Abstract

Rapid subsidence of the foreland Fort Worth Basin during late Mississippian and early Pennsylvanian time formed an eastward-dipping monoclinal flexure along the eastern margin of the Concho Platform, an early and middle Paleozoic positive structure. Late Desmoinesian post-orogenic epeirogenic upwarping of the Ouachita fold belt raised the eastern flank of the Fort Worth Basin, and tilted the Concho Platform westward. The Fort Worth Basin and Concho Platform were significant depocenters for Desmoinesian terrigenous clastic sediments.

During early Missourian time, subsidence in west-central Texas accelerated. The Midland Basin, poorly defined during Desmoinesian time, deepened, and the Bend Arch separating the Midland and Fort Worth basins was formed. The Midland Basin and the Eastern Shelf of the Midland Basin were significant depositional sites for Canyon and Cisco sediments.

Sediments deposited in the Midland basin and on the Eastern Shelf during Pennsylvanian time were derived from the Ouachita fold belt to the east and the Wichita-Arbuckle Mountains of southern Oklahoma.

The Pennsylvanian System of the Eastern Shelf has been a prolific producer of oil and gas, but fewer and fewer untested structures remain. An understanding of deltaic and associated carbonate depositional systems may aid future exploration for stratigraphic traps.