The massive limestone sections of the Lower Cretaceous Glen Rose of East Texas and central Louisiana are considered to be clastic carbonate barrier reefs. A hypothesis of cause, sequence, and depositional form of a reef complex is presented and supported by examples. Basinal subsidence, a regressive pattern of deposition, and subsequent forereef leveling during periods when the sea was restricted in front of the barrier reefs develop a typical depositional form.

At least three separate reef complexes have developed in the Lower Cretaceous of Sabine County, Texas, and Sabine Parish, Louisiana. Subsequent Tertiary regional tilting has altered original reservoir conditions but there remains great potential for hydrocarbon accumulations in stratigraphically controlled traps.

End_of_Article - Last_Page 2040------------