ABSTRACT

Depositional systems of Virgilian and Leonardian strata indicate a pattern of basin filling and overall marine regression. Depositional environments ranged from basinal to alluvial piedmont and fan-deltaic. Structural movement was an important influence on sedimentation, as was the climatic regime.

The Wichita Mountain Uplift, to the north, the Red River Arch and probably the Ouachita Folded Belt were primary sources of clastic sediments carried into the study area.

Deformation of strata during the Paleozoic probably was complicated by two zones of weakness formed by Precambrian tectonism, the Red River Mobil Belt and the Wichita Trend.

Evidence that conditions may have been favorable for uranium mineralization is: abundance of arkosic sandstones and conglomerates, abundance of carbonaceous material in cores, presence of faults and oil-productive structural traps, and proximity of a uranium-ion source, the Wichita Granite.