Kettleman North Dome

MERINO (E.). 1975. Diagenesis in Tertiary sandstones from Kettleman North Dome, California I. Diagenetic mineralogy. J. Sed. Petr. 45, 320-36. 

Grimes Malton-Black Butte San Emidio Nose Wheeler Ridge Kettleman North Dome Barrow Prudhoe Bay Reedy Creek West Nancy... 

Figure 2 Distribution of salinity of formation waters from Kettleman North Dome oil field, California. Note the much lower salinity of water in the deeper McAdams Formation compared to Temblor Formation (source Kharaka and Berry, 1974).

Kharaka Y. K. and Berry F. A. F. (1974) The influence of geological membranes on the geochemistry of subsurface waters from Miocene sediments at Kettleman North Dome, California. Water Resour. Res. 10, 313-327. 

Kharaka Y. K., Berry A. F. A., and Friedman I. (1973) Isotopic composition of oil-field brines from Kettleman North Dome oil field, California, and their geologic implications. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 37, 1899—1908. 

Fig. 1. Location of oilfields in the San Joaquin basin with carbonate cement studies. Codes are North Coles Levee (NCL), South Coles Levee (SCL), Canal (C), Paloma (P), Landslide (L), Yowlumne (Y), Rio Viejo (RV), San Emidio Nose (SN), Rosedale Ranch (RR), Fruitvale (F), Mountain View (MV), Edison (E), Mount Poso (MP), Round Mountain (RM), Kem River (KR), Poso Creek (PC), North Belridge (NB) and Kettleman North Dome (KND). Dashed lines are thickness of sedimentary rocks (metres), after Callaway (1971). Cross-section line X-X is shown in Fig. 2.

On the basin flanks there have been several papers on the eastern margin, including geochemical data on cements in the Mountain View and Edison fields (Fischer Surdam, 1988) and Kem River, Poso Creek, Rosedale Ranch, Fruitvale and Mount Poso fields (Boles Ramseyer, 1987 Hayes Boles, 1993). On the western flank, studies of carbonate cementation Include the North Belridge field (Taylor Soule, 1993) and Kettleman North Dome (Merino, 1975 Lee Boles, 1996). The new analyses from the basinmargin include data from the Mount Poso field and a wildcat well Ohio KCLG-1, about 5 km southwest of the Fruitvale field. 

Kettleman North Dome T emblor Lower to Middle Miocene Non-marine to shallow marine V, OC, TR Lee Boles, 1996... 

Kuespert, J. (1985) Depositional environments and sedimentary history of the Miocene Temblor Formation and associated Oligo-Miocene units in the vicinity of Kettleman North Dome, San Joaquin Valley, California. In Geology of the Temblor Formations, Western San Joaquin Basin, California (Ed. Graham, S.A.). Soc. Econ. Paleont. Miner. Pacific Sec. Publ., 44, 53-67. 

Table 3.3. Analysis of sample 912-18 from the Kettleman North Dome oil field (Merino, 1975). Data are in mg L-1.

Also shown on Figure 16.9 are a few data points taken at random from Merino (1975). Each one is from a different well in the Kettleman North Dome oil field in California. The numbers for a, +, a +, and asiOjCa ) are obtained from the chemical analyses in Merino (1975) by speciation. It appears that the solution concentrations are clustering around the K-feldspar-muscovite boundary, near the quartz saturation line, and are likely being controlled by these phases, which are known to be in the sandstones containing the fluids sampled. 

There are, of course, a great many diagrams we might plot, depending on our interests. To investigate the possibility that the K/Na ratio in the fluids at Kettleman North Dome is controlled by the coexistence of albite and K-feldspar, we could write and plot the reaction... 

In the case of the Kettleman North Dome fluids, the mineralogy of the rocks in contact with the fluids is known. You might say, weU, if we know what minerals are there, why go to all this trouble to show that the fluid compositions reflect this Would you not expect them to reflect the mineralogy of then-host rocks For one thing, we didn t know whether the composition of oil field brines or any other kind of natural fluid was controlled by host rocks or not, until this kind of test was done. For all we knew, perhaps disequilibrium reigned supreme. Furthermore, we re still learning. 

Willey LM, Kharaka YK, Presser TS, Rapp JB, Barnes I (1975) Short-chain aliphatic acid in oil-field waters of Kettleman North Dome oil field, California. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 39 1707-1710... 

Table 2. Dilution factors and data from Carothers and Kharaka (1978) for acetate, propionate, and iodide in brines from the Temblor production zone at Coalinga and Kettleman North Dome, California...

Fig. 7. Correlation plots for brine analysis data for a propionic and acetic acids, b iodide and acetic acid, and c iodide and propionic acid from the Temblor production zones, Coalinga and Kettleman North Dome, California. Data are taken from Carothers and Kharaka (1978). Individual points are labeled with the measured or estimated bore-hole temperatures in C. Note the similarity in pattern between the plots (with the exception of the 54 °C point for which preferential consumption of acetic acid by bacteria may have been a factor) and compare with the dilution factors given in Table 2... 

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