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Late Paleozoic structural evolution of Permian basin

Conference · · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6829195
The southern Permian basin is underlain by the NNW-trending Central Basin disturbed belt of Wolfcamp age (Lower Permian), the deep Delaware basin to its west, and the shallower Midland basin to its eat. The disturbed belt is highly segmented with zones of left-lateral offset. Major segments from south to north are: the Puckett-Grey Ranch zone; the Fort Stockton uplift; the Monahans transverse zone; the Andector ridges and the Eunice ridge; the Hobbs transverse zone; and the Tatum ridges, which abut the broad Roosevelt uplift to the north. The disturbed belt may have originated along rift zones of either Precambrian or Cambrian age. The extent of Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian deformation is unclear; much of the Val Verde basin-Ozona arch structure may have formed then. The main Wolfcamp deformation over thrust the West Texas crustal block against the Delaware block, with local denudation of the uplifted edge and eastward-directed backthrusting into the Midland basin. Latter in the Permian, the area was the center of a subcontinental bowl of subsidence - the Permian basin proper. The disturbed belt formed a pedestal for the carbonate accumulations which created the Central Basin platform. The major pre-Permian reservoirs of the Permian basin lie in large structural and unconformity-bounded traps on uplift ridges and domes. Further work on the regional structural style may help to predict fracture trends, to assess the timing of oil migration, and to evaluate intrareservoir variations in the overlying Permian giant oil fields.
Research Organization:
Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, TX
OSTI ID:
6829195
Report Number(s):
CONF-8405216-
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 68:4
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English