Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 1989. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Senosoiese sedimente langs die suidooskus van die Kaapprovinsie is periodiek deur verskeie outeurs vir meer as 'n eeu bestudeer. In hierdie aanbieding word die Iiteratuur saamgevat en vele dubbelsinnige stratigrafiese onderverdelings en definisies opgeklaar. Die Senosoiese afsettings kan volgens oorsprong geklassifiseer word as marien, eolies en fluviaal. Die mariene afsettings, synde strand-, nabystrand-, estuarien of lagunale afsettings geassosieerd met transgressiewe/ regressiewe kusIyne, word nou op grond van kenmerkende litologiese, paleontologiese sowel as ouderdomsverskille onderverdeel in die Paleogeen Bathurst, Neogeen Alexandria en Kwaternere Salnova Foraasies. Die Laat-Plioseen tot Vroeg-Pleistoseen Nanaga Formasie, Middel- tot Laat- Pleistoseen Nahoon Formasie en die Holoseen Schel• Hoek Formasie vorm die kus-eoliese afsettings. AI die mariene en marienverwante (eoliese} formasies, gekenmerk deur kalkige klastiese afsettings, is saamgegroepeer in 'n nuutgedefinieerde Algoa Groep. Fluviale afsettings word onderverdeel in die Martindale, Kinkelbos, Bluewater Bay, Kudus Kloof en Sunland Formasies. Die onderskeie afsettings word gekorreleer met verskillende seevlakstande deur geologiese tye. Die vroegste Senosoiese transgressiewe/regressiewe siklus het in die Vroeg-Paleoseen begin en die hoogste aangetekende elevasie vir die era bereik. Die Bathurst Formasie is waarskynlik gedurende hierdie regressie afgeset. 'n Tweed~ kleiner transgressie/ regressiesiklus het plaasgevind gedurende die Laat-Eoseen tot Vroeg-Oligoseen. Sover tans bekend, kan geen afsetting in die dagsoomgebied van die Algoa Groep definitief met hierdie siklus in verband gebring word nie. Die volgende siklus, wat 'n transgressiewe maksimum van c. 250 m bereik het, het begin in die Middel-Mioseen en verstryk in die Vroee Plioseen. Mariene planasie van die kusplatform het gedurende die transgressie plaasgevind terwyl die Alexandria Formasie wat tans bo 120 m geleë is, gedurende die regressie afgeset is. Die Vroeg-Plioseen transgressie het waarskynlik 'n maksimum huidige hoogte van c. 120 m bereik, waartydens o.a. die 120 m branderstoep en "Humansdorpterras" gekerf is. Die Alexandria Formasie tans geleë tussen 60 en 120 m, is afgeset gedurende die Laat-Plioseen regressie. Hierdie regressie het verskeie relatief lang stilstande, wat waarskynlik die 106-m, 90- tot 100-m en 84-m branderstoepe verklaar, ondervind. Selfs die 60-m en 52-m kuslyne kon tydens hierdie regressie gevorm het. Voorlopige paleontologiese getuienis dui egter daarop dat die 60-m kuslyn 'n transgressiewe maksimum van 'n daaropvolgende siklus verteenwoordig, gevolg deur 'n regressie met minstens een beduidende stilstand by 52 m. Die Alexandria Formasie geleë tussen c. 60 en 30 m, is waarskynlik gedurende hierdie regressie gedeponeer, waartydens ook die Bluewater Bay, Kinkelbos en Kudus Kloof Formasies afgeset is. Gedurende die Kwaternêre transgressie/regressiesiklusse, waarvan minstens vier aangedui word, is die Salnova Formasie (afwesig bo 30 m) afgeset. Die Nahoon Formasie, wat ook op groot skaal op die kontinentale bank ontwikkel is, is gedeponeer gedurende die laaste twee Pleistoseen glasiale toe seevlakke tot benede -100 m gedaal het. Die Schelm Hoek Formasie wat tans nog afgeset word, het ontstaan uit die transgressiewe maksimum van die Flandriese transgressie aan die begin van die Holoseen. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Cenozoic sediments along the south-east coast of the Cape Province have been studied intermittently for more than a century by various authors. In this presentation the literature is reviewed and many ambiguous stratigraphic subdivisions and definitions are clarified. The Cenozoic deposits can be classified, according to origin, as marine, aeolian and fluvial. The marine deposits, being lagoonal deposits either beach, nearshore, estuarine or associated with transgressive/regressive shorelines, are now subdivided on the grounds of distinct lithological, palaeontological as well as age differences into the Palaeogene Bathurst, Neogene Alexandria and Quaternary Salnova Formations. The Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene Nanaga Formation, the Hiddle to Late Pleistocene Nahoon Formation and the Holocene Schelm Hoek Formation constitute the coastal and marine-related aeolian deposits. All the marine (aeolian) formations, which are characterised by calcareous clastics, have been grouped together in a newly defined Algoa Group. Fluvial deposits are subdivided into the Martindale, Kinkelbos, Bluewater Bay, Kudus Kloof and Sunland Formations. The various deposits