Organic and inorganic geochemical characterization of the Juana Lopez and Montezuma Valley members of the lower Mancos Shale, Piceance Basin, Colorado
type: CreativeWork
description: The Piceance Basin is a prolific sedimentary basin known for its immense accumulations of oil and natural gas from a number of producing intervals. Of these intervals, both the middle-to upper Turonian Juana Lopez and the overlying upper Turonian Montezuma Valley members (and their coeval equivalents) of the Mancos Shale are beginning to receive some attention with regards to their petroleum potential as possible targets for unconventional exploration and production. However, minimal research has been completed on the Montezuma Valley Member, in particular, of the lower Mancos Shale with regards to its source rock potential. What research has been completed has suggested that this interval, along with the underlying Juana Lopez Member, may contain some of the highest total organic carbon (TOC) values of the lower Mancos Shale throughout the Piceance Basin. This study provides a detailed description of both the Juana Lopez and Montezuma Valley members, including: (1) lateral facies heterogeneities, (2) source rock analysis to better understand the petroleum potential of this interval, (3) a chemostratigraphic profile and the use of established elemental proxies to better understand paleoconditions, and (4) the use of petrophysical analysis to better define this interval throughout the Piceance Basin to aid future exploration. The Frontier Member is a known producing interval in the northern Piceance Basin and is often grouped together with the Juana Lopez Member due to their similar petrophysical response. A chemostratigraphic characterization of these two members across the basin assists in a more defined description and understanding of these units. Additionally, chemostratigraphy highlights lateral progression in terms of facies changes between the two units. The contact between the Frontier and the Juana Lopez has been interpreted to be a regional unconformity throughout the basin and a chemostratigraphic profile across this contact does display marked difference…
abstract: The Piceance Basin is a prolific sedimentary basin known for its immense accumulations of oil and natural gas from a number of producing intervals. Of these intervals, both the middle-to upper Turonian Juana Lopez and the overlying upper Turonian Montezuma Valley members (and their coeval equivalents) of the Mancos Shale are beginning to receive some attention with regards to their petroleum potential as possible targets for unconventional exploration and production. However, minimal research has been completed on the Montezuma Valley Member, in particular, of the lower Mancos Shale with regards to its source rock potential. What research has been completed has suggested that this interval, along with the underlying Juana Lopez Member, may contain some of the highest total organic carbon (TOC) values of the lower Mancos Shale throughout the Piceance Basin. This study provides a detailed description of both the Juana Lopez and Montezuma Valley members, including: (1) lateral facies heterogeneities, (2) source rock analysis to better understand the petroleum potential of this interval, (3) a chemostratigraphic profile and the use of established elemental proxies to better understand paleoconditions, and (4) the use of petrophysical analysis to better define this interval throughout the Piceance Basin to aid future exploration. The Frontier Member is a known producing interval in the northern Piceance Basin and is often grouped together with the Juana Lopez Member due to their similar petrophysical response. A chemostratigraphic characterization of these two members across the basin assists in a more defined description and understanding of these units. Additionally, chemostratigraphy highlights lateral progression in terms of facies changes between the two units. The contact between the Frontier and the Juana Lopez has been interpreted to be a regional unconformity throughout the basin and a chemostratigraphic profile across this contact does display marked difference…
author: Harper, John Ross
language: eng
language: English
keywords: Piceance Basin, petroleum, Juana Lopez, Turonian, frontier, Montezuma valley
identifier: T 7742
date published: 2015
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:43:42Z
provider: Colorado School of Mines
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/11124/17097