Paleogeomorphology of the Sub-Pennsylvanian Unconformity of the Arbuckle Group (Cambrian-Lower Ordovician)
Kansas Geological Survey
Open-file Report 2001-55

Petroleum Significance

The Arbuckle Group and stratigraphically equivalent reservoirs have been some of the most prolific oil producers in the Mid-continent. Arbuckle strata account for nearly one third of the approximately 5.9 billion barrels of cumulative oil production in Kansas. Oil was found in Arbuckle reservoirs in the subsurface of southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma right after the turn of the century. Since then, thousands of wells have successfully encountered petroleum based on a shallow drilling philosophy, penetrating only the top of the thick Arbuckle sequence. In Central Kansas, drilling strategies focused on karstic porosity developed in the upper 200-300 feet (60-90 meters) subjacent to the Sub-Pennsylvanian unconformity.

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Last updated December 2001
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