ABSTRACT

Distribution of Virgilian through Leonardian depositional systems in the Marietta Basin and central Muenster-Waurika Arch indicate a pattern of basin filling and overall marine regression. Depositional environments ranged from basin shelf to alluvial plain.

Sedimentation was influenced by the coupled uplifts and down-dropped basins of the area. The Wichita Mountains, Red River Arch, and possibly the Ouachita Folded Belt, all products of Paleozoic tectonism, were primary sources of clastic material.

Diagenetic events included lithification of the sands and subsequent dissolution of the calcite cement, forming secondary porosity.

Several factors indicate that conditions may have been favorable for uranium mineralization: occurrences of radioactive rocks at the surface, gamma-ray logs that show uncommonly high levels of radiation in some beds, abundant arkosic sandstones and conglomerates, abundance of carbonaceous material in the sandstones, presence of faults, nearby oil production, and proximity of an uranium-ion source, the Wichita Granite.