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Published: 1982

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Regional studies of the lower Eocene Wilcox Group in Texas were conducted to assess the potential for producing heat energy and solution methane from geopressured fluids in the deep-subsurface growth-faulted zone. However, in addition to assembling the necessary data for the geopressured geothermal project, this study has provided regional information of significance to exploration for other resources such as lignite, uranium, oil, and gas. Because the focus of this study was on the geopressured section, emphasis was placed on correlating and mapping those sandstones and shales occurring deeper than about 10,000 ft. The Wilcox and Midway Groups comprise the oldest thick sandstone/shale sequence of the Tertiary of the Gulf Coast. The Wilcox crops out in a band 10 to 20 mi wide located 100 to 200 mi inland from the present-day coastline. The Wilcox sandstones and shales in the outcrop and updip shallow subsurface were deposited primarily in fluvial environments; downdip in the deep subsurface, on the other hand, the Wilcox sediments were deposited in large deltaic systems, some of which were reworked into barrier-bar and strandplain systems. Growth faults developed within the deltaic systems, where they prograded basinward beyond the older, stable Lower Cretaceous shelf margin onto the less stable basinal muds. Continued displacement along these faults during burial resulted in: (1) entrapment of pore fluids within isolated sandstone and shale sequences, and (2) buildup of pore pressure greater than hydrostatic pressure and development of geopressure.