BULLETIN OF T H E AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS VOL. 36. NO. 12 (DECEMBER. 1952). PP. 2237-2265. 10 FIGS.

TECTONICS OF CENTRAL TEXAS 1

M. G. CHENEY 2 AND LOUIS F. GOSS2 Coleman, Texas ABSTRACT A clearer concept of the growth of the Llano uplift and related principal structural features of central Texas is sought through use of the present increased store of surface and subsurface geological data. Generalized thickness maps have been prepared as an aid to analysis of time, place, and amount of major uplifts and subsidences, some of which were intense, localized tectonic movements, others widespread epeirogenic adjustments. The most obvious major tectonic feature in central Texas is the Llano uplift where the preCambrian basement complex crops out in an area 40 miles wide and 70 miles long. During much of early Paleozoic time this area was a seaway and for long intervals thereafter it was alternately above and below sea-level. Major diastrophic changes occurred after Early Ordovician and before Late Pennsylvanian, by which latter time the pre-Cambrian surface had become at least 10,000 feet higher in the western part of the Llano uplift than beneath the flanking Fort Worth and Kerr basins. Erosional losses indicate that uplift accounted for about one-third and subsidence two-thirds of the vertical movement in these structural adjustments. Many pronounced structural features observed in the Llano uplift show a surprising lack of parallelism with the main northwest axial trend. Instead, a north to north-northeast trend is common, thereby dividing this uplift into several major segments which are bounded by relatively steep dips and extensive normal faults with vertical displacement as great as 3,000 feet. These major intersecting tectonic features appreciably affected only those beds that are older than the Lazy Bend group (restricted) of the Strawn series. Thereafter structural trends developed mainly along northwest trends. Mississippian outcrops in the Llano region transgress the truncated Ordovician Ellenburger group. Drilling has shown an increasing loss of section west of the Llano uplift so that, as a result of both erosion and non-deposition, Upper Pennsylvanian (Canyon) marine sediments locally overlap Cambrian rocks in and near northeast Menard County. Farther west and northwest, Middle Pennsylvanian beds rest on truncated Mississippian and Ordovician or older rocks in a large region, heretofore called the Concho arch, where local as well as regional tectonic features had developed mainly along trends varying from north-northeast to northwest. Thin Middle Pennsylvanian marine sediments of the Lampasas and Strawn series deposited across this base-levelled region are chiefly limestones and shales of the platform type in contrast to thick basinal type deposits on the east and south. The northwest part of the Llano area evidently remained somewhat above sea-level during most or all of the Strawn time. However, at least 2,000 feet of Upper Pennsylvanian and Lower Permian sediments are assumed to have been deposited across the Llano region, judged by their thickness and marine character, also by projection of regional dip, in near-by outcrops. Regional upward tilting toward the east, followed by extensive erosion, has brought prominence to the Llano uplift. As disclosed by drilling, a regional downward tilting toward the west has given the eastern part of the Concho platform the appearance of a major arch, commonly referred to as the Bend arch or flexure. The much larger Concho arch and broad Concho platform between the Bend axis and the Midland basin lost much of their original dominant position as a result of this regional tilting which began in Late Pennsylvanian, but took place mainly during Permian time. Subsequently, epeirogenic movements, including continental emergence after the Lower Cretaceous epoch, have permitted erosion of all sediments and re-exposure of pre-Cambrian basement in the Llano area, nowknown geographically as the Central Mineral region.
INTRODUCTION

The Llano uplift is one of the few areas between the Appalachian and Rockymountains where pre-Cambrian rocks are at the earth's surface. Very detailed reports concerning Paleozoic rocks exposed in the Llano area, together with accumulating data from many wells drilled in central Texas, furnish a basis for restudy of the complex structural developments which have been discussed and
1 Read before the regional meeting of the Association and the 18th annual meeting of the South Texas Geological Society, at Austin, October 19, 1951. Manuscript received, August 25, 1952. 2

Anzac Oil Corporation. M. G. Cheney died, September 28, 1952.

2237

 FISHER

"1
I JONES

! NOLAN

J
. | RUNNELS

SUTTON

10 MILES * PRE-CAMBRIAN WELLS PREORDOVICIAN WELLS

JUNE 1952 FIG. I MGC-LFG

STRATIGRAPHY
STAGE CISCO GROUP THRiFTY GRAHAM CADDO CREEK BRAD
HOME CREEK LS COLONY CREEK SH RANGER LS

BIOZONE
FUSULINID ZONES AND SUBZO
TRITlClTES TRITlClTES TRITlClTES VENTRlC PUJMM CULLOM

FORMATION

PLACID SH WINCHELL CEDARTON SM ADAMS BRANCH UPPER BROWNWOOD SH PALO PINTO KEECHI CREEK LAKE PINTO SS TRITlClTES IRREGU SALESVILLE

>m
LONE CAMP

FUSULINA EAST MOUNTAIN SH B R A Z O S RIVER CONG. MINGUS SH THURBER COAL FUSULINA

EXIMlA

5
_J if) 0_ KICKAPOO CREEK MiLLSAP LAKE

GOEN GRINDSTONE CREEK SANTO

LS LS

GIRTYI

BUCK CREEK SS BRANNON BRIDGE L S LAZY SEND (RESTRICTED) H I L L CREEK

RAYVILLE

=i fc
-O W J

KICKAPOO F A L L S L S OICKERSON SH

FUSULINA

LEEl

PARKS CADDO POOL FUSULINELLA LOWER "CADDO L S " IOWE

LAMPASAS ATOKA

L A K E SS PAY FUSULINELLA BRISTER BIG SALINE UPPtR MARBLE LEMONS FALLS FUSIELLA AY LOR PRIMAE BLUFF LLA

MORROW
SLOAN MILLERELLA

FlG. 2

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reviewed, particularly by E. H. Sellards in his extensive treatise, " T h e Geology of Texas," Volume I I (Sellards, 1934). Recent publications by the Bureau of Economic (ieology of the University of Texas and eight cross sections north and northwest of the Llano uplift published by the Abilene Geological Society (1949, 1950) and the West Texas Geological Society (1951) have added much to earlier sources of information. Coordination of this large volume of surface and subsurface stratigraphic and structural data should permit a fairly accurate generalized analysis. It is recognized, however, that more critical study of lithology, paleontology, and local structural features of this region is needed for solution of many of the problems involved. If this paper proves to be of value, a major part of the credit should be attributed to the helpful cooperation which prevails among geologists and the organizations, both economic and technical, with which they are associated.
STRATIGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION

