Louisiana Land Research Articles

State of Disaster: A Historical Geography of Louisiana's Land Loss Crisis by Craig E. Colten

State of Disaster: A Historical Geography of Louisiana's Land Loss Crisis by Craig E. Colten

Cartographic Depictions of Louisiana Land Loss: A Tool for Sustainable Policies

For more than half a century, scientists in Louisiana (USA) have been mapping coastal land loss. Cartographic depictions were initially important to expose potential loss of off-shore oil revenue tied to the retreating shoreline. For the last 40 years, attention has shifted to issues related to preserving a valuable ecology and protecting the coastal society from rising seas and storm surge. This paper reviews 60 years of land loss mapping as a tool to drive public policy directed at preserving and restoring the state’s coastal wetlands. It highlights the power of visualizations in fostering public awareness in an environmental crisis and their value in motivating more sustainable public policies. It also provides a critique of the shifting emphasis in the public narrative away from the factual history of land loss to imagined future losses.

Plain Folk, Planters, and the Complexities of Southern Society: Kinship Ties in Nineteenth-Century Northwest Louisiana and Northeast Texas

tota Wood Brown May H. b. MOSaVAb. !«12 8 children both 4. bit 4 Aug. M7« B LA Th» 1»* Ceotary Brawm, Shcrrad, Sprawl, Manning,« WUttaau Kxtnded Kiaship Graap MahaMBrownJota Brown EUzaboh Ann Roc Moore b. 17MkVA I b.1767 'Jota Pad Sprawl b. 17910.1MO-IIlOaAL m. MUaLA 4 1859 a LA4 1843 b LA Jana Newton Brown John W. Brown, Jr. b. 1833 B LAb. 1869 B LA (LMM in AL Raleigh T. William p TatMta O'Qmnn b. 1802 a NC' b. 1809 in SC WiDian Wahinglon L. Brown b. MMbLA William b. 1832 a QA Jota O William b. MM BfJA George William b. 1840 in OA Rddgh William, Jr. b. 1841 B QA 4 1*94 BTX William¦ b. 185OaLA b. 1845 m LA 4 19UaTX JeaneO! Tbama Moore Brown» Mary Wrinkle b. 1803 a VAb. 1807 m MS m 1825 a LA—12 children 4 1867 a LA Marthe Sprowi Daniel Brown Mary L a. 1820 a AL b. 1797b VA b. 1821 a LA 1135 a LA—t children 4186OaLA TaVD 4 children m.1 Elizabeth Ann Roe Brown b. 1833 in LAb. 1827 a LA m. 1853 à LA 4191IbLA4 1875 a LA ? WiIInBi W [accessed Dec. 1 1 , 2008] ; George W. Sherrod, private (September 9, 1 86 1 -February 5, 1862), Company C, 16th Louisiana Infantry, American Civil War, compiled military service record, [accessed Dec.11, 2008]; Donald C. SimmonsJr., Confederate Settlements in British Honduras (Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, 2001), 6, 63-65, 70-81, 85, 102, 116-122, 154; Geo. W. Sherrod household, United States Eighth Census (i860), Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, Schedule 1 (Free Inhabitants) [Ancestry.com, accessed Dec. 11, 2008]. The census lists his occupation as "Preacher, M. E., So." " See National Archives compiled military service record for George W. Sherrod at Footnote.com [accessed Feb. 26, 2009], 7 (Feb. 5, 1862, letter authorizing Sherrod's transfer from die 16th Louisiana Infantry to die Confederate Navy). 20og Plain Folk, Planters, and tL· Complexities ofSouthern Society7 State until the trials and tribulations of Reconstruction Louisiana drove him westward again. Sherrod ultimately led a February 1874 family migration to Comanche County, Texas, which, along with the rest of the Lone Star State, experienced political "redemption" in late-1873 after Reconstruction ended there.18 During his years in Comanche County, G. W. Sherrod often spun yarns about his life and times—tall tales that his grandsons remembered for the rest of their lives. One of Sherrod's stories included the flamboyant assertion that "he could walk from St. Louis to New Orleans without ever leaving his property."19 This boast ofan aging grandparent may have alluded to the fact that his relatives peopled the banks of the Mississippi as it coursed its way down to the Crescent City.20 It might also be a tongue-in-cheek allusion not to the Missouri metropolis but rather to Fort St. Louis, established by the French as a military base and Indiantrading outpost only a few miles northwest ofpresent-day Texarkana.21 At face value, either proposition seems ridiculous; however, G. W. Sherrod's declaration revealed much about his kinship network. He was part of a tightly knit family including both planters and plain folk. Their presence was powerfully felt across a fifteen-mile stretch along either side of the Red River centered roughly in the area of Coushatta Chute. Sherrod's tie to the Browns, the most conspicuously successful family of the kinship group, came through his mother, Mary Brown. His father was William Sherrod, born about 1800 in Tennessee.22 William arrived in Alabama's Tennessee River Valley no later than 1817, when he married the equally youthful "Polly," as Mary Brown was commonly known.23 18 Jean Mansell gives die date of February 1872 for die migration in her article "Family Bible gives facts of the Sherrod Ancestry," Abilene News-Reporter, Jan. 21, 1991; however, several events throw diis date into serious question. One example is die September 1873 Louisiana birth location of Tabitha Elizabedi Sherrod's daughter, Carrie Elizabedi, in Natchitoches Parish, as do early 1874 Louisiana land sales by Rhoda Sherrod and James Brown Sherrod, members of die family migration...

