IMPLICATIONS OF LITHOFACIES ASSOCIATION AND ARCHITECTURE FOR LOW AND HIGH-ACCOMMODATION SYSTEM TRACTS FROM THE SANDSTONE DOMINATED ZONE (THE BARREN SERIES) OF THE CRETACEOUS-PALEOCENE RATON FORMATION, TRINIDAD, COLORADO by YAQOUB Y Y S M ALSAYED ALREFAEI Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON DECEMBER 2016 Copyright © by Yaqoub Y Y S M Alsayed Alrefaei 2016 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’m grateful to Dr. Merlynd Nestell, my dissertation committee chairman, and Dr. John Holbrook, my dissertation committee co-chairman, for their unlimited help, assistance, advice and patience. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Andrew Hunt, Dr. John Wickham, and Dr. James Grover, for their participation and help in my thesis. Special thanks to Kuwait University for sponsoring my scholarship and giving me the opportunity to pursue my higher education in the United States of America. Also a special thanks for Larry O'Donnell for his help during the fieldwork and to all of my colleagues for their help and assistance. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my beloved family especially my parents (Yousef Alrefaei, Mariam Ali) without whom I could not finished it and whose prayers and encouragement sustained me. Most of all, I wish to thank my dear wife Hanan and children Mariam, Yousef and Hashim for their patience, sacrifices, help and endless support. December 16, 2016 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Models for channelized reservoir shows channel connectivity ..................................................... 4 2. Generalized geologic map of the Raton Basin, Colorado and New Mexico ................................ 6 3. Generalized stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene in the Raton Basin, Colorado. ........................................................................................................... 9 4. The Western Interior Seaway extent during the Late Cretaceous time...................................... 10 5. Block diagram illustrates paleoenvironments of the Cretaceous and Paleocene deposits of the Raton Basin .................................................................................. 14 6. An example of a simulated cross section constructed by using the Bridge and Ledeer (1979) numerical model. ................................................................. 17 7. The Wright and Marriott (1993) model shows the relationship between fluvial architecture as a function of base level change .................................................... 17 8. The Shanley and McCabe (1994) stratigraphic model that shows the relationship between fluvial architecture as a function of base level change ................................. 18 9. Schematic diagram of the Distributive Fluvial System model showing the range of depositional zones and degree of flood plain drainage.............................................. 27 10. Nichols and Fisher (2007) fluvial distributary systems models illustrate changes in channel architecture in the proximal, medial and distal zones .................................... 28 11. Location map for study area and outcrops locations ................................................................ 29 12. Measured section example of the Sandstone Dominated Zone (the Barren Series) of the Raton Formation from the Cokedale.2 .................................................. 33 13. Lithofacies assemblages in the Sandstone Dominated Zone of the Raton Formation ................................................................................................................... 39 14. Rooting in the cross bedded sandstone lithofacies, Cokedale.2 .............................................. 42 15. Floras in the Sandstone Dominated Zone of the Raton Formation .......................................... 43 16. The crevasse splay/delta splay element, Cokedale.1 .............................................................. 57 17. Channel-fill element bounding laminated sand sheet element, Valdez.2A .............................. 59 18. The laminated sand sheet element deposits, Valdez.2A ......................................................... 60 iv 19. Channel-belt assemblage filled with channel-fill element, Cokedale.1 .................................... 62 20. Channel-fill element bounding nested channel scours Element, Valdez.2A ............................ 64 21. Channel-fill element bounding the bar element, Cokedale.2 ................................................... 66 22. The wings element deposits, cokedale.2 ................................................................................. 68 23. Architecture of the wings element, Cokedale.2 ........................................................................ 69 24. Channel-fill element1.a and channel-fill element1.b, Valdez.1 ................................................ 74 25. Channel-fill element.2a .Valdez.2A .......................................................................................... 75 26. Valley-fill association bounding channel-belt assemblages, Valdez.2A ................................... 77 27. Progressive stacking example from Cokedale.1 ...................................................................... 85 28. Progressive stacking example from the literature: The lower part of Mesa Rica sandstone, New Mexico and Colorado ............................................ 86 29. Iterative stacking example from the literature: The up-dip parts of the lower and upper parts of Mesa Rica and the Romeroville sandstones ................................ 89 30. The Willwood Formation in the Bighorn Basin, northern Wyoming as a well-drained avulsive distributive example ............................................... 92 31. The medial zone deposits of the Luna and Huesca Miocene depositional system in the Ebro Basin, Piraces, Spain ................................................... 93 32. Characteristics of poorly drained bifurcative deposits, Cokedale.2. ........................................ 95 33. Distal deposits of the Luna and Huesca Miocene depositional system in the Ebro Basin, Piraces, Spain ................................................... 96 34. Poorly drained bifurcative deposits at the Upper Pennsylvanian Breathitt Group and the lower part of the Conemaugh Group, Central Appalachian Basin in Louisa, Kentucky ............................................................................. 98 35. Poorly-drained bifurcative example: the Chinle Formation of the Late Triassic Blue Mesa and Sonsela Members in Petrified Forest Natural Park, Arizona ................................. 99 36. The fluvio-lacustrine deposits in Cokedale.1 .......................................................................... 100 37. The Luma tongue of the Green River Formation as an example of fluvio-lacustrine deposits .............................................................................................................. 102 38. Sand bodies connectivity in the Sandstone Dominated Zone deposits of the Raton Basin ......................................................................................................... 104 v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ ix ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... x Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………..………..….. ...................................... 1 1.1 The Raton Basin ............................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 Geological settings of the Raton Basin .............................................. 5 1.1.2 Stratigraphic settings and depositional environments of Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene deposits in the Raton Basin ................. 7 1.1.3 The Raton Formation, Trinidad, Colorado ........................................ 11 1.2 The concept of high and low-accommodation system tracts ......................... 14 1.3 Distributive fluvial systems (DSF) ................................................................... 21 1.4 Well-drained vs. poorly-drained flood-basins ................................................. 24 1.5 The study area ................................................................................................ 29 2. METHODS……………………………………..………..….. ............................................. 31 2.1. Architecture element analysis ....................................................................... 34 3. DATA AND RESUALTS ……………………………………..………..….. ........................ 36 3.1. Lithofacies assemblages description ............................................................. 36 3.1.1 Cross bedded sandstone lithofacies assemblage (F1) .................... 40 3.1.2 Laminated sandstone lithofacies (F2) .............................................. 44 3.1.3 Laminated thin bedded sandstone lithofacies assemblage (F3) ...................................................................... 45 3.1.4 Blocky siltstone