CALL FOR PROPOSALS:

ORGANIZERS

  • Harvey Thorleifson, Chair
    Minnesota Geological Survey
  • Carrie Jennings, Vice Chair
    Minnesota Geological Survey
  • David Bush, Technical Program Chair
    University of West Georgia
  • Jim Miller, Field Trip Chair
    University of Minnesota Duluth
  • Curtis M. Hudak, Sponsorship Chair
    Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC

 

Paper No. 2
Presentation Time: 9:15 AM

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CAMBRIAN EAU CLAIRE FORMATION AS CAPROCK FOR CARBON SEQUESTRATION INTO THE MOUNT SIMON SANDSTONE IN KENTUCKY


BANDY III, Ralph Edward1, GREB, Stephen F.2 and SOLIS, Michael P.2, (1)Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky, 101 Slone Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0053, (2)Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky, 228 Mining and Mineral Resources Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0107, ralph.bandy@uky.edu

The Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone is a deep, saline reservoir estimated to have the largest CO2 sequestration potential in the central United States. The Mount Simon or “basal sand” is overlain by the Eau Claire Formation in the Illinois basin and the upper Conasauga Group in the Appalachian basin. Understanding sealing characteristics of the Eau Claire and Conasauga is critical to future use of the Mount Simon for carbon storage.

Geophysical logs are used to correlate carbonates and shales of the upper Conasauga Group eastward across the Grenville Front with the Eau Claire Formation. The study section is 300 to 900 ft thick, and can be subdivided into as many as eight intervals. In general, Conasauga carbonates thin westward into Eau Claire shales. Two intervals of shale, one at the base and one at the top (Nolichucky Formation of the Conasauga Group) of the Eau Claire are continuous across the study area. The lower shale interval has an average thickness of 30 ft, thickening westward. A single thick carbonate, the Davis Limestone of Indiana, occurs in the upper Eau Claire Formation as used in Kentucky.

Core samples of the Eau Claire are described from two wells in Kentucky. The DuPont No. 1 WAD well, located in Jefferson County, has 40 ft of core from the lower part of the Eau Claire. The core consists of alternating, medium gray shales and burrowed, slightly calcareous siltstones. Shales contain fragmented trilobite debris and small brachiopods. Burrows are small and mostly occur in the siltstones. A 50-ft core from a carbonate equivalent to the Davis Limestone consists of thrombolytic boundstones and oolitic grainstones. Grainstones exhibit variable porosity. The second well is the Battelle No. 1 Duke Energy well, Boone County, which was drilled as a CO2 injection test in the Mount Simon Sandstone. One 40 ft-core interval consists of alternating gray shales and calcareous, bioturbated siltstones. This well has more siltstones, and more fossil debris than the DuPont core. Very low permeability data for shales in both wells support the Eau Claire as acceptable caprock. Additional geochemical and mineralogical testing is ongoing to examine lateral variability and depositional history of the study interval.

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