Louisiana’s Wetlands: A Lesson in Nature Appreciation

Hurricane Katrina’s disastrous flooding of the Gulf Coast confirmed three decades of warnings by scientists. Most of New Orleans is below sea level, and South Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, which once helped buffer the city from giant storms, have been disappearing at a spectacularly swift pace. Now some researchers are calling for restoration of wetlands and barrier islands to help protect New Orleans the next time a hurricane strikes. An average of 34 square miles of South Louisiana land, mostly marsh, has disappeared each year for the past five decades, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). As much as 80% of the nation’s coastal wetland loss in this time occurred in Louisiana. From 1932 to 2000, the state lost 1,900 square miles of land to the Gulf of Mexico. By 2050, if nothing is done to stop this process, the state could lose another 700 square miles, and one-third of 1930s coastal Louisiana will have vanished. Importantly, New Orleans and surrounding areas will become ever more vulnerable to future storms. “New Orleans can’t be restored unless we also address coastal and wetland restoration too,” says Craig E. Colten, a geographer at Louisiana State University (LSU).

ABSTRACT: Two New Stratigraphic Field Discoveries in a Mature Area of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

Abstract In 1997, The Louisiana Land & Exploration Company (now Burlington Resources) and Ocean Energy formed an area of mutual interest in the Little Lake area of southeastern Louisiana. The area encompasses four older, well-developed fields and generally had been thought to be picked-over, receiving little exploratory interest from the industry. The partnership acquired Geco-Prakla's new 3-D survey in the area, and in two locations observed high-amplitude reflectors on the seismic. In both cases, the events were located on regional dip, in synclines between fields. Detailed geological interpretation combined with seismic modeling and AVO analysis convinced the partnership that the events could be hydrocarbon indicators and plans were made to drill two wells. In April 1999, the Burlington Resources' LL&E Fee #1 well was drilled to a depth of 13,700 ft. It encountered gas pay in the Middle Miocene Textularia W zone TP1 sand. In July 1999, a second well was to a depth of 13,100 ft to test a separate anomaly five miles to the northwest. This well encountered 84 feet of gas pay in a high permeability, normally-pressured Textularia W zone sand. Both wells encountered the sands as predicted and both produced gas and/or condensate. The strength of the seismic amplitude varies across the reservoirs, giving a mottled appearance and suggesting that the reservoir is discontinuous in thickness and/or permeability. Understanding the nature of these variations will be the key to optimally developing the fields. End_of_Record - Last_Page 713-------

