Oakwood Salt Dome, East Texas: Geologic Framework, Growth History, and Hydrocarbon Production

GC8301. Oakwood Salt Dome, East Texas: Geologic Framework, Growth History, and Hydrocarbon Production, by A. B. Giles and D. H. Wood. 55 p., 31 figs., 7 tables, 1 appendix, 1983. ISSN:0082-3309. Print.


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ABSTRACT
The top of mushroom-shaped Oakwood salt dome is approximately 210 m (700 ft) beneath the boundary of Freestone and Leon Counties near the southwestern end of the East Texas Basin, The dome is surrounded by Jurassic, Cretaceous, and lower Tertiary marine and nonrnarine strata. A salt pillow initially formed in Late Jurassic “Smackover” time, when faulting contributed to uneven sediment loading of the Louann Salt. The dome began to grow vertically into a diapiric configuration during the deposition of Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous clastics (Bossier - Travis Peak Formations) and probably remained near the depositional surface during most of its growth, The estimated average vertical rise of the top of salt at Oakwood salt dome shows a general decrease over time, from approximately 0.07 mm/yr 9230 ft/m.y.) during Early Cretaceous time to 0.002 mm/yr (5 ft/m.y.) since early Tertiary (Reklaw) time. Hydrocarbons are produced from Woodbine sediments beneath the dome’s overhang.

Keywords: salt domes, Oakwood Dome, Freestone County, Leon County, Texas


Citation
Giles, A. B., and Wood, D. H., 1983, Oakwood Salt Dome, East Texas: Geologic Framework, Growth History, and Hydrocarbon Production: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geological Circular 83-1, 55 p.