Structural Geometry and Evaluation of Thrust Faulting in the Damon and Wilburton Quadrangles in Latimer County, Southeastern Oklahoma

By

Marline Collins and Ibrahim Cemen; School of Geology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078.

The Arkoma Basin and the Ouachita Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas were formed during the late Paleozoic Ouachita orogeny. In Oklahoma, the Choctaw fault forms the structural boundary between the frontal Ouachitas and the Arkoma Basin.

This study is aimed at determining the structural geometry of the Late Paleozoic thrust faults in the Damon and Wilburton Quadrangles in Latimer County, in Southeastern Oklahoma. Six balanced structural cross-sections are under construction to delineate the structural geometry in the study area. Data from the surface geological maps by the Oklahoma Geological Survey, wire-line well logs, scout tickets, and seismic profiles, donated by Exxon and Amoco corporations, were used to construct the cross-sections.

The two main structural features of the study area are the south dipping Choctaw and the north dipping Carbon faults. Our preliminary interpretations of the available data suggest that the two faults form a triangle zone and a duplex structure present in the footwall of the Choctaw fault. The Springer detachment is the floor thrust and the Lower Atokan Detachment is the roof thrust of the duplex. The Carbon fault loses its surface trace north of the Wilburton gas field. Seismic data indicate that the Carbon fault becomes a blind thrust as it continues to define the northern flank of the triangle zone within the eastern part of the study area, probably through a lateral ramp along its fault surface. Our cross-sections should provide a better understanding of subsurface geometry of this lateral ramp along the Carbon fault.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90010©2003 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Fort Worth, Texas, March 1-4, 2003