Teamwork Results in Wo rld-Record Length Casing String

Summary On 12 April 1996 Louisiana Land and Exploration Company successfully ran and cemented a 14,510 ft string of 16-in. 146.2 lbf/ft (0.907-in. wall) P-110 casing in their Big Horn 4-36 well located in Fremont County, Wyoming. The string had an air weight of over 2.1 million pounds and a hook load of over 1.8 million pounds. This world record feat was the result of a concerted, team effort involving Engineering, Purchasing, Suppliers, and Service Companies. The 16-in. casing string played a critical role in drilling the well that had a total depth of over 24,000 ft. The paper details the complementary roles and contributions of each group involved in this challenging project. The overall well design philosophy is discussed along with a review of the detailed 16-in. casing design structural load and von Mises triaxial stress analysis. The specialized casing material specifications and manufacturing procedures are presented and related to casing string performance requirements. The paper outlines the casing connector selection criteria and describes the premium connector used on the casing string to withstand the high axial forces and pressures encountered while running the casing and drilling the well. The equipment and procedures used to safely and efficiently run the casing string in a total of only 43 hr from rig up to tear down with 31 hr running time are also described. The 14,510 ft casing string was cemented back to the surface in a single stage. The paper addresses the importance of the mud properties prior to cementing as well as the design and execution of the cement job. Both were critical to successfully completing the job.

Kinematics and Dynamics of Salt Tectonics  Driven by Progradation

Scaled physical models illustrate the importance of progradation as a trigger for salt tectonics and formation of allochthonous sheets. Regional extension and contraction were excluded in the models. In our experiments, prograding wedges above a tabular, buoyant salt layer with a flat base expelled the salt basinward, forming the following structures proximally to distally: (1) sigmoidally distorted initially planar wedges, (2) relict salt pillows and salt welds, (3) basinward-dipping expulsion rollover and crestal graben, (4) rollover syncline, (5) landward-facing salt-cored monocline, and (6) distal inflated salt layer. This deformation zone amplified and advanced basinward during progradation; however, no diapiric salt structures formed. Over a buoyant salt layer whose basement had steps facing landward, progradation initially formed a broad anticline where salt flow was restricted across each basement step. Distal aggradation pinned the anticline and enhanced differential loading. The anticline actively pierced its crest, which ©Copyright 1997. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.1Manuscript received October 2, 1995; revised manuscript received May 9, 1996; final acceptance October 16, 1996. 2Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78713. 3Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78713. All modeling was done at the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory of the Bureau of Economic Geology, with financial support by grant number 3658-178 from the Texas Advanced Technology Program and from the following companies: Agip S.p.A, Amoco Production Company, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, ARCO Exploration and Production Technology, BP Exploration, Chevron Petroleum Technology Company, Conoco and Dupont, Exxon Production Research Company, Louisiana Land and Exploration Company, Marathon Oil Company, Mobil Research and Development Corporation, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., Phillips Petroleum Company, Societe Nationale Elf Aquitaine Production, Statoil, Texaco, and Total Minatome Corporation. The Department of Geological Sciences and the Geology Foundation at the University of Texas at Austin and Phillips Petroleum Company provided additional financial support for Hongxing Ge. Dan Schultz-Ela helped us depth convert and restore seismic sections. Mark Rowan, Mike Hudec, Lee Fairchild, Sharon Mosher, and Tucker Hentz provided invaluable suggestions for improving the paper. Publication authorized by the Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin.

