Pennsylvanian Tidal Depositional Systems in the Anadarko Basin, Northeast Texas Panhandle and Northwest Oklahoma

RI0280. Pennsylvanian Tidal Depositional Systems in the Anadarko Basin, Northeast Texas Panhandle and Northwest Oklahoma, by W. A. Ambrose, T. F. Hentz, and L. B. Tussey. 40 p., 12 figs., 2015. ISBN: 978-0-692-25229-1. Print.

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ABSTRACT
A thick (>6,000-ft [>1,830-m]) succession of Desmoinesian to Virgilian (Pennsylvanian) strata in the northwest part of the Anadarko Basin contains a variety of tide-modified deposits. This succession, which encompasses the Marmaton Group (Upper Desmoinesian), Cleveland Formation (Missourian) and Douglas Group (Virgilian), records progradation of highstand tide-modified delta and littoral systems punctuated by lowstand incised-valley deposits. Tidal stratification in this succession includes asymmetric, double-draped ripples, reactivation surfaces, flaser bedding, rhythmic, laminar stratification, upper flow regime planar stratification, and minor herringbone stratification. Tidal amplification and reworking of deltaic and littoral sediments was controlled by (1) basin configuration, consisting of a broad, shallow shelf merging northward with an extensive epicontinental seaway in the U.S. Midcontinent, and (2) the formation of embayments during periods of relative sea-level fall, notably in the Cleveland Formation, in which an east-west-trending, lowstand paleovalley contains a vertical succession of coarse-grained fluvial-channel, tidal-channel, sandy tidal flat, muddy tidal flat, and transgressive-estuarine facies.

 
Local paleogeography was an important factor in the preservation of tidal signatures in the Marmaton to Douglas succession, where the relative weakness of wave and fluvial processes in marginal areas in depocenters resulted in preservation of rhythmic bedding and bidirectional, double-draped ripples. A macrotidal setting is inferred for parallel, narrow, and dip-elongate, upward-coarsening sandstone bodies in highstand-shelf systems in the Marmaton Group. In contrast, ~10-ft (~3-m) intertidal deposits and absence of large-scale bed forms such asestuarine-floor tidal sand bars in the Cleveland Formation and Douglas Group suggests microtidal regimes.

 
Gross-sandstone thickness maps of highstand and lowstand systems tracts within the Cleveland Formation and Marmaton Group document systematic changes in sandstone-body thickness, continuity, and regional extent through time. These variations in sandstone-body geometry are a function of a unique paleogeomorphologic setting within each systems tract. Abrupt changes in sandstone-body geometry between each systems tract control variations in reservoir continuity and permeability pathways that should be considered in future resource development.


Keywords: Anadarko Basin, Texas Panhandle, Texas, tidal deposits, Pennsylvanian, Marmaton Group, Cleveland Formation, Tonkawa Sandstone

CONTENTS

Abstract

Introduction

Objectives, Database, and Methods
     Objectives
     Database and Methods

Geologic Setting

     Tidal Recognition Criteria

Marmaton Group

     Geologic Setting

Tidal Sand Ridge
     Description
     Interpretation

Cleveland Formation

     Geologic Setting

          Tidal Channel

               Description
               Interpretation

      Tidal Flat

               Description
               Interpretation

      UFR (Upper Flow Regime) Sand Flat

               Description
               Interpretation

Douglas Group

     Geologic Setting

          Subtidal Facies

                  DescriptionW
                  Interpretation

            Tidal Flat and Tidal Rhythmites

                   Description
                   Interpretation

Discussion

     Paleotidal Range in the Marmaton to Douglas Succession

     Basin Configuration

     Sandstone-Body Geometry and Stratification

            Marmaton Group

            Cleveland Formation

      Thickness of Intertidal Successions

Sequence-Stratigraphic and Facies Controls on Sandstone-Body Continuity and
  Reservoir Quality in the Marmaton Group and Cleveland Formation

Highstand Systems Tract

Lowstand Systems Tract
Transgressive Systems Tract

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

References

Figures

  1.  Pennsylvanian stratigraphic section in the northwest part of the Anadarko Basin

  2.  Location of study area and cored wells in this study and representative stratigraphic column of the Marmaton Group and Cleveland Formation

  3.  Thickness of preserved Pennsylvanian strata in the Rocky Mountains and southwestern U.S.

  4.  Gross-sandstone thickness maps of the Marmaton Group and Cleveland Formation in the northwest part of the Anadarko Basin

  5.  Geological attributes of the Devon No. 44 IH Penelope Moore well, Hemphill County, Texas

  6.  Geological attributes of the Internorth No. 46-1 Humphreys well in Hemphill County, Texas

  7.  Tide-modified, highstand littoral deposits in the Douglas Group in the Internorth No. 46-1 Humphreys well

  8.  Geological attributes of the Cleveland Formation in the Sun No.1 Bradford well, Lipscomb County, Texas

  9.   Geological attributes of the Maxus No. 371-D Tubb well, Lipscomb County, Texas

10.   Geological attributes of the Marmaton Group in the Sun No. 1 Blau well, Lipscomb County, Texas

11.   Paleogeography of the lower Virgilian Tonkawa Sandstone in the Douglas Group in the U.S. Midcontinent

12.    Average thickness of sandstone laminae and cycles in rhythmically bedded, highstand drowned-marsh facies in the Douglas Group in the Internorth No. 46-1 Humphreys well at 6,995.5 ft (2,132.8 m)




Citation
Ambrose, W. A., Hentz, T. F.,  and  Tussey, L. B., 2015, Pennsylvanian Tidal Depositional Systems in the Anadarko Basin, Northeast Texas Panhandle and Northwest Oklahoma: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations No. 280, 40 p.