Arbuckle Group, Oklahoma

General Setting

The Arbuckle Group of Late Cambrian and Ordovician age was deposited in the Oklahoma basin in a broad epicontinental sea that extended across the southern Mid-Continent. The region was stable throughout Arbuckle deposition, as evidenced by the lateral continuity of the strata (Johnson, 1991a). In fact, the Arbuckle was deposited as part of an even larger carbonate (limestones and dolomites) platform that extended from West Texas to eastern North America. The Arbuckle and its equivalents are all composed of very thick, almost pure carbonate successions that are often dolomitized. These successions consist of several hundred upward-shoaling, meter-thick, tidal-flat cycles or parasequences (Wilson, 1994). Extensive karst and solution-collapse brecciation (ancient cave systems) developed within these carbonates as a result of meteoric water infiltration during the widespread post-Sauk unconformity (Wilson, 1994). It is these karsted zones that contain significant amounts of porosity and permeability in what are otherwise low-porosity and low-permeability rocks. The high-porosity and -permeability karsted zones can be targets for CO₂ sequestration when they subcrop beneath competent seals, such as the ubiquitous Devonian-age Woodford Formation.

References

Amsden, T. W., 1975, Panel 4—Isopach map of Woodford Shale, in Hunton Group (late Ordovician, Silurian, and early Devonian) in the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma: Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin, v. 121, 214 p.

Blackwell, D. D., Wisian, K. W., and Steele, J. L., 1997, Geothermal resource/reservoir investigations based on heat flow and thermal gradient data for the United States: U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Energy

Burchfield, M. R., 1985, Map of Oklahoma oil and gas fields: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Map GM-28.

Derby, J. R., Hinch, H. H., and Repetski, J. R., 1991, Lithology, stratigraphy, and age of the Arbuckle Group in the Amoco Shads No. 4, a continuous core from grassroots into basement, Rogers County, Oklahoma, in Arbuckle Group Core Workshop and Field Trip: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Special Publication 91-3, p. 69–82.

Henry, M. E., 1991, Subsurface structure map of the Arbuckle Group, south-central Oklahoma, in Johnson, K. S., ed., Late Cambrian-Ordovician geology of the southern Midcontinent, 1989 Symposium: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Circular 92, p. 218–219.

Hester, T. C., and Schmoker, J. W., 1993, Regional geology of the Woodford Shale—Anadarko Basin, Oklahoma: an overview of relevance to horizontal drilling, in Johnson, K. S., and Campbell, J. A., eds.,Petroleum—reservoir geology in the southern Midcontinent, 1991 Symposium: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Circular 95, p. 74–81.

Johnson, K. S., 1991a, Geologic setting of the Arbuckle Group in Oklahoma, in Arbuckle Group Core Workshop and Field Trip: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Special Publication 91-3, p. 1–7.

___________ 1991b, Geologic overview and economic importance of Late Cambrian and Ordovician age rocks in Oklahoma, in Johnson, K. S., ed., Late Cambrian-Ordovician geology of the southern Midcontinent, 1989 Symposium: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Circular 92, p. 3–14.

Jorgensen, D. G., 1993, Paleohydrology of the Central United States: U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 1989-D, 32 p.

Jorgensen, D. G., Helgesen, J. O., Signor, D. C., Leonard, R. B., Imes, J. L., and Christenson, S. C., 1996, Analysis of regional aquifers in the central midwest of the United States in Kansas, Nebraska and parts of Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming—Summary: U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 1414-A, 67 p.

Puckette, J. O., 1996, Evaluation of underpressured reservoirs as potential repositories for liquid waste: Oklahoma State University, Ph.D. dissertation, 274 p.

Ragland, D. A., and Donovan, R. N, 1991, Sedimentology and diagenesis of the Arbuckle Group in outcrops of southern Oklahoma, in Arbuckle Group Core Workshop and Field Trip: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Special Publication 91-3, p. 9–30.

Read, D. L., and Richmond, G. L., 1993, Geology and reservoir characteristics of the Arbuckle Brown zone in the Cottonwood Creek field, Carter County, Oklahoma, in Johnson, K. S., and Campbell, J. A., eds., Petroleum reservoir geology in the southern Midcontinent: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Circular 95, p. 113–125.

Ryder, P. D., 1996, Ground water atlas of the United States—segment 4, Oklahoma, Texas, in U.S. Geological Survey, Hydrologic Investigations Atlas 730-E, p. E27.

Wilson, J. L., 1994, The Lower Ordovician great American bank of the southwestern United States, in Keller, D. R., and Reed, C. L., eds., Paleokarst, karst-related diagenesis, reservoir development, and exploration concepts; examples from the Paleozoic section of the southern Mid-Continent: SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), SEPM Guidebook 93-34, p. 35–43.

Prepared by Ramón Treviño.