The Case of the Barren Basin: The Salina Basin of Kansas

Kerry D. Newell and Daniel F. Merriam
Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

The 20,000 square-mile, 4,800 ft-deep Salina Basin in north-central Kansas and its extension as the Central Nebraska Basin is an enigma: Why does it have no major oil or gas production? Although some oil production occurs on its flanks, is the Salina basin barren or just not adequately explored? The basin is bounded on the east by the Nemaha Anticline and on the west by the Central Kansas Uplift and Cambridge Arch. A vague saddle north of the Sedgwick Basin marks its southern limit; its northern limit in Nebraska is ill-defined, but the zero edge of Mississippian rocks usually is considered the basin boundary. Basin fill is Paleozoic cratonic strata, which include source and reservoir beds. The stratigraphic and structural history is similar to the adjacent Forest City Basin, which has production. The exploration scenario for the Salina Basin then is: (1) the occurrence of petroleum on the flanks of the basin are the result of long-distance migration up structural features, and (2) any undiscovered petroleum elsewhere in the basin has to be generated in situ and locally migrated. An exploration model for the latter scenario is that maturation will be maximized along the axis of the basin, and potential source rocks (primarily Middle Ordovician) will be more likely toward the southern end of the basin. Northeast-southwest oriented structures, caused by reactivation of Precambrian basement features associated with the Midcontinent Rift, and crossing the axis of the basin, are suggested exploration targets.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas