Aurora 089 No. 1 OCS-Y-0943 Well Offshore Northeast Alaska: Petrography-Petrology

The Aurora well affords the most recently available geological information pertinent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to the south. The well is located approximately four miles north of Griffin Point (T.8N., R.37E., sec. 9), and approximately five miles north, forty-five degrees east, of Tapkaurak Point (T.8N., R.36E., sec. 1), which is the site of the Chevron KIC No. 1 Jago well. This report presents summary discussions of regional geological relationships, and of the petrology and stratigraphy associated with the Aurora well.

Petrographic analyses were performed of twenty six thin-sections representing suites of well cuttings fragments from selected stratigraphic horizons over the depth interval l3,800-18,190 feet. Emphasized were two zones of well-developed sand/sandstone, the "Oruktalik Sand" (14,680-14,860 feet), of predominantly litharenite/cherny aspect, and the somewhat more quartzose "Tapkaurak Sand" (16,445-16,630 feet).

Results of this work provide information fundamental to increased understanding and further elucidation of geological, petrophysical, and geophysical characteristics of this key well, and implications regarding regional relationships and resource potentials.