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Oklahoma III: Wichita & Arbuckle Mountains

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Oklahoma III: Wichita & Arbuckle Mountains Rocky Mountain Federation News—May 2014 Page Volume 45 Issue 5 May 2014 The official publication of the Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies, Inc. The RMFMS is a regional member of the American Feder- ation of Mineralogical Societies, Inc. and is issued monthly (except June and July). It is a privilege of membership of the RMFMS and cannot be exchanged by the editor for individual club newsletters from other regional federations. www.rmfms.org Inside this Issue: Oklahoma III: Wichita & Arbuckle Mountains by Dr. Mike Nelson Treasurer’s Report 4 Endowment Fund Tickets 5 iving and teaching in western Kansas did not allow much interaction Klicks & Klacks from the Editor 5 with either igneous or metamorphic rocks, nor with Paleozoic Competitive Exhibits 6 L [email protected], rocks older than the Mississippian (and these age rocks are restricted www.csmsgeologypost.blog Unintended Consequence 7 to the southeastern most 50 sq. miles of the state). So, what to do? spot.com ACROYs 8 How could a geology student become better acquainted with rocks that are not Ter- tiary, Cretaceous, Permian or Pennsylvanian in age? Well, it seemed like an easy an- Earth Science Poems 10 swer—road trip! So off we went either south or west, depending upon the time of year. A Postcard from Siberia 12 In early fall, the Colorado mountains were beautiful with color and outcrops vacant of SD National Grasslands 13 people. During the spring semester, Colorado was often cool-cold and snow lingered in Rocks 14 the high country. Therefore, Oklahoma to the south seemed like a good choice. The Field Trip Twelve Essentials 14 most interesting places to visit were the Wichita Mountains in the southwest, and the Ar- There is Nothing Wrong with Us 15 buckle Mountains in the south central part of the state. Just Passing Through 16 Fig. 1. Geologic map Soapstone 17 of Oklahoma (from Oklahoma Geological San Juan Mtns Mineral Symposium 17 Survey). The Arbuck- Is Your Computer Male or Female? 18 le Mountains are lo- cated to the south of Shows & More 18 Oklahoma City (and a Officers & Committees 11 little east) while the Wichita Mountains are to the southwest. Both appear on the map as isolated “blobs.” These two ranges present some very interesting stratigraphy, and geologists still seem to be debating about the origin of the “basement rocks” cropping out in the mountains. If read- ers would travel to Colorado or Wyoming or New Mexico (and other western states), they would note that the oldest rocks, especially in the Laramide front ranges, are Precambrian in age—older than ~542 Ma. However, the igneous rocks, lots of rhyolite, granite, and dio- rite in the Wichita Mountains are perhaps latest Precambrian (Neoproterozoic: 1000Ma to 542 Ma) but are mostly Cambrian in age, something younger than ~542 Ma. and that is the really interesting part (Fig. 2). The Wichita Mountains are situated in the southwestern part of Oklahoma (Fig. 1) and actually have some relief, maybe 500 to 1100 feet, and dominate the topog- raphy. I remember climbing Mt. Scott (Fig. 3) at ~2462 feet and essentially the highest peak in the range; Mt. Pinchot at 2479 feet is Fig. 2. Location of the South- on a special area of the wildlife refuge and off limits to ern Oklahoma Rift System penetrating the continent at visitors, while Haley Peak on private property is 2481 about 90 degrees to the edge (maybe). The oldest rocks in the Wichitas are known as of the continent. Map taken the Tillman “metasedimentry group” and represent from Hansen and others, 2011. Rocky Mountain Federation News—May 2014 Page 2 latest Precambrian-early Cambrian marine sandstones that are now turned to quartzite. PUBLICATIONS However, beginning at about the same time as their deposition, massive volcanism and plutonic placement of granite was beginning in a structural basin termed the Southern Editor: Oklahoma Rift System (SORS) (Fig. 2). Some geologists argue that the SORS sequence represents a sea floor spreading event, a rift-rift-rift triple junction, with one arm extend- Betty Cain ing into the old proto-North American continent (known to geologists as Laurentia) 2702 E. Pikes Peak Ave. while the other two arms are now obscured by ocean basins (Hansen and others, 2011). Colo. Springs, CO 80909 The name Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen or Wichita Aulacogen has been given to the 719-634-8205 Oklahoma arm since the arm ultimately failed (an aulacogen). However, Thomas [email protected] (2011) believed the plutonic events are part of a large fault zone extending inward into the proto continent. These magmatic rocks in Oklahoma also seem related to other Circulation Manager: igneous events stretching from New Mexico to Utah and Colorado. Whatever the Bill Cain (see above) cause, the igneous