Correlation of Twin Creek limestone with Arapien shale in Arapien embayment, Utah - preliminary appraisal
Striking and important stratigraphic patterns have emerged as a result of recent work during which members of the Twin Creek Limestone were correlated with the Arapien Shale, all of Middle Jurassic age. These correlations, determined first on the basis of electric and lithologic logs, are supported by recent palynologic work. Three distinct dinoflagellate assemblages, assigned to the Bajocian(.), Bathonian, and Callovian stages, form the paleontologic basis for these correlations. The Bajocian(.) assemblage is found in rocks of the Sliderock and Rich Members of the Twin Creek Limestone. The Bathonian assemblage is found in units of the Boundary Ridge and Watton Canyon Members of the Twin Creek, and also in units of the lower Arapien Shale (lower Leeds Creek Member of the Twin Creek of Wyoming). The Callovian assemblage is found in rocks of the upper Arapien (upper Leeds Creek and Giraffe Creek Members of the Twin Creek of Wyoming). Isopach maps, based on these correlations, indicate that most of central Utah was the site of a large marine embayment - the Arapien embayment -that was flanked on the west, south, and east by highlands. The maps also suggest that the ancestral Uinta Mountains, a submerged feature, affected sedimentation as early as Bajocian time, and became a significant barrier from the late Bathonian through Callovian. In central Utah, marine carbonates were deposited in the Arapien embayment during deposition of the Gypsum Spring through Watton Canyon Members of the Twin Creek Limestone. During deposition of the Arapien Shale, a major northward regression occurred; the embayment shrank to form a smaller basin - the Arapien basin - that lay directly south of the ancestral Uinta Mountains. Most of the Arapien Shale is shallow-water deposits that formed in the basin under hypersaline conditions.
- Research Organization:
- Placid Oil Co., Salt Lake City, UT
- OSTI ID:
- 5662392
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8408161-
- Journal Information:
- Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Vol. 68:7; ISSN AAPGB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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