Preliminary Structural Interpretations of the Frontal Ouachita-Arkoma
Basin Transition Zone: A Cross
Section
of the Ione and Barber
Quadrangles in Central-Western Arkansas, Based on Field Mapping
Levi A. Crooke
The University of Alabama
The Arkoma Basin is an asymmetrical foreland basin located parallel to
strike along the frontal Ouachita thrust belt across eastern Oklahoma and
western Arkansas. The basin is bounded to the south by the Ouachita Mountains
and to the north by the Ozark Uplift. The transition zone between the highlydeformed
Ouachita frontal thrust belt and the mildly-deformed Arkoma foreland
basin is exposed at the surface providing the availability of field mapping.
Constraining the structural geometry and magnitude of shortening within the
frontal Ouachita-Arkoma Basin transition zone is fundamental to understanding
the nature of thrust propagation into foreland settings and is essential to
continued hydrocarbon exploration efforts in the Arkoma Basin. The Ione and
Barber quadrangles are located at the intersections of Logan, Scott, Franklin,
and Sebastian Counties in central-western Arkansas. A preliminary structural
cross
section
based on field mapping across these quadrangles reveals mildly
deformed Pennsylvanian aged formations creating the southern limb of the broad
Washburn anticline, located between the north-vergent leading edge thrust of the
frontal Ouachitas and the north-vergent Washburn fault.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90182©2013 AAPG/SEG Student Expo, Houston, Texas, September 16-17, 2013