Master's Theses

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Summer 2022

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geosciences

Advisor

Dr. Hendratta Ali

Abstract

Paleoenvironmental conditions, sediment characteristics and lateral continuity using chemostratigraphy are not well established for stratigraphic units associated with some small fields within the Central Kansas Uplift (CKU). Samples of drill cuttings recovered from six wells (Hottman #1, and Hottman-Furthmeyer#1, Yocemento #1, Mong Benno #2, Rhian #3 and Worcester #1) at 10 ft intervals between 3150 ft and 3900 ft below ground level, were processed and analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The XRF technique was used to determine elemental compositions, and XRD was used to determine mineral content. The composition of the rock cuttings was used to characterize sediments and assess paleoenvironmental conditions and source inputs.

Cross plots of detrital elements which includes Titanium (Ti), Potassium (K), and Zirconium (Zr) against Aluminum (Al), show a strong positive relation, which account for about 30% of the total elemental composition. Carbonate proxies, Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), and Strontium (Sr) show strong positive correlations with each other indicating a common source, and collectively account for 70% elemental composition. This observation supports the XRD data that shows that the analyzed interval is mainly carbonate with minor amounts of detrital inputs. Principal component Analysis (PCA) shows clusters of various elements which supports the cross plots of the carbonate and detrital proxies. Phosphorous (P), a measure of paleo-productivity ranged from 0.18% to 0.36% with a mean of 0.25% across six wells, well above crustal abundance of 0.01%. This significant enrichment of P is interpreted to indicate relatively high paleo-productivity. An analysis of downhole variation in Zr/Rb ratio across the six wells revealed two distinct zones, a coarse-grained zone and a fine-grained zone which suggest the presence of two major energy regimes (high and low) during deposition.

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© 2022 Christiana Eziashi

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