Interim report on petroleum resource potential and geologic hazards in the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Alaska Tertiary province

Open-File Report 75-592
By: , and 

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Abstract

The potential for discovering large accumulations of petroleum on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Alaska Tertiary Province cannot be evaluated with much confidence at present because of the inadequacies of the available offshore geological and geophysical data. The 22 deep test wells that have been drilled since 1954 have been unsuccessful because structure is complex and because suitable reservoir rocks have not been found in favorable structural positions. Although it is possible that the factors controlling accumulation of petroleum may improve offshore, regional stratigraphic and structural considerations together with the limited geophysical data suggest that this is not necessarily the case. Extrapolation of onshore geology together with the limited amount of marine geophysical data, indicate that the eastern Gulf of Alaska Outer Continental Shelf is geologically complex and consists of several areas with markedly differing structural styles and petroleum potential.



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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Interim report on petroleum resource potential and geologic hazards in the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Alaska Tertiary province
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 75-592
DOI 10.3133/ofr75592
Year Published 1975
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description iv, 74 p.
Country United States
State Alaska
Other Geospatial Gulf of Alaska
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