Meander-Belt Reservoir Geology, Mid-Dip Tuscaloosa, Little Creek Field, Mississippi

Abstract

Meander belts represent the first genetic sequences that were understood by geologists. Research on modern point bars in the Brazos River of South Texas in the period 1953 to 1960 led to the formulation of a facies model that was directly applicable to subsurface exploration (Bernard and Major, 1963). It is this model which, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, guided the exploration and development of Little Creek Field, the case study of this chapter. This chapter represents one of the first uses of facies models in the oil industry and is a documentation of the first point-bar reservoir to be explored and produced with geologic forethought. The success of the point-bar facies model in predicting reservoir distribution can be measured by the high success rate of drilling by the main operators as compared with that of the surrounding farmed-out acreage.