Black Warrior Basin
Encyclopedia
The Black Warrior Basin is a geologic sedimentary basin
of western Alabama
and northern Mississippi
in the United States. It is named for the Black Warrior River
and is developed for coal
and coalbed methane
production, as well as for conventional oil
and natural gas
production. Coalbed methane of the Black Warrior Basin has been developed and in production longer than in any other location in the United States. The coalbed methane is produced from the Pennsylvanian
Pottsville
Coal Interval.
The Black Warrior basin was a foreland basin
during the Ouachita Orogeny
during the Pennsylvanian
and Permian
Periods. The basin also received sediments from the Appalachian orogeny during the Pennsylvanian. The western margin of the basin lies beneath the sediments of the Mississippi embayment
where it is contiguous with the Arkoma Basin of northern Arkansas
and northeastern Oklahoma
. The region existed as a quiescent
continental shelf environment through the early Paleozoic
from the Cambrian
through the Mississippian with the deposition of shelf sandstones, shale, limestone, dolomite and chert.
Sedimentary basin
The term sedimentary basin is used to refer to any geographical feature exhibiting subsidence and consequent infilling by sedimentation. As the sediments are buried, they are subjected to increasing pressure and begin the process of lithification...
of western Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
and northern Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
in the United States. It is named for the Black Warrior River
Black Warrior River
The Black Warrior River is a waterway in west central Alabama in the southeastern United States. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles to the Tombigbee River, of which the Black Warrior is the primary tributary...
and is developed for coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and coalbed methane
Coalbed methane
Coalbed methane or Coal Bed Methane, coalbed gas or coal mine methane is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, and other countries...
production, as well as for conventional oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
and natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
production. Coalbed methane of the Black Warrior Basin has been developed and in production longer than in any other location in the United States. The coalbed methane is produced from the Pennsylvanian
Pennsylvanian
The Pennsylvanian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most other geochronologic units, the rock beds that define the Pennsylvanian are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain...
Pottsville
Pottsville Formation
The Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio. The formation is also recognized in Alabama. It is a major ridge-former In the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of the eastern United States...
Coal Interval.
The Black Warrior basin was a foreland basin
Foreland basin
A foreland basin is a depression that develops adjacent and parallel to a mountain belt. Foreland basins form because the immense mass created by crustal thickening associated with the evolution of a mountain belt causes the lithosphere to bend, by a process known as lithospheric flexure...
during the Ouachita Orogeny
Ouachita orogeny
The Ouachita orogeny was a mountain building event that resulted in the folding and faulting of strata currently exposed in the Ouachita Mountains...
during the Pennsylvanian
Pennsylvanian
The Pennsylvanian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most other geochronologic units, the rock beds that define the Pennsylvanian are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain...
and Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
Periods. The basin also received sediments from the Appalachian orogeny during the Pennsylvanian. The western margin of the basin lies beneath the sediments of the Mississippi embayment
Mississippi embayment
The Mississippi Embayment is a physiographic feature in the south-central United States, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. It is essentially a northward continuation of the fluvial sediments of the Mississippi River Delta to its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. The embayment...
where it is contiguous with the Arkoma Basin of northern Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
and northeastern Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. The region existed as a quiescent
continental shelf environment through the early Paleozoic
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon, spanning from roughly...
from the Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
through the Mississippian with the deposition of shelf sandstones, shale, limestone, dolomite and chert.
Further reading
- Hatch J.R. and M.J. Pawlewicz. (2007). Geologic assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Black Warrior Basin Province, Alabama and Mississippi [Digital Data Series 069-I]. Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
External links
- Geological Survey of Alabama; Alabama State Oil and Gas Board
- Pashin, J.C. (2005). Pottsville Stratigraphy and the Union Chapel Lagerstatte. (PDF) Pennsylvanian Footprints in the Black Warrior Basin of Alabama, Alabama Paleontological Society Monograph no.1. Buta, R. J., Rindsberg, A. K., and Kopaska-Merkel, D. C., eds.
- Internet Map Application for the Black Warrior Basin Province, USGS Energy Resources Program, Map Service for the Black Warrior Basin Province, 2002 National Assessment of Oil and Gas