Differences in the stratigraphic framework of the Frio and Anahuac Formations in the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast Basin
- Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
The hydrocarbon endowment of the Frio and Anahuac formations of Louisiana and Texas has made them the most thoroughly studied geologic strata in the Gulf Coast Basin. A review of previous studies of the stratigraphic framework of the Frio and Anahuac formations in the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast Basin reveals that researchers have placed the boundary between the Frio and Anahuac in this basin at different biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic levels. This review also reveals that in some previous studies the subdivision of the Frio in Texas into lower, middle, and upper zones does not conform with the traditional biostratigraphic zonation scheme. Biostratigraphically, the index fossils used to mark the boundary between the Frio and Anahuac differ in the Texas Gulf Coast from those employed in the Louisiana Gulf Coast. In the subsurface Frio of Louisiana, the paleontologic top of the Frio is historically placed at the highest occurrence of Camerina sp. A. In the subsurface Frio of Texas, the paleontologic top of the Frio is historically marked by the highest occurrence of Cibicides hazzardi. Although microfossils; characteristic of the Camerina A zone are reported from wells penetrating the subsurface Anahuac and Frio, their occurrence has proven too erratic to be employed in a regionally correlatable biostratigraphic framework. This review also shows that some workers place the lithostratigraphic top of the Frio in the Texas Gulf Coast Basin just above the first sands lying below the Anahuac shale wedge. These sands are actually lower Anahuac Marginulina sands in the lower and middle Texas Gulf Coast and upper Frio Cibicides hazzardi sands in the upper Texas Gulf Coast, depending on the dip position of the particular well.
- OSTI ID:
- 96219
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941065-; ISSN 0149-1423; TRN: 95:005100-0023
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 78, Issue 9; Conference: 44. annual convention of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies and the 41st annual convention of the Gulf Coast Section of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Austin, TX (United States), 5-7 Oct 1994; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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