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ABSTRACT Structural Analysis of the Criner Hills, South-Central

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ABSTRACT Structural Analysis of the Criner Hills, South-Central ABSTRACT Structural Analysis of the Criner Hills, South-Central Oklahoma William M. Walker, M. S. Thesis Advisor: Vincent S. Cronin, Ph.D. It has been suggested that there may have been Quaternary displacement along the Criner Hills Fault in South-Central Oklahoma. The Criner Hills Fault is generally on- trend with the active Meers Fault, which has led some to suggest that the Criner Hills Fault may also be active. A GIS database has been created that combines aerial photographs, satellite imagery, published geologic maps, and digital elevation models of the area around the surface trace of the Criner Hills Fault. Subsurface data from ~150 hydrocarbon exploration and production wells were used with the surface data to construct a 3D structural model of the study area, assisted by the structural modeling application LithoTect. The Kirby Fault is interpreted to be a major reverse fault that controls the topography and structure of the Criner Hills. The Criner Hills Fault is interpreted to be an inactive, secondary structure related to the Kirby Fault. Copyright © 2006 by William M. Walker All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ...……………………………………………………….................... v List of Tables ………………………………………………………….................... vii Acknowledgments ...………………………………………………........................ viii CHAPTER ONE Introduction ...…………………………………………………………........ 1 Previous Work ....………………………………….......................... 4 CHAPTER TWO Stratigraphy ...…………………………………………………………........ 6 Precambrian ......………………………………………………........ 6 Cambrian .......…………………………………………………........ 6 Cambrian / Ordovician ..………………………………………........ 9 Devonian / Silurian ……………………………………………....... 10 Mississippian .……………………………………………………... 10 Pennsylvanian ……………………………………………………... 11 Tectonic History …………………………………………………… 12 CHAPTER THREE Methods ...…………………………………………………………….......... 17 CHAPTER FOUR Structure ..………………………………………………………………...... 25 CHAPTER FIVE Results …..……………………………………………………………......... 28 Cross-Section A ................................................................................ 28 Cross-Section B ................................................................................ 28 iii Cross-Section C ................................................................................ 33 Cross-Section D ................................................................................ 33 Cross-Section E ................................................................................. 33 Cross-Section F ................................................................................. 40 Cross-Section G ................................................................................ 40 Cross-Section H ................................................................................ 40 Cross-Section J .................................................................................. 47 Cross-Section K ................................................................................ 47 CHAPTER SIX Interpretations ...………………………………………………………........ 52 CHAPTER SEVEN Conclusions ...............…………………………………………………........ 55 Appendices ................................................................................................................ 56 Appendix A ..…………………………………………………………......... 57 Appendix B ................................................................................................... 61 References .....………………………………………………………….................... 62 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Location map depicting the location of the Criner Hills Fault ......... 3 Figure 2: Stratigraphic column .……………………………………………… 7 Figure 3: Generic model of the formation of an aulacogen .............................. 14 Figure 4: Diagrammatic depiction of the evolution of the Southern Oklahoma aulacogen ......................................................................... 15 Figure 5: Deformation chart showing the major orogenies that affected south-central Oklahoma ...…………………………………………. 16 Figure 6: Illustration of the basemap, depicting formation outcrops and faults 18 Figure 7: Illustration of the basemap with A) wells, and B) surface measurements .................................…………………………........... 20 Figure 8: Structure map of the top of the Arbuckle Group .............................. 21 Figure 9: Basemap with the 10 cross-sections labeled ..................................... 22 Figure 10: Illustration of how a typical cross-section is created ........................ 23 Figure 11: Six models of common volumetric adjustments ............................... 26 Figure 12: Fault-propagation fold kinematics .................................................... 27 Figure 13: Explanation of the color, symbol, and relative age of the cross- sections .…………………………………………………………..... 29 Figure 14: Detail view of cross-section A .......................................................... 30 Figure 15: Regional view of cross-section B ..................................................... 31 Figure 16: Detail view of cross-section B .......................................................... 32 Figure 17: Regional view of cross-section C .................................................... 34 Figure 18: Detail view of cross-section C .......................................................... 35 Figure 19: Regional view of cross-section D ..................................................... 36 v Figure 20: Detail view of cross-section D .......................................................... 37 Figure 21: Regional view of cross-section E ...................................................... 38 Figure 22: Detail view of cross-section E .......................................................... 39 Figure 23: Regional view of cross-section F ...................................................... 41 Figure 24: Detail view of cross-section F ........................................................... 42 Figure 25: Regional view of cross-section G ..................................................... 43 Figure 26: Detail view of cross-section G .......................................................... 44 Figure 27: Regional view of cross-section H ..................................................... 45 Figure 28: Detail view of cross-section H .......................................................... 46 Figure 29: Regional view of cross-section J ....................................................... 48 Figure 30: Detail view of cross-section J ........................................................... 49 Figure 31: Regional view of cross-section K ..................................................... 50 Figure 32: Detail view of cross-section K .......................................................... 51 Figure 33: Illustrations of fault-propagation fold breakthroughs ....................... 53 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: List of thicknesses of stratigraphic layers used for the modeling in this project ......................................................................................... 8 vii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my family for their support and encouragement throughout my entire college career, as well as their guidance for everything I do in life. I would also like to thank Bryan Sralla with Hewitt Mineral Corporation for his tremendous help in this project. This project would not have materialized without his generous helping hand and expertise. Bob Ratliff and the Geo-Logic Systems Company very generously donated two copies of the computer-based structural modeling program LithoTect, an integral part of this project. The generous financial aid of my family, Baylor University’s O.T. Hayward Research Scholarship, Geological Society of America’s Schlemon Scholarship, and Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies made it so I only had to worry about finishing this project. The Ardmore Sample Cut & Library (Bob Allen: owner and Mary Lou Fisher: librarian) charitably let me spend numerous days looking at well logs. I would also like to thank Mr. Griffith, the Burns’, Mr. Graves, Mr. Hogan, and the Dolese Brothers Company for allowing me access to their properties to obtain surface measurements. Last but not least I would like to thank Dr. Cronin for all of his help, guidance, and word-smithing through all of the parts of this project, the abstracts, and the poster- sessions. His silver tongue smoothed out them there words I could just never get quite right. viii CHAPTER ONE Introduction The Criner Hills are composed of a series of Paleozoic rock outcrops that have been of economic importance to the people of southern Oklahoma since the early 1950s. A major rock quarry operated in the Criner Hills by Dolese Company produces large amounts of crushed limestone and dolostone from carbonate members of the Arbuckle Group that are exposed near the crest of the Criner Hills anticline. The complex geology has also led to the entrapment of several commercially significant oil and gas fields in and along trend with the study area. Most recently, several new housing subdivisions have been constructed within the oil producing areas, and several more are being planned. Surface geomorphology provides an esthetically pleasing landscape that is appealing to housing developers and home buyers in the area. A number of residents of the Criner Hills have recently become concerned about the possibility that the Criner Hills area may be seismically active. A magnitude 3.5 earthquake occurred in June of 2004, causing minor damage to several houses in a Criner
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