Structural Geometry and Evaluation of Thrust Faulting in the Damon and Wilburton Quadrangles in Latimer County, Southeastern Oklahoma
By
Marline Collins and Ibrahim Cemen; School of Geology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078.
The Arkoma Basin and the Ouachita Mountains of southeastern
Oklahoma and western Arkansas were formed during the late Paleozoic Ouachita
orogeny. In Oklahoma, the Choctaw fault
forms the structural boundary between
the frontal Ouachitas and the Arkoma Basin.
This study is aimed at determining the structural geometry of the Late Paleozoic thrust faults in the Damon and Wilburton Quadrangles in Latimer County, in Southeastern Oklahoma. Six balanced structural cross-sections are under construction to delineate the structural geometry in the study area. Data from the surface geological maps by the Oklahoma Geological Survey, wire-line well logs, scout tickets, and seismic profiles, donated by Exxon and Amoco corporations, were used to construct the cross-sections.
The two main structural features of the study area are the
south dipping Choctaw and the north dipping Carbon faults. Our preliminary
interpretations of the available data suggest that the two faults form a
triangle zone and a duplex structure present in the footwall of the Choctaw
fault
. The Springer detachment is the floor thrust and the Lower Atokan
Detachment is the roof thrust of the duplex. The Carbon
fault
loses its surface
trace north of the Wilburton gas field. Seismic data indicate that the Carbon
fault
becomes a blind thrust as it continues to define the northern flank of the
triangle zone within the eastern part of the study area, probably through a
lateral ramp along its
fault
surface. Our cross-sections should provide a better
understanding of subsurface geometry of this lateral ramp along the Carbon
fault
.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90010©2003 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Fort Worth, Texas, March 1-4, 2003