Fayetteville Shale Explained

Fayetteville Shale
Type:Geological formation
Age:Carboniferous

Mississippian (Serpukhovian)

Period:Serpukhovian
Prilithology:Shale
Otherlithology:Sandstone, limestone
Namedfor:Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas
Namedby:Frederick Willard Simonds[1] [2]
Region:Arkansas
Subunits:Wedington Sandstone Member
Underlies:Pitkin Limestone,[3] Hale Formation[4]
Overlies:Ruddell Shale, Batesville Sandstone Moorefield Shale
Thickness:50feetto500feetft (toft)
Extent:50miles
Area:Arkansas and Oklahoma
Map:Map of USA AR.svg

The Fayetteville Shale is a geologic formation of Mississippian age (354–323 million years ago) composed of tight shale within the Arkoma Basin of Arkansas and Oklahoma.[5] It is named for the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and requires hydraulic fracturing to release the natural gas contained within.

Nomenclature

Named by Frederick Willard Simonds in 1891, Simonds recognized what is now the Fayetteville Shale as three separate formations overlying the now abandoned Wyman Sandstone: the Fayetteville Shale, the Batesville Sandstone, and the Marshall Shale.[2] In 1904, the name "Fayetteville Shale" replaced all three of these names. The Fayetteville Shale that Simonds recognized is now considered as the lower Fayetteville Shale. Simonds' Batesville Sandstone was found to be the same as the Wyman Sandstone, and replaced the name "Wyman Sandstone", while Simonds' Batesville Sandstone became known as the "Wedington Sandstone Member" presumably after Wedington Mountain. The name Marshall Shale was abandoned and is now known as the upper Fayetteville Shale.[6]

Natural gas

The formation holds natural gas in a fine-grained rock matrix which requires hydraulic fracturing to release the gas.[7] This process became cost-effective in some shales such as the Fayetteville after years of experimentation in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, especially when combined with horizontal drilling.

The Fayetteville Shale play began in July 2004 by Southwestern Energy Company in north-central Arkansas with the Thomas #1-9 vertical well in Conway County, Arkansas.[8] In February 2005, Southwestern Energy drilled the first horizontal well, the Seeco-Vaughan #4-22H, also in Conway County.[9]

The US Energy Information Administration estimated that the 5853sqmi shale play held 13,240 billion cubic ft (375 billion cubic meters) of unproved, technically recoverable gas.[5] The average well was estimated to produce 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas.[10] As of 2018, new drilling in the Fayetteville Shale had ceased and almost 1/5 of wells were abandoned.[11]

Paleontology

Flora

Because the Fayetteville Formation is a marine unit, most of the plants found in the black shales must have been washed into the Carboniferous sea from a landmass. However one unit within the formation, the Weddington Sandstone Member, is a series of river deposited sand beds. Fossil plants from this unit were probably deposited closer to their source.

A. minima[12]

A. fayettevillensis[12]

A. gracilentus[12]

A. umbralis[12]

A. wedingtonensis[12]

C. inquirenda[12]

C. hirta[12]

C. chesterianus[12]

L. chesterensis[12]

L. henbesti[12]

L. occidentale[12]

L. purduei[12]

L. wedingtonense[12]

L. sagittatum[12]

L. occidentalis[12]

L. royalii[14]

R. fayettevillense[12]

R. quinnii [15]

S. (Palmatopteris) erectiloba[12]

S. (Calymmatotheca) mississippiana[12]

S. arkansana[12]

S. wedingtonensis[12]

T. arkansana[16]

Fauna

Vertebrates

Echinoderms

Cephalopods

Corals

Bivalves

thumb|200px|right|Aviculopecten subcardiformis from the Logan Formation (Lower Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio (external mold).

