Abstract: High-Resolution
Sequence
Stratigraphy of Late Mississippian (Chesterian) Carbonate and
Mixed Carbonate-clastic Reservoir Facies in the Illinois Basin: An Outcrop
and Core Study
SMITH, LANGHORNE B. and J. FRED READ*
Eight 4th-order (400
k.y.) disconformity-bounded mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sequences
were
deposited in the tectonically-active, tide-dominated Illinois basin during
the Late Mississippian greenhouse to icehouse transition. Detailed, lithologic
cross-sections were constructed through the Chesterian Ste. Genevieve through
Glen Dean interval which show an upward change in character from carbonate-dominated
sequences
bounded by caliche and breccia paleosols to mixed-carbonate siliciclastic
sequences
bounded by red, slickensided mudrock paleosols and incised valleys.
The 4th-order
sequences
are composed of 5th-order parasequences that can
be correlated basin-wide. Parasequences in the basal, dominantly carbonate
sequences
are composed of patchy ooid grainstone tidal ridge reservoir
facies which interfinger with skeletal limestone and are capped by laterally
extensive muddy carbonate units. Parasequences in the overlying mixed carbonate
siliciclastic interval commonly have basal quartz sandstone valley fill
and tidal sand ridge reservoir facies overlain by skeletal limestone and
shale-dominated siliciclastics.
The sequences
can be bundled
into
sequence
pairs and composite
sequences
. Composite
sequences
are composed
of 4
sequences
and are bounded by better developed disconformities that
commonly coincide with biostratigraphic zone boundaries. High energy reservoir
facies are widespread in transgressive
sequence
tracts and late highstand
sequence
tract (where present) and confined to updip areas in the early
highstand
sequence
tracts.
Increasing amplitude 4th-order
glacio-eustasy produced the sequences
and caused the upward increase in
incised valleys and deeper water carbonate deposition. Parasequences were
produced by 5th-order glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations (20-100 k.y.).
Sequence
pairs and composite
sequences
were produced by 3rd-order sea-level
fluctuations possibly in combination with local tectonics. Spatial and
temporal variations in differential subsidence between the eastern and
western shelves and the more rapidly subsiding basin interior caused variations
in onlap/offlap geometries of
sequences
and parasequences. Increasingly
wetter wet-dry seasonality caused an upward increase in siliciclastic influx
and concurrent decrease in ooid deposition. The increasing-amplitude eustasy
and progressively more humid climate were caused by the onset of continental
glaciation on Gondwana.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90939©1997 AAPG Eastern Section and TSOP, Lexington, Kentucky