KNODE, TOM L., DONALD F. REASER, and JUERGEN SCHIEBER, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX

ABSTRACT: Geological Aspects of the Devonian Misener/Sylamore Sandstone in the Central United States

The Middle to Upper Devonian (Givetian-Famennian) Misener sandstone (subsurface of Kansas and Oklahoma) and its subsurface equivalent, the Sylamore Sandstone (eastern Oklahoma and northern Arkansas) form the basal unit of the Chattanooga/Woodford Shale in the mid-continent area. The thickness of the strata ranges from zero to a reported maximum of 26 m (80 ft). In the study area, the rock body is composed mostly of multicolored fine to medium-grained quartz sandstone and brown, gray, or green mudstones. At places, the sequence is interbedded with Chattanooga/Woodford-like shale. Detrital components of the sequence are primarily monocrystalline quartz, illitic clay, glauconite, phosphatic fragments, trace amounts of feldspar, rock fragments (chert, dolostone, and metamorphic quartz), t urmaline, and zircon. Reworked faunal elements include abundant conodonts and fish bones and tooth fragments.

Three lithofacies were recognized within the rock body: quartz arenite, quartz and lithic wacke, and mudstone. Sediments composing these rocks, which were probably deposited in a combination of nearshore marine environments, were reworked during transgression of the Chattanooga/Woodford sea. Therefore, the sediments were palimpsest, and some of the sedimentary features relict. Diagenesis began with (1) development of poikilotopic carbonate cement accompanied by syntaxial silica and emplacement of pyrite, (2) dolomitization, (3) stylolitization, (4) creation of secondary porosity, and (5) migration of hydrocarbons.

At some places in Oklahoma, and to a lesser extent in Kansas, the Misener is a prolific hydrocarbon producer. It is thin (generally less than 6 m or 20 ft) and erratically distributed on the post-Hunton/pre-Chattanooga unconformity in topographic lows, making it an elusive target. The porosity of the Misener ranges up to 20%, with permeabilities of several hundred millidarcys.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90994©1993 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Fort Worth, Texas, February 21-23, 1993.