Brachiopods

Gastropods

Arthropods

Ostracods

Bryozoans

Foraminifera

Trace Fossils

Notes and References

  1. Branner. J.. Introduction. Arkansas Geological Survey Annual Report 1888. 1891. 4. xiii.
  2. Simonds. F.W.. The geology of Washington County. Arkansas Geological Survey Annual Report 1888. 1891. 4. 26, 42–49.
  3. Freemen, T. Fossils of Arkansas. Arkansas Geologic Commission.
  4. Web site: Major Stratigraphic Layers of the Fayetteville Shale Formation . Chesapeake Energy, Inc . July 25, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110820025307/http://lingo.cast.uark.edu/LINGOPUBLIC/images/photos/AboutChes24-800.gif . August 20, 2011 . dead .
  5. Shale Play Should See Added Capacity Next 2 Years . Pipeline & Gas Journal . 46 . Reed . Michael . June 2013 . . Oildom Publishing Company . 240 . 6 .
  6. Adams . George I. . Ulrich . E. O. . Zinc and lead deposits of northern Arkansas . U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper . 1904 . 24 . 10.3133/pp24 . 31 May 2018. 2346/61716 . free .
  7. Web site: About the Fayetteville Shale . University of Arkansas . July 25, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110820025254/http://lingo.cast.uark.edu/LINGOPUBLIC/about/index.htm . August 20, 2011 . dead .
  8. Web site: Taylor . Larry . Fayetteville Shale . Encyclopedia of Arkansas . 31 May 2018.
  9. Shelby . Phillip . The Fayetteville Shale play of north-central Arkansas: a project update . AAPG Search and Discovery . April 2008 . 10172 . 2008 . 31 May 2018.
  10. US Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy outlook 2012, accessed 14 Sept. 2013.
  11. Nallur . V. . Potential for Reclamation of Abandoned Gas Wells to Restore Ecosystem Services in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas . Environmental Management . 2020 . 66 . 2 . 180–190 . 10.1007/s00267-020-01307-3 . 32500202 . 219282476 .
  12. White. David. 1937. Fossil flora of the Wedington Sandstone Member of the Fayetteville Shale. USGS Professional Paper. 186-B. 40, 9 pls.
  13. Taylor, T., Eggard, D.,1967. Petrified Plants from the Upper Mississippian (Chester Series) of Arkansas. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 86: 4
  14. Tomescu, A. 2001. Lyginopteris royalii sp. nov. from the Upper Mississippian of North America. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology. 116: 3-4
  15. Dunn, M., Rothwell, G., Mapes, G. 2002.Additional observations on Rhynchosperma quinnii (Medullosaceae): a permineralized ovule from the Chesterian (Upper Mississippian) Fayetteville Formation of Arkansas. Journal of Botany. 89:11
  16. Dunn, M., Rothwell, G., Mapes, G. 2003. On Paleozoic plants from marine strata: Trivena arkansana (Lyginopteridaceae) gen. et sp. nov., a lyginopterid from the Fayetteville Formation (middle Chesterian/Upper Mississippian) of Arkansas, USA. Journal of Botany. 90:8
  17. Lund, R., Mapes, R. 1984. Carcharopsis wortheni from the Fayetteville Formation (Mississippian) of Arkansas. Journal of Paleontology. 58:3.
  18. Maisey, J. G. (2007). The braincase in Paleozoic symmoriiform and cladoselachian sharks. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2007(307), 1-122.
  19. Bronson . Allison W. . Pradel . Alan . Denton . John S. S. . Maisey . John G. . 2024-03-07 . A new operculate symmoriiform chondrichthyan from the Late Mississippian Fayetteville Shale (Arkansas, United States) . Geodiversitas . en . 46 . 4 . 101–117 . 10.5252/geodiversitas2024v46a4 . 1280-9659 . 1638-9395.
  20. Alan Pradel . John G. Maisey . Paul Tafforeau . Royal H. Mapes . Jon Mallatt . 3504437 . 2014 . A Palaeozoic shark with osteichthyan-like branchial arches . Nature . 509 . 7502 . 608–611 . 10.1038/nature13195 . 24739974. 2014Natur.509..608P .
  21. Strimple. Harrell L.. Chesterian (Upper Mississippian) and Morrowan (Lower Pennsylvanian) crinoids of northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas. Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 1977. 18. 171–176. 30 January 2018.
  22. Burdick, D., Strimple, H. 1973. Flexible Crinoids from the Fayetteville Formation (Chesterian) of Northeastern Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology. 47:2
  23. Horowitz. Alan S.. Macurda Jr. D. B.. Late Mississippian and Early Pennsylvanian blastoids from northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas. Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 1977. 18. 169–170. 31 January 2018.
  24. Strimple, H. 1948. Notes on Phanocrinus from the Fayetteville Formation of Northeastern Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology. 22:4
  25. Saunders. W. Bruce. Manger. Walter L.. Gordon Jr.. Mackenzie. Upper Mississippian and Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian ammonoid biostratigraphy of northern Arkansas. Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 1977. 18. 117–137. 1 February 2018.
  26. Doughouzhaeva L, Mapes, R., Mutvei, H. 1997. Beaks and radulae of Early Carboniferous goniatites. Lethia. 30:4
  27. Mapes, R. 1966. Late Mississippian Lycopsid Branch from Arkansas. Oklahoma Geology Notes.
  28. Easton, W. 1945. Kinkaid Corals from Illinois and Amplexoid Corals from the Chester of Illinois and Arkansas. Journal of Paleontology. 19:4
  29. Sando, W. 1969. Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part B- Corals. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
  30. Pojeta, J. 1969. Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part C- Pelecypods. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
  31. M. Gordon Jr. and T. W. Henry. 1993. Late Mississippian Productoid Brachiopods Inflatia, Keokukia, and Adairia, Ozark Region of Oklahoma and Arkansas. Paleontological Society Memoir 30:1-29
  32. Henry. Thomas W.. Gordon Jr.. Mackenzie. 1985. Chesterian Davidsoniacean and Orthotetacean brachiopods, Ozark region of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology. 59. 1. 32–59.
  33. Yochelson, E 1969. Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part C- Pelecypods. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
  34. Brezinski. David K.. 90872931. Some New Late Mississippian Trilobites from Oklahoma and Arkansas. Annals of Carnegie Museum. 31 March 2017. 84. 2. 173–178. 10.2992/007.084.0203.
  35. Sohn, I. 1969.Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part F- Ostracodes. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
  36. Gordon, M. 1969.Revision of Some of Girty's Invertebrate Fossils from the Fayetteville Shale (Mississippian) of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Part E- Trilobites. United States Geologic Survey Professional Paper 606
  37. Sohn. I. G.. Late Mississippian and Early Pennsylvanian ostracoda from northern Arkansas - a preliminary survey. Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 1977. 18. 149–159. 31 January 2018.
  38. Horowitz. Alan S.. Late Mississippian and Early Pennsylvanian bryozoan faunas of Arkansas and Oklahoma: a review. Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 1977. 18. 101–105. 3 February 2018.
  39. Brenckle. Paul. Foraminifers and other calcareous microfossils from Late Chesterian (Mississippian) strata of northern Arkansas. Oklahoma Geological Survey Guidebook. 1977. 18. 73–87. 3 February 2018.
  40. Handford. C. Robertson. 1986. Facies and bedding sequences in shelf-storm-deposited carbonates - Fayetteville Shale and Pitkin Limestone (Mississippian), Arkansas. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 56. 1. 123–137. 10.1306/212F88A0-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D . 1986JSedR..56..123H .

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