A regional study of the Ouachita system has been undertaken using gravity and deep-drilling data. An integrated analysis of gravity maps, computer models, and geologic data suggests that the crust beneath the Gulf coastal plain is variably attenuated continental crust. The transition zone between this crust and the craton, which is marked by a steep gravity gradient that lies along the trend of the Ouachita system, may have been created by Mesozoic reactivation of a crustal zone of weakness inherited from a plate collision during the late Paleozoic Ouachita orogeny. Gravity minima along the frontal zone of the Ouachita system are due to a thick sedimentary rock pile in conjunction with a gulfward dipping intracrustal or crust/mantle boundary in some areas. The arcuate Oua hita gravity maximum is the result of denser (metamorphic) rocks of the interior zone, with uplifts and upper crustal mafic intrusions making contributions in some areas. Gravity anomalies in the Gulf coastal plain are a combined effect of variable crustal attenuation, subsidence, and densification of the upper crust. Maxima in the southern Oklahoma aulacogen area are the result of uplifts and upper crustal mafic intrusions and/or lower crustal upwarps.

End_of_Article - Last_Page 497------------