are correlated with different stands of sea-level through geological time. The earliest Cenozoic transgression/regression cycle started in the Early Palaeocene and reached the highest recorded altitude for the era. The Bathurst Formation was probably deposited during this regression. A second lesser transgression/regression cycle occurred in the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene. As far as is presently known, no deposit in the outcrop area of the Algoa Group can be definitely related to this cycle. The next cycle, which reached a transgressive maximum of c. 250 m, started in the Middle Miocene and terminated in the Early Pliocene. Marine planation of the coastal platform took place during the transgression, whilst the Alexandria Formation presently situated above 120 m, was deposited during the regression. The Early Pliocene transgression is considered to have reached a maximum present-day elevation of c. 120 m, during which the 120 m marine bench and "Humansdorp Terrace", amongst others, were carved. The Alexandria Formation presently situated between 60 and 120 m, was deposited during the Late Pliocene regression, which experienced several relatively long stillstands which probably account for the 106 m, 90 t.o 100 m and 8.4 m benches. Even the 60 m- and 52 m-shorelines could have been formed during this regression. Preliminary palaeontological evidence, however, suggests that the 60 m shoreline represents a transgressive maximum of a subsequent cycle followed by a regression with at least one significant stillstand at 52 m. The Alexandria Formation situated between c. 60 and 30 m, was probably deposited during this regression, which also saw the deposition of the Bluewater Bay, Kinkelbos and Kudus Kloof Formations. During the Quaternary transgression/regression cycles, of which at least four are indicated, the Salnova Formation (absent above 30 m) was deposited. The Nahoon Formation, which is also extensively developed on the continental shelf, was deposited during the last two Pleistocene glacials, when sea-levels receded to less than -100 m. The Schelm Hoek Formation, which is still being deposited, originated from the transgressive maximum of the Flandrian transgression at the start of the Holocene.

A detailed structural analysis was conducted of the Warwick Hills at the northeast tip of the doubly-plunging Dagger Flat anticlinorium, Marathon Basin, west Texas. Field work delineated a folded duplex structure composed of three horses. Thrust transport was towards the northwest and resulted in a hinterland-dipping duplex. Initial thrusting In the Warwick Hills shortened the area by 2.2:1 (54%). Post-thrusting, the duplex underwent nearly isoclinal folding creating two anticlines and a syncline, second-order folds to the Dagger Flat anticlinoium. Folding combined with thrusting brought the total shortening of the rock package to 6.5:1 (85%). Earlier estimates gave a shortening for the Warwick Hills of 3:1. Finally, the folded duplex was extended by oblique tear faulting that offset the folded thrusts accommodating extension of the major folds in a northeast direction. These tear faults occurred post-plunging of the folds and were the last deformational movements that affected the Warwick Hills. The Ordovician Maravillas and Devonian Caballos Formations acted in the Warwick Hills as a structurally competent couplet. Addition or subtraction of this couplet, or units in this couplet, controlled the location of the major and minor thrusts, the style and shape of folds, and the location of the fold hinges. Bounding the couplet are incompetent shales of the Ordovician Woods Hollow and the Mississippian Tesnus Formations. Thrusts in the Warwick Hills duplex have a basal décollement in the Woods Hollow shale and ramp up through the Maravillas/Caballos couplet with an upper décollement in the Tesnus shale. The entire duplex was primarily folded by flexural slip (i.e. concentric folds) as evidenced by slickensides oriented parallel to bedding and perpendicular to fold axes, the constant thickness of the competent layers and the change in fold shape with depth. Fold wavelength, as determined from the couplet in the lowest thrust sheet, averages ~1,300 m and the average fold axis for the Warwick Hills, as determined stereographically, plunges ~54° N90°E. Shale in the Woods Hollow and Tesnus Formations bounding the couplet, flowed passively during folding into the cavities that were created by the bending of the more competent units. Lower and upper boundaries of disharmonic folding developed in the Woods Hollow and Tesnus Formations respectively. Unique to this area when compared to the rest of the anticlinorium are the presence of tightly folded thrusts and steep east-trending fold axes. The anticlinorium plunges in the Warwick Hills because it drapes off a down-to-the-northeast basement fault. Folds were "dragged" or diverted to the east during thrusting of the duplex over this transversely-oriented paleotopographic fault scarp, or were diverted subsequent to thrusting of the duplex by strike-slip movements at depth along the basement fault. / text

