Maps of the Week: Drilling Mud Density, Smackover Lithium Play, LIDAR Finds Ancient Cities in the Amazon, and Geologic Hydrogen Exploration Along the Mid-Continent Rift

 

Map 1: Drilling Mud Density

     The first map shows the drilling mud density for Texas, the Mid-Continent region, and the Rockies region. Values were converted from pounds per gallon to psi/ft, so from mud weight to pressure. The map is essentially one of how much pressure is needed to control each reservoir.

     The map was made by geologist and reservoir engineer Bryan McDowell from Sabata Energy’s database and posted on LinkedIn. He notes:

“You can really see some of the basins/shale plays pop out (Delaware, Uinta, Powder, Anadarko, Haynesville) while others like the DJ and Midland basins are much more subtle.”

 

Map 2: Standard Lithium’s Map of the Smackover Brine Fairway

     This map shows Standard Lithium’s projects along the main prospective fairway of the Smackover lithium brine play. I believe the blue section delineates high-grade areas along the full fairway. The company has drilled Smackover Brine in East Texas with the highest lithium concentrations in North America rivaling the concentrations in the Lithium Triangle region of South America.

 

Map 3: LIDAR Finds Ancient Cities in the Amazon Rainforest

     This LIDAR map of the Amazon rainforest clearly reveals ancient structures that have never been excavated or explored to our knowledge. This is from a LinkedIn post by Travis Sachs who also links to his website: 3DS Technologies. They provide LIDAR services from Ontario, Canada.  

  “Recent LIDAR scans have revealed ancient cities deep in the Amazon rainforest, home to at least 10,000 people around 2,000 years ago. Built by the between 500 B.C. and 600 A.D., they are are marked by extensive road networks, with the largest roads stretching up to 33 feet (10 meters) wide and running for over 12 miles (20 kilometers). The discovery of over 6,000 earthen mounds and sophisticated agricultural systems challenges our assumptions about ancient Amazonian civilizations, showing they were much more complex and populous than previously believed.”

 

Image Credit: Billy Carson II

 

 

Map 4: Mid-Continent Rift Geologic Hydrogen Exploration Example

     This map was posted on LinkedIn by Paul Dial, Ph. D., a geologic hydrogen consultant. This is what he had to say about geologic hydrogen exploration along the Mid-Continent Rift:

“Better reservoir and source characterization within the Midcontinent Rift is essential to defining geologic hydrogen potential of the feature. One area within the rift may have the optimum existing data to more easily develop a regional model to characterize both. This location contains an exiting deep crustal seismic reflection profile and a nearby deep well that penetrated the mafic content within the rift. This appears to be a unique situation along the length of the buried portion of the rift. A regional program of geological and geophysical data collection could be integrated into the pre-exiting data to develop a more thorough model. I would propose the following program:

1. Reprocess existing deep crustal seismic reflection line

2. Collect regional high resolution gravity/aeromagnetic survey

3. Collect regional grid of 2D seismic reflection data

4. Drill 2-3 wells to aid in calibration of model and refine existing well interpretation based on optimum reservoir potential

With these data in hand, a more fully "3D" understanding of the regional potential for generation and capture of geologic hydrogen within the rift could be developed.”