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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
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.
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