Misener Sandstone--A Complex Cyclic Sequence

John W. Shelton, Richard D. Fritz, Mike Kuykendall, Ellen Hooker

The Misener sandstone is part of two major transgressive/regressive episodes during the Devonian. The Misener is a prolific reservoir in Oklahoma but is one of the most difficult to predict due to its erratic distribution. Depositional environment, a key to understanding Misener distribution and ultimately reservoir geometry, is determined only by understanding the overall geological setting--petrography, unconformities, stratigraphy, paleogeography, and source.

Analyses of composition, textures, and sedimentary features in cores and samples combined with detailed correlation and sequence stratigraphy provide a basic framework for determining Misener facies, which indicate deposition in a marine environment. Types of environment range from tidal ridge to estuarine to tidal flat. Many cores show an overall shallowing-upward Misener sequence and change from a terrigenous to a carbonate regime--from phosphatic sands upward to sandy dolomites. This sequence, compared with the regional configuration of the Woodford Shale, suggests that the Woodford developed in two cycles. The Misener section is genetically equivalent to the lower Woodford transgressive/regressive cycle.

A paleogeographic model of the Mid-Continent during Misener deposition shows that with the pre-Woodford paleodrainage system, the most likely source for the Misener is from Simpson subcrops around the Ozark dome; the sand was transported and deposited by west-northwest-trending marine currents. A local model for the Misener is the Kremlin area where sand was deposited in erosional lows before carbonate deposition to form a sequence that reflects both shallowing and facies change.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91025©1989 AAPG Midcontinent, Sept. 24-26, 1989, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.