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2: Carboniferous of the Black Warrior Basin Jack C 10 Jack C. Pashin and Robert A. Gastaldo 2: Carboniferous of the Black Warrior Basin Jack C. Pashin and Robert A. Gastaldo Geologic Setting ous times during the Paleozoic (Thomas, 1968, 1986), it The Black Warrior Basin is a late Paleozoic foreland was not until the Early Pennsylvanian that an orogenic basin in Alabama and Mississippi that lies adjacent to sediment source and subsidence center developed along the juncture of the Appalachian and Ouachita orogenic the southeastern margin of the basin (Sestak, 1984; belts (Mellen, 1947; Thomas, 1973, 1977) (Fig. 2.1). The Pashin and others, 1991). basin formed during the early stages of Pangaean super- continent assembly, and the sedimentary fill reflects the Lithostratigraphy tectonic evolution of the basin, as well as climatic chang- Mississippian System es related to drift through the southern tradewind belt The Devonian-Mississippian boundary is gen- into the equatorial zone (Thomas, 1988; Pashin, 1993, erally considered to be at the base of the Maury Shale 1994a). The basin has a triangular plan and is bounded (Fig. 2.2), which contains a late Kinderhookian–early on the southwest by the Ouachita orogen, on the south- Osagean conodont fauna and overlies the black, fis- east by the Appalachian orogen, and on the north by sile Chattanooga Shale (Conant and Swanson, 1961; the Nashville Dome. A southeast-plunging nose of the Drahovzal, 1967). The Maury is generally thinner than Nashville Dome separates the Black Warrior Basin from 1 m and is a gray shale containing glauconite and phos- the Appalachian Basin (Thomas, 1988). Carboniferous phate nodules. Conant and Swanson (1961) considered strata are preserved throughout the Black Warrior Basin both contacts of the Maury to be disconformable. Above and in adjacent parts of the Appalachian thrust belt, the Maury is the Fort Payne Chert, which is a fossilifer- and these regions originally constituted a single depo- sitional basin that Thomas (1997) re- ferred to as the greater Black Warrior CINCINNATI ARCH Basin, which is the subject of this Salient paper. Outcrops of these strata are Findlay accessible in the Appalachian thrust Pennsylvania Kankakee Arch Embayment LaSalle Pennsylvania belt and the eastern part of the Black Arch TROUGH Anticlinal Appalachian Warrior Basin, but the western two- Belt Basin thirds of the basin and adjacent parts of the Ouachita orogen are concealed Illinois ROUGH Jessamine Basin CREEK Dome ROME Recess GRABEN below the Mesozoic-Cenozoic fill of Virginia Ozark Virginia Promontory the Gulf of Mexico Basin. Dome Intersection of the Appalachian and Ouachita orogens at nearly right Arkoma Basin Salient Ouachita MISSISSIPPI Nashville Dome angles had a strong effect on evo- VALLEY GRABEN Salient Tennessee Embayment lution of the Black Warrior Basin Tennessee (Thomas, 1976, 1995) (Fig. 2.1). The Black Warrior Basin basin is developed on the Alabama Ouachita Alabama BIRMINGHAM Promontory, a protuberance of the Embayment Recess GRABEN Cahaba and Laurentian continental margin that Coosa Synclinoria ] formed during Early Cambrian Alabama Iapetan rifting (Thomas, 1977, 1991). Promontory 0 50 100 150 200 mi The southwest margin of the prom- ontory remained passive until Late 0 100 200 km Mississippian time, when the Black Warrior foreland basin was initiated by obduction of a Ouachita accretion- EXPLANATION ary prism (Thomas, 1976; Viele and Intracratonic arch Thomas, 1989). Convergence along Normal basement fault associated with Iapetan rifting; ball on downthrown side the southeastern, or Appalachian, Frontal structures of Appalachian-Ouachita orogen margin of the promontory began Early Paleozoic continental margin during the Ordovician Taconic (not palinspastically restored) Orogeny. Although rift-related base- ment faults were reactivated at vari- Figure 2.1. Tectonic setting of the Black Warrior foreland basin (after Thomas, 1988). Reprinted with permission of Geological Society of America. 2: Carboniferous of the Black Warrior Basin 11 A A' Southwest Northeast Pottsville Fm. Mor- PENN. rowan Black Warrior Basin Appalachian ? ? Basin Coats ss. Gilmer ss. upper Parkwood Fm. R R Pottsville Fm. Cooper ss. R middle R Millerella ls. R R Bangor Ls. Carter ss. Pennington Fm. Sanders ss. Hartselle Ss. Evans ss. Chesterian MISSISSIPPIAN Abernethy ss. Monteagle Ls. Pride Mountain Fm. ? lower Parkwood Fm. Rea ss. Tuscumbia Ls. ? Fort Payne Chert Floyd Sh. Maury Sh. Lewis ss. Val. Chattanooga Sh. ? EXPLANATION Kind. Index map Black shale Reservoir-quality sandstone DEV. A' Gray shale Limestone 500 ft A R Red shale Disconformity Chert MS AL 0 10 20 30 40 50 mi 0 Figure 2.2. Generalized Mississippian stratigraphy of the Black Warrior Basin along a transect from northeastern Alabama to east-central