Late Pennsylvanian depositional cycles and fusulinid zonations for the Salt Creek reef of the Horseshoe Atoll of west Texas - Implications for a sea level curve and regional correlations

Conference · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:7152949

Jensen, J M ^[1]

---

1. Mobil Exploration and Producing U.S. Inc., Midland, TX (United States)

The Salt Creek reef is one of a number of carbonate reef-mound complexes that makes up the Horseshoe Atoll. At least eleven depositional cycles have been delineated from the Strawn Formation (Late Desmoinesian) through the Canyon Limestone (Missourian) to the Cisco Formation (Early Virgilian). A typical cycle consists of a basal unit of intraclastic and skeletal grainstone to dark-gray lime-mudstone with black shale laminations, chert nodules, and scattered crinoid fragments; an intermediary unit of crinoid wackestone and packstone grading up to interbedded skeletal packstone and algal baffle-boundstone; and a capping unit of skeletal and oolitic grainstone. The cycle is bounded by unconformities. These cycles were deposited in a starved basin as a fringing reef-mound complex on an isolated, drowned platform. Nine fusulinid biostratigraphy zones established for the Permian basin are recognized in Salt Creek: one Strawn zone; seven zones in the Canyon, and one in the Cisco. These zones coincide with the eleven major depositional cycles at Salt Creek. The authors have correlated these eleven lithostratigraphic-biostratigraphic units to a series of 14 major transgressive sequences in north Texas and 16 sequences in the mid-continent of North America. These correlations suggest that glacial eustasy is the basic control of these cycles. Differences in the correlation between the cycles may be due to the unique setting of the Salt Creek reef, variations in sea level fluctuations and basin subsidence, or variations in sedimentation rates between carbonate platforms and cratonic shelves with mixed lithologies.

• OSTI ID: 7152949
• Report Number(s): CONF-9204139--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Journal Volume: 76:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
03 NATURAL GAS
030200 -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
ANIMALS
CARBONATE ROCKS
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FEDERAL REGION VI
FORAMINIFERA
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
INVERTEBRATES
LEVELS
LITHOLOGY
MICROORGANISMS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NORTH AMERICA
PALEONTOLOGY
PALEOZOIC ERA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLOGY
PROTOZOA
REEFS
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SARCODINA
SEA LEVEL
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STRATIGRAPHY
TEXAS
USA