Abstract

Few detailed diagenetic studies have been carried out on the Mississippian limestone of north-central Oklahoma, U.S.A. Facies analysis, petrographic observations, and stable isotope data are integrated to investigate diagenetic history. This progradational succession of heterozoan–biosiliceous carbonates accumulated on the southern margin of the Burlington–Anadarko shelf. Diagenetic products related to mesogenesis are pervasive, whereas those related to eogenesis and hydrothermal alteration are localized. A pervasive burial diagenetic overprint is consistent with patterns in stable isotopic data, the bulk of which define a trend of large decreases in ${\delta }^{18}\text{O}\left(-1.5‰\text{to}-7.5\text{‰}\right)$ accompanied by relatively small decreases in ${\delta }^{13}\text{C}\left(+3.5‰\text{to}+1.5‰\right)$ values. Microbioclastic skeletal wackestone–packstones are prominent. Due to low diagenetic potential, these facies entered the burial realm essentially unlithified. They are characterized by features that point to chemical compaction as the primary driver for lithification. Spicule-rich facies experienced a different diagenetic pathway, with silicification leading to lithification prior to physical compaction. Late-stage fracturing and hydrothermal alteration, significant elsewhere in the basin, is only locally developed. Porosity is associated largely with late-stage fractures and solution seams resulting from chemical compaction.