MERRIAM, D. F., Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS; and ANDREA FORSTER, GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany

Abstract: Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Anticlinal Structures in the Salina Basin, North-Central Kansas

The Salina Basin in north-central Kansas is not a prolific oil-producing basin as other similar basins in the Midcontinent. However, there are long-time producing structures - plains-type folds in the southern part that have produced oil for almost 70 years. The northwest-southeast basin axis extends northward into Nebraska and the basin is asymmetrical with a steeper southwestern flank bordering the Central Kansas Uplift and a gentle northeastern flank extending eastward to the Nemaha Anticline. The southern limit of the basin is ill-defined with no major limiting feature between it and the Sedgwick Basin to the south. Rocks in the basin range in age from Precambrian to Recent, but it is mainly a Paleozic basin with the Permo-Pennsylvanian section truncated to the east, so that the maximum sedimentary thickness is about 4,500 feet. The structural history of the basin is similar to that of the adjacent Forest City, Sedgwick, and Cherokee Basins. A major change occurred in the structural regimen in the late Mississippian early Pennsylvanian when the present-day structure was formed. Minor folds were formed, as elsewhere in the Midcontinent, by differential compaction of sediments over tilted, rigid Precambrian fault blocks (=buried hills). Minor, but important, structural ad adjustments continued during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic, and continue today. Several of the plains-type folds which occur along northeast anticlinal trends were analyzed as to time of origin, development, and relation to the geothermal conditions of the region.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90921©1999 AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting, Wichita, Kansas