Within Big Bend National Park, the unconformable contact between the Buda Limestone and the overlying Boquillas Formation represents the Commanchean-Gulfian boundary. Previous studies of the geochronology of this interval have relied primarily on provincial ammonite faunas rather than foraminifera, and place the Buda and basal Boquillas in the Lower Cenomanian. Because of its indurated nature, a comprehensive foraminiferal biozonation has not been acquired for the Buda Limestone. Recent revisions to Cretaceous foraminiferal biozonations and taxonomies necessitates a new biostratigraphic study of the Buda - Boquillas interval. The overlapping ranges of F. washitensis, G. bentonensis, G. caseyi, P. appenninica, P. delrioensis, P. stephani, and R. montsalvensis place the Buda within the upper portion of the Early to Middle Cenomanian Th. globotruncanoides Zone. Microkarst found on the surface of the Buda Limestone has been interpreted as representing a subaerial exposure and sequence boundary. However, microkarst-like features can result from subaqueous or intrastratal processes. Carbon and oxygen stable isotope analysis of the lower and middle Buda has indicated a mean δ13C value of 1.73‰ VPDB, which is in line with other values reported from the Lower Cenomanian. The top 2.6m of Buda contains a 0.62‰ negative δ13C shift from 1.88‰ VPDB to 1.26‰ VDPB in a 40 cm interval, expected if subaerial exposure occurred. Higher variation in measured carbon isotope values beneath the contact also lend evidence for meteoric alteration. The standard deviation in δ13C values from the top 2.8 m of the Buda is 0.207, which is 2.16 times larger than the rest of the studied section at 0.096. The Buda contains a shallow pelagic-dominated fauna of heterohelicids (45-90%), globigerinellids (3-37%), and hedbergellids (4-22%). Intermediate-depth globigerinellids display an initial increase followed by a marked decrease in abundance upsection, interpreted as sea level transgression and regression, respectively. The lower contact of the Buda with the Del Rio Clay has been previously interpreted as a subaerial exposure, and a P:B break from ~0% planktonics in the upper Del Rio to ~80% in the Buda supports this claim. This study therefore interprets both the upper and lower contacts of the Buda as sequence boundaries. The overlying 1.2 m Boquillas is nearly devoid of benthics and represents a deeper assemblage including the double-keeled Dicarinella sp., as well as several Upper Cenomanian (D. algeriana Subzone) species. Based on foraminiferal data, the duration of the Buda - Boquillas unconformity is roughly equivalent to the missing Th. reicheli and Th. greenhornensis Biozones, or a sizable portion of the Middle Cenomanian. / Systematic paleontology -- Biostratigraphy of the Buda Limestone -- Biostratigraphy of the lowermost Boquillas Formation -- Stable isotope geochemistry. / Department of Geological Sciences

In the Paria Plateau area of northern Arizona and southern Utah the Chinle formation of Upper Triassic age consists of a thick series of Ienticular sandstone, siltstone, claystone, and limestone. The series thins northwestward from about 900 feet at Lees Ferry, Ariz., to about 800 feet at Paria, Utah. Four members of the Chinle formation are recognized—1) the basal Shinarump member composed of conglomeratic sandstone and subordinate shale, 2) a unit, herein named the Lowery Spring member, composed of sandstone and mudstone, 3) the Petrified Forest member composed of bentonitic siltstone and claystone and thin sandstone, and 4) the Owl Rock member composed of cherty limestone and calcareous siltstone. Only the Petrified Forest member is present at all localities in the Paria Plateau area. The Shinarump member was deposited in topographic low areas on an erosion surface and its distribution is irregular. The Lowery Spring and Owl Rock members grade and pinch-out toward the northwest and are not present at Paria, Utah. The upper contact of the Chinle formation is locally unconformable. The three lowermost members were deposited on a broad, flat plain between the Cordilleran geosyncline and highlands to the southeast. In Owl Rock time the rising Cordilleran geanticline cut off the north-westward drainage of Chinle streams and a depositional basin trending southwest was formed.

