Information Circular 107


The Champlin Petroleum well (Florida permit
518) is located in extreme northwest Okaloosa
County. This well lies adjacent to the Pensacola
Arch, which accounts for the coarser and more
lithic nature of its red beds. Fourteen and one-
half feet of Norphlet material were cored within
this well (-14403.6 to -14481.3 ft blkb), of which
only the upper three feet were recovered. From
this three-foot interval, a single chip of red,
coarse-grained sandstone was analyzed for this
project. This would place the sample
approximately 4.9 feet below the Smackover-
Norphlet contact as determined by geophysical
logs. This stratigraphic relationship would
effectively limit the Denkman Member to the
overlying 4.9 feet interval, if present at all. A
geophysical well log from Champlin Petroleum
Corporation well (Florida permit 518) shows a
serrated spontaneous potential (SP) pattern
(Figure 11) believed to be representative of the
red bed lithofacies (Wilkerson, 1981). In the
author's opinion, the Norphlet section within this
well is comprised almost entirely of red beds
perhaps formed by stacking of wadi-type
deposits on the flanks of the Pensacola Arch
(Mancini et al, 1985). If the sequence in this well
is typical of the Norphlet, a conglomeratic
lithofacies may be expected in the lower part of
this well. However, at the present time, the
author is not able to recognize a conglomeratic
lithofacies from the geophysical log data.
 The Mesa Petroleum Company well is located
 in south-central Santa Rosa County, farther out
 in the Conecuh Embayment than the Champlin
 well. Within this well, the transition from
 Denkman to red beds is subtle and cannot be
 identified on geophysical logs. The lower portion
 of the core from this well exhibits a red bed
 section approximately 33-feet thick. The red bed
 portion of the core consists of a red, poorly- to
 moderately well-sorted, fine- to medium-grained
 sandstone with subrounded to subangular grains.
 The most distinctive feature of this lithofacies is
 the closely spaced horizontal to slightly inclined
 (1 to 5) laminae. These laminae are composed
 of alternating fine and medium- to coarse- grain


sizes. The coarse layers contain more rounded
grains and more feldspars and rock fragments
than the finer-sized layers.
 Framework packing densities of the red bed
lithofacies average 81.4 percent. Packing
densities within the red bed lithofacies were
found to be higher than those within the
quartzose lithofacies (79.0 percent average).
Red bed packing densities are very similar to
Norphlet packing densities reported from the
Hatters Pond Area, Alabama (81.4 percent
average (Honda, 1981)). However, grain
rearrangement and extensive pressure solution
reported by Honda (1981) for the Hatters Pond
Area do not occur extensively within the red bed
lithofacies in panhandle Florida.
 The red bed lithofacies is a feldspathic
litharenite (Folk, 1980). The average
composition of framework grains is 61.3 percent
quartz, 23.1 percent rock fragments, and 15.6
percent feldspars.


 FRAMEWORK GRAINS

 The most abundant detrital grain found in the
 red bed lithofacies is quartz. Quartz content
 averages 61.3 percent of framework grains. This
 value is similar to those from Denkman samples,
 thus reflecting the consistent lithology of the
 formation. In a sample from the Champlin well
 (Florida permit 518), rock fragments are more
 abundant than quartz, possibly due to the relative
 closeness of the sample to its source areas. The
 most common quartz type present, making up to
 48.0 percent of the total quartz population, is
 monocrystalline quartz with little to no undulatory
 extinction. Approximately 16.0 percent of all
 quartz grains contain mineral inclusions and/or
 small vacuole trains, suggesting a plutonic origin
 (Folk, 1980).
 The second most abundant quartz type is
 monocrystalline, undulose quartz, making up
 44.5 percent of the total quartz fraction. Semi-
 composite quartz grains average 5.6 percent,
 while fully-composite quartz grains average 2.0


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