Neocomian source and reservoir rocks in the western Brooks Range and Arctic Slope, Alaska

Detailed (1:63,360) mapping of the Tingmerkpuk sandstone and associated rocks in the Misheguk Mountain and DeLong Mountains guadrangles of the western Brooks Range thrust belt documents potential hydrocarbon source and reservoir rocks in the northern foothills of the western Delong Mountains and adjacent Colville basin of northwest Alaska. Neocomian (?) to Albian micaceous shale, litharenite, and graywacke that overlies the Tingmerkpuk represents the onset of deposition of orogenic sediments derived from the Brooks Range to the south, and the merging of northern and southern sediment sources in the Colville basin. Both the proximal and distal Tingmerkpuk facies contain clay shale interbeds and overlie the Upper Jurassic to Neocomian Kingak Shale. Preliminary geochemical data show that in the thrust belt, these shales are thermally overmature (Ro 1.4-1.6), but are good source rocks with total organic content (TOC) that ranges from 1.2 to 1.8 percent. Shale in the overlying Brookian rocks is also thermally overmature (Ro 1.2-1.5 percent), but contains up to 1.8 percent TOC from a dominantly terrigenous source, and has generated gas. In outcrops at Surprise Creek, in the foothills north of the thrust belt, the Kingak (1.9 percent TOC) and underlying Triassic Shublik Formation (4.6 percent TOC) are excellentmore » oil source rocks with thermal maturity close to peak oil generation stage (Ro0.75-0.9 percent). These rocks have lower thermal maturity values than expected for their stratigraphic position within the deeper parts of the Colville basin and indicate anomalous burial and uplift history in parts of the basin. Preliminary apatite fission-track (AFTA) data from the thrust belt indicate a stage of rapid uplift and cooling at about 53.61 Ma.« less