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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 25 (1941)

Issue: 9. (September)

First Page: 1619

Last Page: 1705

Title: Regional Stratigraphy of Mid-Continent

Author(s): Robert H. Dott (2)

Abstract:

This paper considers the distribution, subdivision, and correlation of rock series from pre-Cambrian through Cretaceous, exposed in the region lying between the Llano uplift (Central Mineral region) of Texas, and the south line of South Dakota; and between the east line of New Mexico, and the Mississippi River, with some notes on their subsurface distribution and importance.

Pre-Cambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks, probably of Algonkian age, are exposed in six areas: Llano uplift, Texas; Wichita, Arbuckle, and Ozark mountains, Oklahoma; St. Francois Mountains, Missouri; and Sioux Falls district, South Dakota.

Great thicknesses of Upper Cambrian and Ordovician rocks, dominantly limestones, are exposed in the Llano uplift and the Arbuckle and Wichita mountains. The Ouachita Mountains, Oklahoma and Arkansas, present a sequence of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks, which, in common with all younger rocks of the area, are so different in lithologic character from rocks of adjacent areas, that direct correlations are difficult. Limestones, dolomites, and sandstones characterize Cambrian and Ordovician rocks exposed in the Ozark area of southern Missouri, northern Arkansas, and northeast Oklahoma; and of northeast Iowa. Important oil and gas production is found in Ordovician rocks in Reagan County, Texas, and in central Oklahoma and central Kansas.

Distribution of Silurian and Devonian rocks is much more restricted than the preceding, the sequence is incomplete in comparison with the standard New York section, and total thickness is small. Rocks of these systems crop out in the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma; Ouachita Mountains, Oklahoma and Arkansas; Ozark Mountains, Oklahoma and Arkansas; southeast, central, and northeast Missouri; and northeast Iowa. Oil and gas production is found in the "Hunton" limestone, in Oklahoma and Kansas, and recently in southeast Nebraska.

For the purpose of this discussion the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian are classed as independent systems. The Mississippian is represented throughout most of the Mid-Continent region, but is best developed in the Ozark area of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, and in Iowa, where limestones are prominent constituents. It does not crop out in the Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma, and the section is very thin and incomplete in the Llano uplift, Texas. In the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma, the section is dominantly black shale. The Mississippian in the subsurface is of great economic importance because of the large number and widespread distribution of oil and gas fields in Kansas and Oklahoma that produce from rocks of this age.

Pennsylvanian rocks are exposed in almost continuous outcrops from the north flank of the Llano uplift, Texas, to north-central Iowa, in a belt that trends with the regional strike. The Pennsylvanian section of the Mid-Continent is one of the thickest and most complete to be found in North America. This is particularly true of the development in Oklahoma and Kansas, and these Pennsylvanian rocks deserve consideration

End_Page 1619------------------------------

as a possible standard section. A four-fold division into Morrow, Des Moines, Missouri, and Virgil series seems applicable to exposures throughout the region. A new series called Lampasas, between Morrow and Des Moines, has been proposed for North Texas. Upper Pennsylvanian beds, particularly in central Oklahoma and North Texas, are characterized by redbeds. Pennsylvanian rocks underly the entire Mid-Continent region, west of the outcrops, and are very important because of the large number of oil fields, and large amounts of oil and gas that have been found in them.

The Permian is recognized as a system, and rocks of this age crop out in a belt parallel with, and west of, the Pennsylvanian. They are dominantly redbeds in North Texas and Oklahoma, but grade into marine sediments northward and southward. A recent standard classification, based on the marine section of southwest Texas, subdivides the Permian into Wolfcamp, Leonard, Guadalupe, and Ochoa series, and the lower three have been correlated into the area under consideration. Oil and gas production in Permian rocks is important in West Texas, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, southwestern Kansas, and some southern Oklahoma fields.

Upper Triassic rocks are exposed only along the east margin of the high plains, in Texas; in Texas and Cimarron counties, Oklahoma; and in Morton County, Kansas. Jurassic beds are well exposed in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, and are mapped in adjacent areas. A salt-redbed section found by recent drilling in Ouachita County, Arkansas, has been assigned to the Jurassic.

The Cretaceous is widespread in the south, west, and northwest parts of the region. In north and northeast Texas, and adjacent parts of Oklahoma, the Cretaceous is divided into the Comanche and Gulf series. In Cimarron County, Oklahoma, only the upper part of the Comanche is present, most of the section belonging to the lower part of the Gulf series. In Kansas, a little of the upper Comanche is mapped with the Dakota sandstone, but most of the section in Kansas, Nebraska, and northwestern Iowa belongs to the Gulf series. Comanche rocks produce oil and gas in Arkansas, and northwest Louisiana, and in south-central Texas; and beds belonging to the Gulf series are important producers in central and East Texas, as well as in Louisiana and Arkansas.

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