Three-Dimensional Visualization of Salt Walls and Associated Fault Systems

Abundant three-dimensional (3-D) seismic data from salt provinces have been acquired over the past two decades. These data have been interpreted partly using concepts based on analysis of two-dimensional (2-D) sections through physical and numerical models. Three-dimensional computer visualization of physical models is a recent development that exploits the full potential of model data by displaying even highly irregular geological structures such as convolute salt contacts, strata disrupted by salt tectonics, discontinuous faults, and bedding traces on fault surfaces. We used computer visualization techniques to display and analyze a physical model simulating salt-related structures produced during gravity spreading and gliding. The visualization shows, in realistic 3-D detail, that (1) structures change seaward from tall steep-sided diapirs to squat salt rollers; (2) salt walls change markedly along strike and form branches and relays; (3) subsidence of underlying salt ridges produces irregular turtle-structure closures that tend to have multiple seals; (4) links that laterally connect reservoirs in adjacent rafts are most common in upper stratigraphic ©Copyright 1997. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.1Manuscript received November 1, 1995; revised manuscript received March 4, 1996; final acceptance August 12, 1996. 2Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78713. Additional full-resolution color 3-D images and digital animations related to this paper are available free on the Internet at http://www.utexas.edu/ research/beg/mmedia/AGL96-MM-004. We wrote this paper while testing an unreleased version of the program EarthVision® and working with its creators at Dynamic Graphics Inc. to enhance the technology for visualizing complex brittle and ductile structures. Dynamic Graphics Inc., especially Raphael Mayoraz, provided invaluable technical support. Shing-Tzong Lin provided unpublished cross sections of the physical model that he created under our supervision. Hongxing Ge digitized the model data. The research was funded by the following companies in the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory consortium: Agip, Amoco, Anadarko, ARCO/Vastar, British Petroleum, Chevron, Conoco/Dupont, Elf Aquitaine, Exxon, Louisiana Land and Exploration, Marathon, Mobil, Petrobras, Phillips, Statoil, Texaco, and Total. K. Prewitt and T. Weaver edited the figures. T. Hentz edited the paper. J. Farre, R. Ray, and B. Blake refereed the paper, which is published by permission of the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin.

Relationships of Louisiana Colonial Land Claims with Potential Natural Vegetation and Historic Standing Structures: A GIS Approach∗

Louisiana's French, Spanish, and British colonial administrations left a vivid imprint on the landscape in the form of unique cadastral survey systems. The collective distribution of these colonial land claims presents a picture of the colonial occupation of the state. Settlement shows up clearly along the waterways of the bayou state. Equally significant are the areas devoid of land claims. This paper discusses the compilation of the colonial Louisiana land claims map and demonstrates its utility to GIS-based historical geography and historic preservation. By merging this map with other digitized datasets such as potential natural vegetation and historic structures, the seemingly chaotic 18th century occupance of an extremely heterogeneous physical environment becomes patterned, and prior assumptions about the colonial settlement process may be tested with greater precision.

Environmental Protection: Streamlining Petroleum Exploration and Production

The petroleum industry is inherently subject to a tremendous degree of volatility through fluctuation in world market prices and vagaries of world politics. A more recent stressful demand on the existing domestic petroleum exploration and production system has been the burgeoning number of environmental regulations imposed on this segment of the industry. Prudent and acceptable oil-field practices must now include agency-regulated environmental protection measures. Many independent producers are unfamiliar not only with the regulatory agencies, but also with the jargon and ambiguities, of regulations that very widely from state to state. Whereas some companies perceive only the restrictions and added cost of regulatory compliance, other companies have sought to optimize benefits while minimizing financial burdens by approaching this modern necessity more creatively, thereby discovering numerous means to become even more competitive. The domestic oil field of the 1990s will be increasingly affected by environmental regulation and public opinion. A number of companies have taken a proactive position on environmental issues. Industry examples include Louisiana Land and Exploration Company's history of wetlands conservation and Chevron's SMART (Save Money and Reduce Toxics). The future of the quality of life of this nation, and indeed the planet as a whole, lies in ourmore » capability to deal concurrently with the issues of a petroleum-based economy while protecting the natural environment that sustains life.« less

Application of Field-Wide Conventional Coring In the Jay-Little Escambia Creek Unit