rocks in southwestern Oklahoma (latest Precambrian? to Cambrian 719-322-6089 in age) represent a major tectonic event along the southern margin of proto North America; the older Raggedy Mountain gabbro group and the Navajoe Mountain bas- [email protected] alt group are unconformably overlain by the widespread Carleton Rhyolite Group and Subscriptions: the intrusive Wichita Mountain Granite Group (Fig. 4). The latter two units are the igne- Gene Maggard ous rocks that form the rugged mountains and are well exposed and easy to observe (Fig. 5). All in all, the Wichitas are a great place to visit, to observe the buffalo (bison) at 8318 SE Highway 77 the wildlife preserve, and see some igneous “basement” rocks that are not Precambri- Leon, KS 67076 an in age. 316-742-3746 [email protected] Rates—$3.50 a year for the Rocky Mountain Federation News only. $7.75 a year for both the Rocky Mountain Federation News and the RMFMS Directory. Fig. 4. Map showing location of the Wichita Moun- tains in southwestern Oklahoma. Igneous rocks Directory only—$5.00 Fig. 3. Mt Scott in the Wichita Mountains Order from Supplies Chair, is the most easily accessible peak in the dominate the mountains in the south, near Fort Range. Public Domain photo. Sill, and are the most visited section. North of Kim Blanton the Meers Fault there are large exposures of the 728 E. Sandy Dunes Dr. Starting before the conclusion of the Wichi- Ordovician (488-443 Ma) Arbuckle Group lime- stones. Map taken from Hansen and others, 2011. Sandy, UT 84094 ta magmatic event and continuing after, 801-604-1263 sediments begin to erode from the surrounding highlands into the rift or fault basin [email protected] (SORS). In addition, marine sedimentary rocks, limestone, sandstone, shale, were de- posited, on and off, in Oklahoma from late Cambrian through the early Mississippian Deadline (~359-345 Ma). By the late Mississippian (~328-318 Ma), SORS was rapidly subsiding and Bulletin submissions deadline filling with clastic particles later forming a shale. is the third week of the By the Pennsylvanian (beginning ~311 Ma ), “things” begin to change in Oklahoma as a month prior to publication result of what is termed the Ouachita Orogeny—plates of South America and Africa date; i.e., the deadline for bumping in to the southern margin of North America. In Arkansas and parts of east Ok- the August bulletin is the lahoma (see previous articles), the collision resulted in formation of thrusted and folded third week of July or earlier mountains called the Ouachita Mountains. In the Mountain West states, the collisional as requested. event produced large block fault mountains—the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. And, in southern Oklahoma, the old SORS was no longer accepting sediments but was activat- Unless otherwise marked, ed by vertical uplift and faulting into a highland area and shedding off large clasts that materials from this publica- later cemented into sandstones and conglomerates. The erosion continued into the tion may be reprinted by early part of the Permian (~251 Ma); but by the late Permian (~290 Ma), the mountains members, giving credit to (uplifted SORS) were covered and buried by sediments. Jurassic and Triassic (~228-145 the author and the Rocky Ma) rocks are virtually unknown from western Oklahoma and Cretaceous (~145-65 Ma) Mountain Federation News. rocks were probably deposited are mostly eroded away. The current Wichita Moun- tains are the result of landforms that were established in the Pennsylvanian/Permian and brought to light with Cenozoic erosion. Rocky Mountain Federation News—May 2014 Page 3 The Arbuckle Mountains are almost straight south of Oklahoma City along I- 35 north of the Texas-Oklahoma border. These hills are not really very high, ~1400 feet, there is not much relief—perhaps 600 feet, but they represent a different sort of environment and are popular with visitors. They do have some old rocks, and one time on a field trip I was able to visit a large gran- ite quarry in the Tishomingo Granite, ~1.4 Ga. These rocks are, in turn, over- lain by the Cambrian Carleton Rhyolite (seen in the Wichitas), and maybe 15,000 feet of Paleozoic rocks (mostly marine). The Arbuckles have a similar geological history as the Wichitas, and they were both part of the SORS. The big difference is that in the Wichitas, igneous rocks predominate while Fig. 5. Mt. Sheridan with granite (light-colored) in the Arbuckles sedimentary rocks are common, and many are quite fossil- overlying dark-colored gabbro. Public Domain photo. iferous. In addition, the USGS noted “the Arbuckles contain the most diverse suite of mineral resources in Oklahoma: lime- stone, dolomite, glass sand, granite, sand and gravel, shale, cement, iron ore, lead, zinc, tar sands, and oil and gas; all these minerals are, or have been, produced commercially” (http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov).
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