Architectural Models for Lower Pennsylvanian Strata in Dickenson/Wise County, Southwest Virginia: A Reservior Case Study
| dc.contributor.author | Denning, Samuel Fenton | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Eriksson, Kenneth A. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Henika, William S. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Read, James Fredrick | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Geosciences | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-03-14T20:44:43Z | en |
| dc.date.adate | 2008-10-21 | en |
| dc.date.available | 2014-03-14T20:44:43Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2008-08-29 | en |
| dc.date.rdate | 2008-10-21 | en |
| dc.date.sdate | 2008-09-03 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The lower Pennsylvanian, coal-bearing, siliciclastic strata in Dickenson/Wise counties of southwest Virginia were deposited in continental to marginal marine environments influenced by high-amplitude relative sea level fluctuations. Coal-bearing siliciclastics of the eastern facies belt are fluvio-deltaic in origin, with sediment derived from the erosion of low-grade metamorphic and Grenvillian-Avalonian terranes of the Alleghanian orogen to the southeast. Elongate NNE trending quartzarenite belts in the northwestern region of the basin are braided-fluvial deposits and were sourced by the cratonic Archean Superior Province to the north. This orthogonal relationship between the southeastern coal-bearing siliciclastics and the northwestern quartzarenites reflect a trunk-tributary drainage system operating during the lower Pennsylvanian in the central Appalachian basin. Analysis of core, gamma ray and density logs, and six cross-sections within an approximately 20 kmĀ² study area reveals a hierarchy of bounding discontinuities and architectural elements. Discontinuities are both erosional (unconformable) and depositional (condensed) and are 3rd-order (~ 2.5 Ma) and 4th-order (~ 400 k.y.) in origin. Architectural elements are bound by 4th-order discontinuities and consist of upward-fining lowstand and transgressive incised valley fill, alluvial, and estuarine deposits, and upward-coarsening highstand deltaic deposits and represent 4th-order sequences. Lowstand and transgressive deposits are separated from the highstand deposits by marine flooding zones (condensed sections). 4th-order sequences are stacked into composite 3rd-order sequences. Sequence development can be attributed to 4th-order Milankovitch orbital eccentricity cycles superimposed on a lower-frequency eccentricity cycle. Extensive coals occur in both transgressive and highstand systems tracts. Coals within the transgressive systems tract are associated with 4th-order flooding surfaces, while coals within the highstand systems tract occur within high-frequency deltaic autocycles. Therefore, coals formation in the central Appalachian basin can be attributed to be of both allocyclic (glacio-eustacy) and autocyclic (deltaic processes) mechanisms. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Master of Science | en |
| dc.identifier.other | etd-09032008-113110 | en |
| dc.identifier.sourceurl | http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-09032008-113110/ | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/34910 | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.relation.haspart | DenningThesis3.pdf | en |
| dc.relation.haspart | Appendix.pdf | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | Lower Pennsylvanian | en |
| dc.subject | central Appalachian basin | en |
| dc.subject | sequence stratigraphy | en |
| dc.subject | coal | en |
| dc.subject | Breathitt Group | en |
| dc.title | Architectural Models for Lower Pennsylvanian Strata in Dickenson/Wise County, Southwest Virginia: A Reservior Case Study | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Geosciences | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |