17-11 One Hundred Years of Drilling: Minerology of Historic F.C. Deemer Repository

Session: One Century of Oil and Gas in the Permian Basin

Presenting Author:

Authors:

Abstract:

The F.C. Deemer Repository from northwestern Pennsylvania is a historic collection of over 10,000 samples of drill cuttings, collected as early as 1920, that are now housed at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Alice Irvin No. 13 is one of 24 wells originally drilled to target gas production in the Lower Devonian Onondaga and Oriskany Formations. Data-archives (including drilling reports, gas production reports, and lease agreements) from these wells, located in Pennsylvania’s Jefferson and Clearfield counties, represent over 49,000 feet of stratigraphy which was obtained from the Deemer Estate.  

Alice Irvin No. 13 was sampled from the surface to the Helderberg Group (0 to 7500 feet). While this well is no longer producing gas, there is a potential for extraction of rare earth elements (REE) such as Y, La, and Ce. We characterized well cuttings by performing non-destructive analysis using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) on each sample. This data provides insight into the chemical stratigraphy in northcentral Pennsylvania and shows enrichments of REEs in middle and late Devonian shales. Beyond the geological implications of this well, it reflects an early time in geoscience and oil and gas exploration, offering novel perspectives on the industry’s beginnings compared to modern day. 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-7551

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