Date of Graduation

5-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Geology (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Geosciences

Advisor/Mentor

Zachry, Doy L.

Committee Member

Covington, Matthew D.

Second Committee Member

Manger, Walter L.

Third Committee Member

Dumond, Gregory

Keywords

Arkoma Basin; Atoka Formation; Geology; Sedimentology; Structural Geology; Tectonics

Abstract

The Arkoma Basin is one of several peripheral foreland basins situated on the front of the Ouachita orogenic fold and thrust belt. The transition from the foredeep to the Ozark Plateaus is a short one in terms of latitude. The Atoka Formation in Arkansas comprises the bulk of the sediments in the Arkoma Basin. Three divisions of the Atoka Formation have been informally assigned as the Upper, Middle, and Lower based on differences in sedimentary response to tectonic processes that occurred during the formation and subsidence of the Arkoma Basin. In the Arkansas portion of the Arkoma Basin, the lower Atoka marks the onset of tectonic subsidence in between the Mulberry and the Cass Fault systems and displays a maximum of almost 1,000 feet of thickening in the study area. The middle Atoka in the same area gains a maximum of 4,000 feet of sediment. The upper Atoka achieves a maximum thickness of 1,800 feet. Entrapment of hydrocarbons within the Atoka Formation in the Arkoma Basin has led many oil and gas companies to penetrate and log the formation with electric, gamma ray and other mechanical logs while exploring for natural gas. This study uses these raster logs to provide a variety of maps and cross sections that illustrate the coastal systems of the lower and upper Atoka Formation and aid in the interpretation of the sedimentary response of the three Atoka divisions with respect to structural timing and sedimentology. With the subsurface maps and cross sections, a more synthesized version of the Atoka Formation in the northern Arkoma Basin of western Arkansas is produced.

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