About This Item
- Full text of this item is not available.
- Abstract PDFAbstract PDF(no subscription required)
Share This Item
The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: The
Fault
Fabric and Structural
Subprovince of the Central Basin
Platform of West Texas as a
Model of Strike-Slip Movement
![Previous Hit](/data/images/arrow_left.gif)
![Next Hit](/data/images/arrow_right.gif)
By
Anglo-Suisse Inc.
The Central Basin platform (CBP) of west Texas is
composed of six structural blocks which moved independently
during the Ouachita orogeny. Shear forces transmitted
through the crust resulted in buckling, uplifting, and
faulting of the greater CBP. Although the platform is
dominated by vertical movement, it did not, however, uplift
as a single tectonic unit. Rather, it splintered into six
megablocks, which moved simultaneously along oblique-slip
fault
systems. A tectonic model for formation of the
CBP is useful for predicting the orientation and spacing of
fault
systems.
The three structurally highest blocks on the CBP, the
Eunice high, the Sand Hills high, and the Fort Stockton
uplift, show three distinct positive gravity and magnetic
anomalies. These county-sized blocks (35 x 80 km) share
similar characteristics: (1) they are bounded by strike-slip
faults that involve basement uplift; (2) they have maximum
structural deformation along their margins where bends in
the strike-slip fault
system enhance compressions; and (3)
their oil is trapped in high-angle
fault
structures (R-shears?)
along the block boundaries, but toward the center of the
blocks, oil tends to accumulate at uncomformity and fold
traps. Strike-slip
fault
systems in west Texas are subtle, with
only about 3-7 km of offset, and commonly may be
overlooked. However, detailed regional mapping indicates
that these individual
fault
segments are parts of through-going
systems, which are distributed in logical patterns
based upon models for strike-slip tectonics.
End_of_Record - Last_Page 21---------------