The Influence of Basement Structures on Upper Devonian Deposition in New York State*

By

Gerald J. Smith ¹ and Robert D. Jacobi ²

Search and Discovery Article #30034 (2005)

Posted September 6, 2005

*Oral presentation at AAPG Annual Convention, Calgary, Alberta, June 19-22, 2005 ([email protected])

Click to view presentation in PDF format.

¹SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY

²University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY

Abstract 

The Catskill Delta Complex is the major clastic depocenter in the northern Acadian foreland basin. In the Upper Devonian, sedimentary deposits in western New York parallel the trends of two major basement structures: 1)Phanerozoic reactivation of the north-south trending Clarendon-Linden Fault System, which follows a Grenvillian (1.2 Ga) suture zone in western New York State; and 2) the northern edge of the northeast-trending Iapetan opening/Rome Trough fault system in southwestern New York.

Our study area in western New York coincides with the intersection of these major structure trends. Interactions between the structural trends gave rise to an extensive zone of semi-independent structural blocks that have moved and rotated during periods of tectonic stress. The motion on these blocks generated localized regions of varying accommodation that strongly influence the nature and orientation of sedimentary deposits. Growth faults recognized in stratigraphic cross-sections based on well logs and outcrops sections confirm that both northeast and north-south trending structures were active throughout the Paleozoic. Our previous work has shown the influence of the Clarendon-Linden Fault System on the deposition of Famennian-aged sediments. The occurrence of northeast-trending sedimentary deposits such as shorelines and sand ridges were assumed to follow the paleoshoreline. However, the coincidence between the basement structure and the location of the sedimentary deposits suggested that the paleoshoreline itself may have been controlled by reactivation of the Iapetan opening/Rome Trough fault system.

Gas and oil fields, western New York, with faults (faults from R.D. Jacobi, 2002, Basement faults and seismicity in the Appalachian Basin of New York State, in Neotectonics and Seismicity in the Eastern Great Lakes Basin: Tectonophysics, v. 353, p.75-113).

Basement contours, Appalachian Basin (modified from R.C. Shumaker, 1996, Structural history of the Appalachian Basin: West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Publ. V-25, p. 8-22).

Frasnian-Famennian paleogeography.

Summary 

The boundaries of Upper Devonian oil pools coincide with basement structures.

·        Syndepositional faults influence both the orientation and thickness of the reservoir sands.

·        Both North-South trending Clarendon-Linden Faults and Northeast trending Rome Trough/Iapetan Opening faults were active during the Late Devonian.