WVGES References about Devonian Shales

Interested in Devonian Shales?

Selected References about Devonian Shales

Following are some geological references regarding Devonian shales in general, containing some information about the Marcellus Shale in particular.

♦ The WVGES prepared a report in 1997 regarding Devonian shale gas production trends; the report is available at http://karl.nrcce.wvu.edu/regional/gri.pdf.

♦ A large body of literature was published in the 1970's and 1980's on research funded by the USDOE and the Gas Research Institute (GRI) (now the Gas Technology Institute (GTI)). The USDOE literature has been scanned and is available on DVD; information on the DVD is available at http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/cdordering.html. The DVD is described below:

Title:	Archive of Unconventional Gas Resources Program
Info:	A DVD archive of nearly two decades of pioneering research from the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE/NETL) is now available. The archive includes nearly 1,500 valuable documents on 2 DVDs. The first DVD contains reports and logs related to the Eastern Gas Shales Program (1976-1992). A second DVD combines program information related to Western Gas Sands (1977-1992), Methane Recovery from Coalbeds (1978-1982), Methane Hydrates Program (1982-1992), Deep Source Gas Project (1982-1992), and Secondary Gas Recovery (1987-1995). Both include a comprehensive summary of the Unconventional Gas Resources Program and an extensive bibliography dedicated to each of these programs. This data was originally published as a 12 CD set but is now conveniently offered on a 2 DVD set.
Format:	DVD
Date:	May 2007

Much of the emphasis in the earlier work was on the Lower Huron shale which is the primary productive zone in the historic productive area (e.g., the Big Sandy field of southwestern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky).

♦ Two chapters in The Atlas of Major Appalachian Gas Plays (John B. Roen and Brian J. Walker, editors, 1996, WVGES Volume 25) address Devonian shales. The chapter on Upper Devonian black shales includes a discussion of the Marcellus Shale, the deepest of the Devonian black shales in West Virginia. A chapter on Upper Devonian fractured black and gray shales and siltstones addresses the more eastern and northern of the shales in the state. This publication is available from the WVGES publications sales office (see http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/services/servpubc.htm#Volumes for the publication description and see http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/services/orderform.pdf for the publication order form).

♦ The USGS prepared a summary publication, "Petroleum Geology of the Devonian and Mississippian Black Shale of Eastern North America", USGS Bulletin 1909, J.B. Roen and R. C. Kepferle, editors. See: http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/b/b1909.

♦ Other relevant USGS publications include: "Thermal Maturity Patterns (CAI and %R_o) in the Ordovician and Devonian Rocks of the Appalachian Basin in West Virginia" by J.E. Repetski, R.T. Ryder, K.L. Avary, and M.H. Trippi (USGS Open-file Report 2005-1078–http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1078/) and "Assessment of Appalachian Basin Oil and Gas Resources: Devonian Shale–Middle and Upper Paleozoic Total Petroleum System" by R.C. Milici and C.S. Swezey (USGS Open-File Report 2006-1237–http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1237/).

♦ Isopach maps of the Devonian Hamilton Group (the Marcellus Shale is the lowest member of the Hamilton Group) and of the highly radioactive shale within the Hamilton Group were prepared by Joseph Schwietering and are available at Pages from Schwietering, J.F., 1981, The Occurrence of Oil and Gas in Devonian Shales and Equivalents in West Virginia (pdf). Note that the Hamilton Group is not present in the far western part of the state.

♦ The WVGES has prepared an Excel spreadsheet containing the API numbers of 1,700 West Virginia wells for which we have scanned e-logs which penetrated the top of the Onondaga Limestone (and therefore penetrate the base of the overlying Devonian shales). However, (see Schwietering's maps above) an unconformity exists between the younger Rhinestreet black shale and the Onondaga Limestone in portions of Cabell, Mason, McDowell, Mingo, and Wayne counties; the Marcellus and other Hamilton Group shales are missing in these areas. The spreadsheet of scanned e-logs which penetrate the top of the Onondaga Limestone can be downloaded at Top_of_Onondaga_Penetrations_with_scanned_elogs.xls. The individual scanned TIFF images for these logs are available for free downloading at http://downloads.wvgs.wvnet.edu/welllogs/; the associated well data are available on our online "pipeline" data application at http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/oginfo/pipeline/pipeline2.asp.

♦ Downloads:
    Information from this page (revised 4/7/2008): Seclected References about Devonian Shales (PDF, 70 KB),
    Maps: Pages from Schwietering, J.F., 1981, The Occurrence of Oil and Gas in Devonian Shales and Equivalents in West Virginia (PDF, 84 KB)
    Spreadsheet: Top_of_Onondaga_Penetrations_ with_scanned_elogs.xls Spreadsheet (MS Excel, 157 KB)

♦ Further Information:
For questions about Devonian shales (including the Marcellus Shale), please contact Katharine Lee Avary, WVGES, avary@geosrv.wvnet.edu.

Page last revised: April 7, 2008

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