[Truncated abstract. Formulae and special characters can only be approximated here. Please see the pdf version of this abstract for an accurate representation.] The 3.24 Ga Panorama VMS District, located in the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia, is exposed as a cross-section through subvolcanic granite intrusions and a coeval submarine volcanic sequence that hosts Zn-Cu mineralization. The near-complete exposure across the district, the very low metamorphic grade, and the remarkable preservation of primary igneous and volcanic textures provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine the P-T-X-source evolution of a VMS ore-forming system and to assess the role of the subvolcanic intrusions as heat sources and/or metal contributors to the overlying VMS hydrothermal system. Detailed mapping of the Panorama VMS District has revealed seven major vein types related to the VMS hydrothermal system or to the subvolcanic intrusions. (1) Quartz-chalcopyrite veins, hosted in granophyric granite immediately beneath the granite-volcanic contact, formed prior to main stage VMS hydrothermal convection, and were precipitated from mixed H2OCO 2-NaCl-KCl fluids with variable salinities (2.5 to 8.5 wt% NaCl equiv). (2) Quartz-sericite veins, ubiquitous across the top 50m of the volcanic sequence, were formed from an Archean seawater with a salinity of 9.7 to 11.2 wt% NaCl equiv at temperatures of 90° to 135°C. These veins formed synchronous with the regional feldspar-sericite-quartz-ankerite alteration during seawater recharge into the main stage VMS hydrothermal convection cells. (3) Quartz-pyrite veins hosted in granophyric granite, and (4) quartz-carbonate-pyrite veins hosted in andesitebasalt, also formed from relatively unevolved Archean seawater (5.5 to 10.1 wt% NaCl equiv; 150° to 225°C), but during the collapse of the VMS hydrothermal system when cool, unmodified seawater invaded the top of the subvolcanic intrusions. (5) Quartz-topaz-muscovite greisen, (6) quartz-chlorite-chalcopyrite vein greisen, and (7) hydrothermal Cu-Zn-Sn veins are hosted in the subvolcanic intrusions. Primary H2O-NaCl-CaCl2 fluid inclusions in the vein greisens were complex high temperature hypersaline inclusions (up to 590°C and up to 56 wt% NaCl equiv). The H2O-CO2-NaCl fluid inclusions in the Cu-Zn-Sn veins have variable salinities, ranging from 4.9 to 14.1 wt% NaCl equiv, and homogenization temperatures ranging from 160° to 325°C. The hydrothermal quartz veins and magmatic metasomatic phases in the subvolcanic intrusions were formed from a magmatic-hydrothermal fluid that had evolved through wallrock reactions, cooling, and finally mixing with seawater-derived VMS hydrothermal fluids.

Investigating openwork block accumulation has the potential to further our understanding of rock weathering, the control of geological structure on landforms, the production of substrates for biological colonisation and the impacts of climate change on landform development and dynamics. Various models for the development of these landforms have been proposed. This includes in situ weathering, frost heave and wedging. Furthermore, it has been suggested that cold-based ice has the potential to preserve these features rather than to obliterate them. Blocky deposits are also frequently used as proxy evidence for interpreting palaeoclimates. The morphology and processes acting on a blockfield located on the Northern Buttress of the Vesleskarvet Nunataks, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica (2°W, 71°S) were investigated and characterised. Given block dimensions and orientations that closely resembled the parent material and only small differences in aspect related characteristics observed, the blockfield was found to be autochthonous with in situ block production and of a young (Holocene) age. Small differences in rock hardness measurements suggest some form of aspect control on rock weathering. South-facing sides of clasts were found to be the least weathered. In comparison, consistently low rock hardness rebound values for the north-facing aspects suggest that these are the most weathered sides. Additional indicators of weathering, such as flaking and pitting, support analyses conducted for rock hardness rebound values. Solar radiation received, slope gradients and snow cover were found to influence weathering of clasts across the study site. Furthermore, ambient temperatures and wind speed significantly influenced near-surface ground temperatures dynamics. However, the lack of a matrix and paucity of fine material in textural analyses suggest a limited weathering environment. It is suggested that the retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet during the last LGM led to unloading of the surface, causing dilatation and subsequent fracturing of the bedrock along pre-existing joints, leading to in situ clast supply. Subsequent weathering and erosion along other points or lines of weakness then yielded fines and slight edge rounding of clasts.