Mississippi (after Pashin, 1994a). Reprinted with permission of Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. ous unit dominated by dark micrite and nodular chert Formation (Welch, 1958, 1959). The Pride Mountain (Butts, 1926). The Fort Payne grades upward into the contains two quartzarenite units informally named Tuscumbia Limestone, which is dominated by calcar- the Lewis sandstone and the Evans sandstone, which enite (Thomas, 1972). The Fort Payne generally is con- are important hydrocarbon reservoirs in northeastern sidered to be of Osagean age, whereas the Tuscumbia Mississippi and west-central Alabama (Cleaves, 1983). bears Meramecian faunas (Ruppel, 1979). These two Above the Pride Mountain Formation is the quartzare- units thin southwestward from more than 125 m to less nitic Hartselle Sandstone, which is locally thicker than than 25 m, and as they thin, the Tuscumbia passes into 35 m and contains abundant asphaltic hydrocarbons a chert-rich facies that is indistinguishable from the Fort (Thomas and Mack, 1982; Wilson, 1987). Together, the Payne (Thomas, 1972, 1988). Pride Mountain Formation and Hartselle Sandstone The Chesterian Series is cyclic and constitutes the reach a maximum thickness of 120 m. bulk of the Mississippian System in the Black Warrior The Hartselle Sandstone is overlain by the Bangor Basin, reaching a thickness exceeding 1,100 m adja- Limestone (Figs. 2.2–2.3), which extends to the top of the cent to the Ouachita orogen in Mississippi. A subtle Chesterian Series in the northeastern part of the basin disconformity separates Meramecian and Chesterian and is locally thicker than 135 m (Thomas, 1972; Thomas strata along the northern margin of the basin (Pashin and others, 1979). The Bangor contains a spectrum of and Rindsberg, 1993) (Figs. 2.2–2.3). Carbonate rocks carbonate rock types; oolitic and skeletal calcarenite are dominate the Chesterian Series in the northeastern part the most characteristic lithologies. The upper part of the of the basin, whereas siliciclastic rocks are prevalent in Bangor can be dolomitic and includes intervals of red the southwestern part. The Monteagle Limestone is the and greenish-gray mudstone. Although a carbonate fa- basal Chesterian unit in the northeastern part of the ba- cies dominates the northeastern part of the greater Black sin and is dominated by oolitic calcarenite (Handford, Warrior Basin, siliciclastic facies of the Floyd Shale and 1978). The Monteagle is generally thinner than 50 m Parkwood Formation dominate the southwestern part and passes southwestward into cyclically interbedded and locally are thicker than 950 m. Facies relationships shale, sandstone, and limestone of the Pride Mountain between the carbonate and siliciclastic facies are com- 12 Jack C. Pashin and Robert A. Gastaldo Lithofacies Coastal Onlap Period Epoch Landward Seaward 315 Ma start Pottsville Formation Alleghanian Morrowan Orogeny Absaroka I sequence PENNSYLVANIAN upper Parkwood Fm. 320 Bangor Ls. middle Parkwood Fm. Carter ss 325 lower Parkwood Fm. Bangor Ls. Intensifying 330 Gondwanan Chesterian Kaskaskia II sequence glaciation MISSISSIPPIAN Floyd Sh. Hartselle Ss. start 335 Evans ss. Ouachita Orogeny Lewis ss. Tuscumbia Ls. Osagean Limestone Black shale Sandstone Hiatus Gray shale Figure 2.3. Wheeler diagram showing facies, cycles, and coastal onlap curve for Chesterian and Morrowan rocks of the Black Warrior Basin (after Pashin, 1994a). Reprinted with permission of Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. 2: Carboniferous of the Black Warrior Basin 13 plex. The lower part of the Bangor has clinoform geom- Pottsville strata are in three major coal fields etry and passes southwestward into dark shale of the (Fig. 2.4). The Warrior coal basin corresponds with the Floyd Shale (Pashin, 1993; Mars and Thomas, 1999). The main part of the Black Warrior Basin, and the Cahaba Floyd Shale coarsens upward into the lower part of the and Coosa Coal Fields are in the Appalachian thrust Parkwood Formation, which is composed primarily belt. In the Warrior Coal Field, the Pottsville Formation of interbedded sandstone and shale, and contains the contains numerous marine-nonmarine depositional Carter sandstone, which is the most prolific convention- cycles, or cyclothems (Fig. 2.5). Each cyclothem begins al hydrocarbon reservoir in the basin. The middle part with a ravinement surface that is overlain by an interval of the Parkwood is dominated by limestone and shale, thinner than 1 m containing condensed marine fossil as- and contains a major carbonate tongue that extends bas- semblages (Liu and Gastaldo, 1992; Gastaldo and others, inward above the lower Parkwood from the main body 1993; Pashin, 1998). Above this is a thick (10–100 m) gray of the Bangor Limestone. Near the base of the Bangor
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