This paper discusses the application of data obtained from a field-wide conventional coring program in the Jay-Little Escambia Creek Unit. Benefits derived from the program far exceed the $5 million cost. Conventional coring of every well has proven the key factor for effective reservoir management of this major reserve. Introduction Early drilling and conventional coring in the Jay and Little Escambia Creek fields indicated that large oil deposits were contained in a thick, pressure depletion reservoir. Unitization and pressure maintenance would be necessary to increase the anticipated low primary recovery. To develop a basis for unitization and to plan the pressure maintenance program, a comprehensive pressure maintenance program, a comprehensive reservoir description was desirable. Field operators decided to expand early conventional coring field-wide to provide the necessary data. During development in 1970-74, 102 wells were drilled and cored conventionally through the Smackover carbonate formation. Average core recovery was 82%. Porosity and permeability were measured from more than 23,000 ft of core.Results of field-wide conventional coring were applied successfullyfor developing a basis for unitization,for planning the pressure maintenance program,for planning and evaluating well completion programs,for constructing a three-dimensional programs, (4) for constructing a three-dimensional reservoir description model,for analyzing and predicting waterflood behavior, andfor selecting infill-drilling well locations.A 12-well infill-drilling program began in 1977. Seven infill wells were drilled successfully and two drilling rigs now operate in the fields. Each well was cored conventionally to supplement reservoir description and to provide necessary data for optimum completion provide necessary data for optimum completion planning. Conventional coring continues for the rest of the planning. Conventional coring continues for the rest of the program. program. Field Description Jay Field is located in northwest Florida about 35 miles north o Pensacola. A small portion of this field extending into Alabama was named Little Escambia Creek. Jay Field was discovered by Exxon Co., U.S.A., in June 1970 and contained about 730 million STB of original oil in place.Oil accumulation in the Jay-Little Escambia Creek fields is located in the Smackover carbonate and Norphlet sand formations. Oil occurs mostly in the dolomitized portions of the Smackover carbonate. Fig. 1 is a structure portions of the Smackover carbonate. Fig. 1 is a structure map contoured on top of the Smackover formation. This formation is found slightly below 15,000 ft, and its average thickness is about 350 ft. The formation is layered with high permeability contrast among layers. Table 1 presents a summary of rock and fluid properties, presents a summary of rock and fluid properties, reservoir properties, and production-injection data for the field. Five operators were active during development from 1970-74: Exxon Co., U.S.A.; Louisiana Land and Exploration Co.; Chevron U.S.A., Inc.; Sun Co.; and Amerada-Hess Corp. After analyses of early drilling and conventional coring established the need for unitization and pressure maintenance, these operators decided to expand conventional coring field-wide. A total 102 wells eventually were drilled as the field was developed on 160-acre well spacing. JPT P. 1774

An Engineering Study of the Lafitte Oil Field

The Lafitte field, the largest oil reserve in South Louisiana is inJefferson Parish, some 25 miles due south of the City of New Orleans. The discovery well, The Texas Company's No. I., Louisiana Land and ExplorationCo., in the southeast corner of sec. 19, T. 17 S., R. 24 E., was completed onMay IS, 1935. The initial production of this well was 960 bbl. of 34.9 A.P.I.gravity oil per day, through choke, with a tubing pressure of 1600 lb. per sq.in. Producing depth was 9558 to 9572 ft., the total depth being 9572feet. The development of the field has been at the rate of three to eight newproducing wells per year. Up to Jan. I., 1944, 60 producing wells and three dryholes had been drilled, while two of the original producing wells had beenabandoned. Although the field is not unitized, The Texas Company was the sole operator inthe field until the Lafitte Oil Co. completed its No. I Jefferson Parish, nearthe center of the west line of the NW /4 sec. 20, T. 17 S., R. 24 E., on July27, 1941. No additional wells have been drilled by the Lafitte OilCompany. Drilling and Well-Completion Practices All drilling operations have been conducted with the steam-driven rotaryequipment mounted on submersible barges. A canal is dug to the well location and the drilling unit is floated intoposition. The seacocks are then opened and the barge settles to the bottom.After the well is completed, seacocks are closed and water is pumped out of thebarge. This procedure permits the barge, with drilling equipment still inplace, to be floated and moved? off the location. The conventional open-hole and the gun perforation method of completing wellshas been used in this field. Where possible, the initial completion is from thedeepest sand and recompletions are made progressively up the hole, by pluggingback with cement to the upper sand and gun perforating opposite the newsand. The oil string usually is 7% in., 26 to 34-lb. casing. Three wells have beencompleted using 9%-in. 44-lb.casing set below 10,000'Feet. Fig. I shows the completion and recompletion practices on one well in thefield. This figure also shows the relative locations of the different producingsands as shown on the electric well log. Structure The structure is an elongated dome, cut by two north-south faults, whichdivides the field into three segments. The west segment is the higheststructurally and contains most of the recoverable oil and gas. The centersegment is less important and the east segment is of little value. Figs. 2,4,6,8 and 10 are depth contour maps on top of the five main producingsands in the field. T.P. 1869