Potential diagenetic alteration of the Arbuckle Group and it's impact to local structure within the Mid-Continent

Abstract

The Arbuckle Group is almost entirely composed of dolomite and limestone. Dolomite, within this Group and other Early Paleozoic deposits, is one of the commonest sedimentary materials. However, the question remains, how did these dolomites originate? Certain areas of the mid-continent, notably Osage County, Oklahoma, have Precambrian surfaces that have been strongly eroded which created numerous geomorphic features that have been preserved by Arbuckle deposition. Compaction of the sediments, from Arbuckle through Early Pennsylvanian, occurred penecontemporaneous with deposition. However, mapping of multiple areas where structural closure is present and superimposed on a Precambrian geomorphic feature, suggests that a significant compaction event occurred either during Upper Missourian or Post-Missourian time. This compaction event resulted in a significant amount of change in structural relief to older sediments. This compaction event could have only come about from a massive volumetric decrease of a thick, mostly homogeneous sedimentary section. Late term, deep burial dolomitization of the Arbuckle Group could fit this scenario and provide the means for a massive volumetric reduction in rock volume, that when compacted, could account for the amount of structural relief observed in the Upper Missourian section of Osage County, Oklahoma. This late term deep burial dolomitization scenario could occur within specific depth (pressure)/ temperature/ time windows and co

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90221 © 2015 Mid-Continent Section, Tulsa, Oklahoma, October 4-6, 2015