U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–I National Assessment of Oil and Gas Project: Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Black Warrior Basin Province, Alabama and Mississippi By U.S. Geological Survey Black Warrior Basin Province Assessment Team U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Mark D. Myers, Director For sale by U.S. Geological Survey Information Services Box 25286, Building 810 Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225-0086 Telephone (303) 202-4200 For more information about the U.S. Geological Survey and its products: Telephone 1-888-ASK-USGS URL: http://www.usgs.gov/ Introduction The purpose of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Oil and Gas Assessment is to develop geologically based hypotheses regarding the potential for additions to oil and gas reserves in priority areas of the United States. The USGS recently completed an assessment of undiscovered oil and gas potential of the Cambrian-Ordovician carbonate rocks, the Chattanooga and Floyd Shales, and the Pottsville Formation coals in the Black Warrior Basin Province in northeastern Mississippi and northwestern Alabama in the Gulf Coast Region. The Cambrian-Ordovician carbonate rocks, the Chattanooga and Floyd Shales, and the Pottsville Formation coals are important because of their potential for natural gas resources. This assessment is based on geologic principles and uses the total petroleum system concept. The geologic elements of a total petroleum system include hydrocarbon source rocks (source rock maturation, hydrocarbon generation and migration), reservoir rocks (sequence stratigraphy and petrophysical properties), and hydrocarbon traps (trap formation and timing). The USGS used this geologic framework to define two total petroleum systems and three assessment units. All three assessment units were quantitatively assessed for undiscovered oil and gas resources. Contact Information This volume is one of a series of products resulting from the National Oil and Gas Assessment project of the U.S. Geological Survey. Inquiries about this CD-ROM or the project should be addressed to: Christopher J. Schenk, Project Chief U.S. Geological Survey Box 25046, Mail Stop 939 Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225-0046 Telephone: (303) 236-5796 E-mail: schenk@usgs.gov Disclaimer This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of its employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data and software published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data, the software, or related materials. Using This CD The descriptive and interpretive text chapters of this volume are in PDF format. Use Acrobat Reader 7.0 (installer for Mac and Windows provided on this CD-ROM) to access and bring up these chapters. The USGS Central Energy Resources Team has developed an Internet Map Service to deliver the GIS data to the public. The spatial data that formed the basis of the GIS are provided online at the USGS National Oil and Gas Assessment Web site (NOGA Online: http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/noga) and are also contained on this CD-ROM in the Spatial folder. Several data formats are provided as noted by subfolders (Export and Shape). The Doc subfolder contains metadata documentation in HTML format that is also incorporated in each shapefile and export file in XML format. Most of the base cartographic data layers used in the GIS project were obtained from the U.S. Department of the Interior National Atlas Web site, www.nationalatlas.gov, or the U.S. Geological Survey National Map, http://nmviewogc.cr.usgs.gov/viewer.htm. Contents of This CD-ROM When the CD–ROM is opened, the following folders appear on the screen: ACROBAT—contains installer for Acrobat Reader 7.0. OPEN_FIRST—from OPEN_FIRST.pdf in this folder, navigate to the ReadMe file, an executive summary, pages of chapter titles, and the GIS data and metadata. README—you can access the ReadMe file from this folder also. REPORTS—listing of and links to the chapters, plus the tabular data. SPATIAL—folder containing files for the GIS data and metadata. There are several routes to the information in this volume. System Requirements MAC OS X Adobe Reader 7 • Power PC G3, G4, G5 processor • Mac OS X v.10.2.8 or 10.3 • 128 MB of RAM • 80 MB of available hard disk space (110 MB required for the full version) • 800 x 600 screen resolution WINDOWS Adobe Reader 7.0 MS Windows • Intel Pentium-class processor • Windows XP Professional or Home Edition with SP1 or SP2, or Tablet PC Edition • Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) • 128 MB of RAM • 90 MB of available hard-disk space for the full version • 800 x 600 monitor resolution Note: Installers for Acrobat Reader 7.0 for Macintosh and Windows platforms are provided on this CD-ROM.