Salt tectonism has been recognized as an influential mechanism in the distribution of facies within the LouArk Group of the East Texas Basin. Widespread accommodation space created by early salt structuring suggests that reefal facies may exist in many areas of the basin, rather than being confined to a single shelf margin paralleling present-day basin geometry.

The Upper Jurassic paleogeography of the East Texas Basin appears to have been characterized by a complex mosaic of shallow water carbonate platforms and intervening deeper water sub-basins. These sub-basins, localized by syndepositional faulting, modified platform morphology, altered the distribution of facies belts, and provided environments favorable for reef nucleation and growth. Continued salt tectonism caused the collapse of the Upper Jurassic carbonate province into its present day configuration.

Recognition of the role of salt tectonics in the distribution of Cotton Valley reefs has important economic implications for the expansion of the play across the basin. To date, accurate restoration of the basin's complex Upper Jurassic morphology has been limited by the quality of existing 2-D seismic data and the lack of widespread deep-basin drilling. A clearer picture should emerge with the acquisition of large 3-D seismic surveys and resultant exploratory drilling.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90937©1998 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah