Date of Graduation

12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Geology (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Geosciences

Advisor/Mentor

McGilvery, T.A. "Mac"

Committee Member

Potra, Adiana

Second Committee Member

Woolsey, Jamie

Third Committee Member

Smith, Tyson

Keywords

Arkansas; Atoka Formation; Boston Mountains; LiDAR mapping; Subsurface

Abstract

The Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation are the primary surface outcrops of the Boston Mountains in northwest Arkansas. Where fully preserved in the Arkoma Basin to the south, the Atoka Formation exceeds 18,000 feet of sandstone and shale. It is mapped as a single “undifferentiated” unit on the surface geological map of Arkansas. This project correlates ten subsurface subdivisions of the Atoka Formation plus the Desmoinesian to the surface outcrops of the southern Boston Mountains. This produced a higher resolution surface map beyond the current Atoka Undifferentiated scheme. Recognition of the Atoka Formation subdivisions in surface outcrops using standard lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic correlation techniques has been challenging. Subdivision of the Atoka Formation has been defined in the subsurface by the petroleum industry and academia through the use of wireline logging tools. These subdivisions are based on correlation of reservoir-quality sandstone cycles that can be recognized throughout the basin. This study utilizes USGS LiDAR elevation data (LiDAR Topographic Positioning Index Map) and subsurface well-log correlations to identify and map the subdivisions following the methods of Boyd (2025). Prior to this study, there have been only localized attempts to identify and map the Atoka Formation subdivisions in outcrop. This updated geological map of the Atoka Formation in the Boston Mountains provides more detail and allows geologists to identify at the surface what was previously studied only through subsurface wellbore technology. It provides a method of approaching the completion of mapping the remainder of the Boston Mountain region.

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