Date of Graduation

12-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Geology (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Geosciences

Advisor/Mentor

Christopher L. Liner

Committee Member

T.A. "Mac" McGilvery

Second Committee Member

Gregory Dumond

Third Committee Member

Steve Milligan

Keywords

seismic surveys, tectonic signals, tectonic events, cratonic sedimentary processes

Abstract

3D seismic and well log data in Western Osage County, Oklahoma, are utilized to evaluate possible intracratonic tectonic signals present in the subsurface stratigraphy of the Cherokee Platform as a result of the regional tectonic events of Pennsylvanian age. These events include: the Wichita, Ouachita, and Arbuckle orogenies, the Nemaha and Ozark Uplifts, and the Southeast Oklahoma Aulacogen. Horizon flattening within 3D seismic volumes allows for identification of paleotectonic structures and syntectonic depositional features, which may be related to the collateral effects of these orogenies on the Cherokee Platform. Identified structures were assigned geologic ages using precision synthetic seismograms tuned to the Pennsylvanian interval in a 45 square mile 3D seismic data volume. Paleostructure maps and isochron, or time-thickness, maps created in conjunction with the flattened horizons highlight contemporaneous structural features that may be related to regional orogenic events. Paleostructure maps also help determine the sedimentological processes occurring at the time of deposition. This investigation will add knowledge to the tectonic and depositional evolution of the Cherokee Platform and the surrounding basins, which have been prolific hydrocarbon-producing regions for over a century.

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