Facies architecture of tidal shelf sandstone ridge: Tocito sandstone
- Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge (USA)
The lithofacies architecture of a single Tocito Sandstone Lentil has been documented in outcrops near the Hogback oil field west of Farmington with a very detailed outcrop study. This isolated Tocito sand body is composed of a three-tiered hierarchy of linear ridge elements. The large-scale Tocito Sandstone Lentil is approximately 5 km wide, 30 km long, and up to 16 m thick. The lentil is composed of at least three smaller scale ridges, which are up to 1 km wide, of unknown length, and up to 16 m thick. The small-scale ridges are arranged such that each new ridge accreted on the landward margin of the previous ridge. These smaller scale ridges consist of an ordered arrangement of four basic lithofacies: (1) burrowed, muddy sandstone, (2) interbedded clean and muddy sandstone, (3) cross-bedded sandstone, and (4) ripple-bedded sandstone. burrowed, muddy sandstone is found at the base of the small-scale ridges, is laterally extensive, and is interpreted as forming downcurrent from the most active portion of the ridge. The cross-bedded sandstone forms ribbon-shaped sand bodies elongate in the direction of ridge elongation. Typically the sand ribbons are 100-300 m wide, 2-4 m thick, and up to 1 km long. Usually two or more combine to form a small-scale ridge. The interbedded sandstone is found above the cross-bedded lithofacies as well as between the sand ribbons. The ripple-bedded facies is always found at the top of the section and represents the waning stage of ridge growth. The resulting architecture is one of coalesced sand ribbons combining to form the small-scale ridges, and subsequently small-scale ridges accreting landward to form a composite Tocito Sandstone Lentil.
- OSTI ID:
- 5698683
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8910195-; CODEN: AABUD
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 73:9; Conference: AAPG Rocky Mountain Section meeting, Albuquerque, NM (USA), 1-4 Oct 1989; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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