Detailed field mapping (Map, Appendix B) has been conducted in and around the boundaries of a 14x18km, volcanic complex 35km northeast of Molteno in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The structure is interpreted as a subsidence structure, and is filled with two volcaniclastic breccias, numerous lava flows, a number of sedimentary facies, and lies on a base of Clarens Formation overlying Elliot Formation rocks. This is an important study because 'widespread, voluminous fields of basaltic breccias are very rare (see Hanson and Elliot, 1996) and this is the first time that this type of volcanic complex and its deposits have been described. Detailed analyses of the two volcaniclastic breccias revealed changes in colour, clast types, clast sizes, and degree of alteration over relatively short distances both vertically and laterally within a single breccia unit. The variation in clast sizes implies a lack of sorting of the breccias. The lower of the two volcaniclastic breccias fills the subsidence structure, and outcrops between the Stormberg sedimentary sequence and the overlying Drakensberg basalts and was produced from phreatomagmatic eruptions signalling the start of the break-up of Gondwanaland in the mid-Jurassic. The upper volcaniclastic breccia is interbedded with the flood basalts and is separated from the lower breccia by up to 100m of lava flows in places, it is finer-grained than the lower volcaniclastic breccia, and it extends over 10km south, and over 100km north from the volcanic complex. The upper breccia is inferred to have been transported from outside the study area, from a source presumably similar to the subsidence structure in the volcanic complex. The pyroclastic material forming the upper breccia was transported to the subsidence structure as a laharic debris flow, based on its poorly sorted, unwelded and matrix-supported appearance. However, both breccias are unlikely to have been derived from epiclastic reworking of lava flows as they contain glass shards which are atypical of those derived from the autoclastic component of lava flows. The breccias are therefore not "secondary" lahars. There is also no evidence of any palaeotopographic highs from which the breccias could have been derived as gravity-driven flows. Based on the occurrence of three, 1m thick lacustrine deposits, localised peperite, fluvial reworking of sandstone and breccia in an outcrop to the south of the subsidence structure, and channel-lags encountered only in the upper units of the Clarens Formation and only within the subsidence structure, the palaeoenvironment inferred for the subsidence structure is one of wet sediment, possibly a shallow lake, in a topographic depression fed by small streams. Magmatic intrusions below the subsidence structure heated the water-laden, partly consolidated Clarens Formation sandstones, causing the circulation of pore fluid which resulted in the precipitation of minerals forming pisoliths in the sandstones. Intruding magma mixed, nonexplosively, with the wet, unconsolidated sediments near the base of the Clarens Formation (at approximately 100m below the surface), forming fluidal peperite by a process of sediment fluidisation where magma replaces wet sediment and cools slowly enough to prevent the magma fracturing brittly. Formation of fluidal peperite may have been a precursor to the development of FCIs (Fuel Coolant Interactions) (Busby-Spera and White, 1987). The breccias may represent the products of FCIs and may be the erupted equivalents of the peperites, suggesting a possible genetic link between the two. The peperites may have given way to FCI eruptions due to a number of factors including the drying out of the sediments and/or an increase in the volume of intruded magma below the subsidence structure which may have resulted in a more explosive interaction between sediment and magma. Phreatic activity fragmented and erupted the Clarens Formation sandstone, and stream flows reworked the angular sandstone fragments, pisoliths and sand grains into channelised deposits. With an increase in magmatic activity below the subsidence structure, phreatic activity became phreatomagmatic. The wet, partly consolidated Clarens Formation, and underlying, fully consolidated Elliot Formation sediments were erupted and fragmented. Clasts and individual grains of these sediments were redeposited with juvenile and non-juvenile basaltic material probably by a combination of back fall, where clasts erupted into the air fell directly back into the structure, and backflow where material was erupted out of the structure, but immediately flowed back in as lahars. This material formed the lower volcaniclastic breccia. A fault plane is identified along the southwestern margin of the subsidence structure, and is believed to continue up the western margin to the northwestern corner. A large dolerite body has intruded along the inferred fault plane on the western margin of the structure, and may be related to the formation of the lower volcaniclastic breccia, either directly through fluidisation of wet sediment during its intrusion, or as a dyke extending upwards from a network of sill-like intrusions below the subsidence structure. Geochemical analysis of the Drakensberg basalt lava flows by Mitchell (1980) and Masokwane (1997) revealed four distinct basalt types; the Moshesh's Ford, the Tafelkop, the Roodehoek, and the Vaalkop basalts. Basalt clasts sampled from the lower volcaniclastic breccia were shown to belong to the Moshesh's Ford basalt type which does not outcrop in situ within the subsidence structure. This implies that the Moshesh's Ford basalts were emplaced prior to the formation of the lower volcaniclastic breccia, and may have acted as a "cap-rock" over the system, allowing pressure from the vaporised fluids, heated by intruding basalt, to build up. The Moshesh's Ford basalt type was erupted prior to the resultant phreatomagmatic events forming the lower volcaniclastic breccia.

