Most of the named stratigraphic subdivisions of the frontal and central Ouachitas of Oklahoma are present in the Athens Plateau of the southern Ouachitas, more than 90 miles away. This fact, which has not been emphasized in Ouachita literature, is extremely important in the structural and stratigraphic interpretation of this mountain belt. Regional comparisons show that the Mississippian Jackfork coarsens and thickens toward the south and southeast. Several fossil mold zones are present in the Jackfork of the Athens Plateau. Faunas collected from the Johns Valley and basal Atoka sandstones establish an early Morrowan age (Pennsylvanian) for those rocks.

A narrow, east-west-trending geosyncline between the craton on the north and an unidentified landmass on the south was the site of deposition of the late Paleozoic flysch sequence of the Ouachitas and the Athens Plateau. The interbedded relationship between the deep-water shale and the shallow-water subgraywacke of the Athens Plateau is attributed to masses of unconsolidated sand slumping from a nearshore, shallow-water environment into deeper water. Rock fragments contained in some subgraywacke beds show that a metamorphic terrane was the provenance of these clastics.

Structurally, the area investigated is a series of ruptured east-west-trending folds. Fault blocks derived by rupturing of the anticlines have ridden forward toward the north, destroying the simpler fold structures. These faults, like the frontal "thrusts" on the north flank of the Ouachitas, dip steeply southward. Strike-slip movement, if present, is small.