50005000

COMPOSITEELECTRIC

LOG

FORMATIONAND

MEMBERSERI

ESPL

IOC

ENE

Kern River - Chanac

Formations(undifferentiated)

Santa MargaritaSandstone

MIO

CEN

E

Fruitvale shale

of Miller and Bloom (1939)

Wic

ker s

and

of K

aslin

e (1

942)

Round Mountain

Silt Noz

u sa

nd

of K

aslin

e (1

942)

Freeman Silt-Jewett Sand

Pyramid Hill Sand Member of

Jewett Sand

Vedder Sand

OLI

G-

OC

ENE

SEPTEMBER 1992

Figure 13.8

4000

5000

6000

4000

5000

3000

1 mile

1 mile

Figure 13.8. Figure of the Jeppi area of Edison oil field, illustrating typical trapping mechanism in the assessment unit in which down-to-the-east normal faults place sandstone reservoirs against mudstones. Green shading (underlying township-range grid) denotes reported 1998 limits of productive sand units within the field. All depths are in feet. Formations in italics denote informal geologic names. Township-range grid in figures 13.8 and 13.9 is relative to the Mount Diablo baseline and meridian; one mile by one mile sections within the township-range grid are numbered in italics. See figure 13.2 for location of field. Figure modified from CDOGGR (1998).

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

16 Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

Kern River Formation

KERN RIVER OIL FIELD

contoured

horizon

Figure 13.9

China GradeFault

C series

sand*

G series sd*

K series

sand*

R series

sand*

COMPOSITEELECTRIC

LOGSERI

ES

FORM

ATIO

N

PLIO

CEN

E-PL

EIST

OC

ENE

Ker

n R

Iver

Fo

rmat

ion

China Grade “sand” of Kodl and others

(1990)

Cha

nac

Fm

MIO

CEN

E

Mc Van sand**

Olc

ese

San

d

OLI

GO

CEN

EEO

CEN

E

Wal

ker

Form

atio

n

UPP

ERJU

RA

SSIC

(?)

Basement rocks

Santa MargaritaSandstone

Fruitvale shale of Miller and Bloom (1939)

Ro

un

d M

ou

nta

in S

iltFr

eem

an S

ilt-J

ewet

t Sa

nd

Ved

der

San

d

Famoso sand of Edwards (1943)

* C series, G series, K series, and R series sands of Kodl and others (1990)** McVan sand of Bent (1985)

+400

+200

-200

-200

-400-600

-800

-600

-800-1000

0

T 28 S R 28 ET 28 S R 27 E

T 29 S R 28 E

A

B

_ +

_

+

_

+

Contours on top of R series sand of Kodl and others (1990)

A

B

7 8 9 10

3 2456

31 32 33 34

27282930

19 20 21 22

1813

24

25

36

17 16 15

1 mile

1 mile

Figure 13.9. Figure of Kern River oil field, illustrating the absence of typical trap types such as those created by faults. Green shading (under-lying township-range grid) denotes reported 1998 limits of productive sand units within the field. All depths are in feet. Formations in italics denote informal geologic names. See figure 13.2 for location of field. Figure redrafted from CDOGGR (1998). Fm, Formation; sd, sand.

17

0

1

10

100

1,000

10,000

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

ACCUMULATION-DISCOVERY YEAR

KN

OW

N O

IL-A

CC

UM

UL

AT

ION

SIZ

E (

MM

BO

)Southeast Stable Shelf, Assessment Unit 50100401

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

DRILLING-COMPLETION YEAR

CU

MU

LA

TIV

E N

EW

-FIE

LD

WIL

DC

AT

WE

LL

S (

nu

mb

er)

Figure 13.10

A

B

Figure 13.10. A, Cumulative number of new-field wildcat wells versus drilling completion year in the Southeast Stable Shelf AU. B, Oil accumulation size versus year of accumulation discovery in the Southeast Stable Shelf AU. Both graphs are excerpted from data file k100401.pdf (see Klett and Le, this volume, chapter 28, for explanation of data file).

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

18 Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

50100401Southeast Stable ShelfMonte Carlo Results

Forecast: Oil in Oil Fields

Summary:Display range is from 0.00 to 70.00 MMBOEntire range is from 0.52 to 92.66 MMBOAfter 50,000 trials, the standard error of the mean is 0.06

Statistics: ValueTrials 50000Mean 23.78Median 21.39Mode ---Standard Deviation 14.04Variance 196.99Skewness 0.73Kurtosis 3.12Coefficient of Variability 0.59Range Minimum 0.52Range Maximum 92.66Range Width 92.13Mean Standard Error 0.06

Frequency Chart

MMBO

.000

.006

.011

.017

.022

0

275

550

825

1100

0.00 17.50 35.00 52.50 70.00

50,000 Trials 49,877 DisplayedForecast: Oil in Oil Fields

Figure 13.11

FrequencyProb

abili

ty

Figure 13.11. Probabilistic estimate of total oil volume in undiscovered oil fields in the Southeast Stable Shelf AU. Figure is excerpted from data file em100401.pdf (see Charpentier and Klett, this volume, chapter 26, for details of the calculation and Klett and Le, this volume, chapter 28, for expla-nation of data file).

19

Percent of TotalFieldNumber of

Producing Wells in 2002

Kern River 2451.3 67.0 8600

Mount Poso 313.8 8.6 548

Kern Front 216.9 5.9 688

Round Mountain 180.7 4.9 207

Edison 153.1 4.2 812

Fruitvale 125.8 3.4 233

Mountain View 91.0 2.5 157

Poso Creek 86.5 2.4 333

Rosedale Ranch 16.9 0.5 35

Kern Bluff 12.2 0.3 35

Ant Hill 8.6 0.2 17

Union Avenue 1.9 0.1 4

Total 3658.7 100 11669

Recoverable Oilthrough 2002

(MMB)

Table 13.1. Production statistics for primary fields in the Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit

[Recoverable oil is the sum of cumulative production and estimated proved reserves. Data source is CDOGGR (2003). MMB, millions of barrels. Primary fields are defined as those with recoverable oil equal to or greater than 0.5 MMB]

Miocene Total Petroleum System—Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province