Hydrogeologists have faced serious challenges worldwide in the characterization of fractured rock aquifers due to the heterogeneous nature of the imbedded geology. The bulk flow parameters in the Karoo strata in South Africa are specifically uncertain since most models are based on homogenous block systems. As part of a WRC research project, entitled “Measurement of the bulk flow and transport characteristics of selected fractured rock aquifer systems in South Africa”, this study focuses on the characterization, borehole drilling, flow parameter measurements and groundwater quality assessment of the Balfour Formation in the Beaufort Group of the Karoo Supergroup in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, which is seriously heterogeneous in deposition and has also been largely neglected as drilling targets for groundwater. The Balfour Formation comprises mostly mudstone, shale and sandstone, formed in a braided and meandering river system. In addition to the heterogeneous deposition, the flow pathways in this aquifer system are not fully understood due to lack of actual measurement data. The methods used in this study include field mapping, site characterization, borehole drilling, and pumping and tracer testing in order to obtain the borehole yield, aquifer transmissivity, storativity and groundwater flow velocity. In addition, the groundwater chemistry was also studied to determine quality for use and possible connectivity with the nearby Tyume River and to determine potential sources of groundwater contamination. The results obtained include: 1) The study area is predominantly mudstone/shale with thin layers and lenses of siltstone and sandstone, which are interbedded; 2) Two boreholes were successfully drilled, which had yields in excess of 10 l/s in four water levels (at 7, 22, 54 and 65 m); 3) The estimated average transmissivity is 246 m 2/day according to the recovery test; 4) The estimated seepage velocity is 120 m/day according to tracer tests in the aquifer between the two boreholes which are 5 m apart; and 5) The water chemical type is the combination of HCO3-, Cl-and SO42- , which is distinguishable from that of the Tyume river; 6) There is no evidence for groundwater recharge to the deep aquifers from the Tyume river, based on the differences of the water chemistry; 7) The elements Ca, Cl, Na and C are distributed more than 90% as free ion species in BH2 borehole water; and 8) The groundwater in BH2 borehole is undersaturated (negative SI) with respect to some minerals (for example: anhydrite, fluorite, gypsum and halite), oversaturated (positive SI) with respect to some minerals (for example: aragonite, calcite and dolomite). It is concluded that there is a great potential to obtain drilling targets for high yielding boreholes in the sedimentary rocks of the Balfour Formation in the Karoo Supergroup.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Deep injection of waste CO2 and fluids from regional energy plants into the St. Peter Formation of the Illinois Basin, could effectively provide long term deep geologic storage. This research aims to explore the viability of this proposed injection. There are some basic criteria that must be met to effectively store waste in a geologic reservoir. First, the reservoir must have sufficient porosity and permeability for both injectivity and for migration of the injected fluid through the reservoir. Second, the reservoir must be overlain by some form of impermeable seal or cap layer(s). Third, the reservoir should be sufficiently isolated from interaction with surface and near surface water. Finally, the formation must contain enough storage volume to handle significant amounts of injected material. Massive sandstone formations that host large saline aquifers have the potential to serve as high capacity storage sites. Much of the research targeting the potential suitability and storage capacity attributes of these formations has been promising, but reproducibility of the results has been less than ideal. Some of this variability has been attributed to petrological differences in the sandstone reservoirs that are not readily evident when studying the target formation over a geographically significant area. Based on the criteria, a promising candidate for injection and storage is the St. Peter Sandstone of the Illinois Basin. This study investigates the viability of liquefied CO2 storage within the St. Peter Sandstone on a micro scale. Initial porosity and permeability of the formation plug samples ranged from 16% to 19% and 26 to 981 millidarcies (mD), respectively. The wide difference in permeability is attributed to variations in strength of the cement, in this case quartz overgrowth in the sandstone. This preliminary evidence indicates that the storage capacity of the formation will remain constant or increase depending on injection location, suggesting that the St. Peter Formation will lend itself well to future storage.