Region: Northern Midcontinent Cherokee Platform Province This description of the Cherokee Platform Province is from the U. S. Geological Survey 1995 National Assessment of United States Oil and Gas Resources (available on CD-ROM from the U.S.G.S. as Digital Data Series DDS-30, Release 2).

Cherokee Platform Province

Introduction

The Cherokee Platform Province extends from southeastern Kansas and part of southwestern Missouri to northeastern Oklahoma. It consists of 37 counties; all boundaries of this province follow county boundaries. The province is 235 miles long (north-south) by 210 miles wide (east-west) and has an area of 26,500 sq mi.

Petroleum exploration in the Cherokee Platform Province began in the 1860's with drilling in Bourbon and Cherokee Counties, Kansas. The first discovery was in 1873 in Allen County, Kansas (Iola field). Over 200,000 wells have been drilled in the province, and 431 fields larger than 1 MMBOE have been discovered. Discovered resources as of the end of 1990 have been over 5.3 BBO and 4.3 TCFG. Among the largest fields in the province are Burbank field (over 500 MMBO), in Kay and Osage Counties, Oklahoma; Cushing field (over 500 MMBO), in Creek and Payne Counties, Oklahoma; Glennpool field (over 300 MMBO), in Creek and Tulsa Counties, Oklahoma; Iola field (over 150 BCFG), in Allen County, Kansas; and Buffalo-Vilas field (over 120 BCFG), in Wilson and Woodson Counties, Kansas.

The plays were erected for the Cherokee Platform Province primarily by grouping the accumulations by the age of the reservoir rocks. Thus, the reservoirs and prospects in the pre-Woodford Paleozoic rocks are in Pre-Woodford Paleozoic Play, except for those significantly below the top of the Arbuckle Group, which are in Internal Arbuckle/Reagan Play. Woodford Shale reservoirs are part of a regional unconventional play, the Woodford/Chattanooga/Arkansas Novaculite of Midcontinent Play, described in the section for the Anadarko Basin Province. Mississippian reservoirs are assigned to Mississippian Play. The Pennsylvanian reservoirs are divided into two plays by primary trap type. Pennsylvanian Structural Play includes Pennsylvanian reservoirs or prospects with structural or combination traps. Pennsylvanian Stratigraphic Play includes Pennsylvanian, primarily but not exclusively Desmoinesian, reservoirs with stratigraphic traps. The unconventional coalbed gas play is Cherokee Basin-Central Basin Play.

Acknowledgments

Scientists affiliated with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and from various State geological surveys contributed significantly to play concepts and definitions. Their contributions are gratefully acknowledged.

References

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