Foothills stratigraphic test core viewing

Alan Bailey

for Petroleum News

On Dec. 11 and 12 the U.S. Geological Survey and Alaska's Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys will hold public viewings of cores from two stratigraphic test boreholes that the agencies drilled in the Brooks Range foothills on the North Slope during the summer of 2024. The viewings will run from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on each day. The viewings will provide opportunities to look at the cores and to discuss preliminary interpretations, future analytical plans and implications for North Slope petroleum systems, DGGS says.

The first of the boreholes, Slope Mountain 1, targeted non-marine reservoir rocks of the Nanushuk formation. It recovered 522 feet of core, including rocks that are covered, poorly exposed or in adjacent outcrop. The cores provide sedimentological and stratigraphic information related to the deposition of the Nanushuk formation.

The other borehole, the Landslide 4, was drilled to evaluate source rocks from deepwater deposits in the Seabee and Torok formations. Oil stained sandstones were found in 733 feet of recovered core. There is some degree of stratigraphic uncertainty with the cores because of the lack of outcrop exposures of rocks that correlate with the subsurface rocks.

Information about the viewings can be obtained from Josh Long at [email protected] or 907-451-5010.

--ALAN BAILEY