Areas of outcrop of the major stratigraphic units of central Texas are shown by Figure 1. Names of counties are placed on this map, but omitted from the six maps showing thicknesses of the various stratigraphic divisions of importance to this study. Location is also shown of wells drilled to pre-Cambrian and to preOrdovician. Comparison with earlier reports will disclose some changes of stratigraphic names and revisions of classification. T h e Cambrian, Ordovician, and Devonian usage followed herein is t h a t of Cloud, Barnes, and Bridge (1945), Barnes, Cloud and Warren (1947), and Cloud and Barnes (1948). Mississippian and Morrowan usage is for the most p a r t in agreement with Plummer (1950), Moore and Jeffords (1945), and Cloud and Barnes (1948). The Pennsylvania!! requires special attention, this being the time when most of the structural development of the Llano uplift and Concho arch took place. As used herein the Lower, Middle, and Upper Pennsylvanian include two series each: the Springer and Morrow; Lampasas and Strawn; Canyon and Cisco, respectively. Depositional, structural, and evolutionary changes of the Pennsylvanian period are so numerous and complex that no less than six scries have been deemed essential to adequate classification of this system (Cheney el ah, 1945, PP- !39-42)Division of geologic time into periods and classification of rock sequences into systems necessarily involves world-wide standards. The subordinate series and stages of any region are obviously of greater value if in agreement with those of other regions and especially with a standard section established in the type area of each system. T h e classification used herein is thought to be in close agreement with usage approved by leading authorities for the Eastern Interior coal basin of Illinois and Indiana and the northern Appalachian type section of the Pennsylvanian system. Eigure 2 shows the classification, as used in this report, of various divisions

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M. G. CHENEY

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of the Pennsylvanian system in central Texas. Fusulinid zones have been added although it is recognized that for field work brachiopods and other fossils may be more serviceable. Because of close agreement in the succession of floral zones of the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian rocks of eastern North and South America and Europe, fossil plants may be more useful than other types of fossils for correlation and classification purposes of these systems on a world-wide basis to which the science of geology properly aspires. Tectonic features doubtless have a longer growth than that indicated in Figure 2. In many instances the upward crustal adjustments probably proceeded concurrently with subsidence of associated basins and geosynclinal troughs. Tectonic events indicated should therefore be interpreted as representing the time of maximum activity or culmination. As discussed later, a post-Morrow Lampasas series is used as the approximate equivalent of the Kanawha (upper Pottsville) series of the standard section of the Pennsylvanian system in its type area. The Fort Worth, Arkansas, Coosa, and northern Appalachian basins were probably connected at this time, as shown by A. J. Eardley (1951, PI. 6). It is now proposed that two major divisions of the Lampasas series be classified as stages, the Atoka and Kickapoo Creek, approximating the Pottsville D and E zones of Ashley (Moore el al., 1944, pp. 681-S2). These two stages generally underwent very similar depositional development in basin and platform areas as shown by cross sections and thickness maps of central Texas. They are also closely related structurally, having been deposited following the main orogeny of the Wichita mountain system (Selk, 1951, p. 586) and preceding the folding and thrusting of the Ouachita mountain system, the most diastrophic of all tectonic features of the Mid-Continent region. Pronounced northeast-trending folds and faults involve the Lampasas series and older beds but northwest trends prevail in the overlying Strawn series, as these terms are used herein. The names Strawn, Canyon, and Cisco are retained since these have been used in this large region in Texas for more than 60 years, each name pre-dating the equivalent Des Moines, Missouri, and Virgil of the northern Mid-Continent region. The foregoing classification is used with intent of seeking agreement of the major stratigraphic divisions of central Texas with those of the standard section of the Pennsylvanian system in the northern Appalachian region and co-standard section of the northern Mid-Continent. It is recognized that usage and boundaries of such major stratigraphic divisions of this system have not become fully established; hence, adjustments of classification in central Texas may become desirable if present usage is not in agreement with that finally adopted. On the basis of past and future economic importance, the several billion barrels of oil from Pennsylvanian rocks of the Mid-Continent are trifling compared with the trillion tons of coal of the Appalachian region. The type section of this system with its alternation of plant and marine fossil zones should be given

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FIG. 3

precedence not only on the basis of priority but of utility in establishing a standard system of classification of these rocks which most North American geologists insist should be given world-wide recognition as the Pennsylvanian system. Northern Appalachian strata of this system are much like those in western Europe; hence, inter-continental correlations and international agreement in the classification of these rocks are facilitated and encouraged by giving primacy and emphasis to the type section of this system.
STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURAL I N T E R P R E T A T I O N S CAMBRIAN

Figure 3 shows the thickness of Cambrian rocks as measured in outcrops (Cloud and Barnes, 1948) of the Llano uplift and in various wells which have

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M. G. CHENEY

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F. GOSS

been drilled through all or nearly all of the Cambrian section. Strangely enough the present site of the Llano uplift must have become a geosyncline during Cambrian time when sandstones, limestones, and dolomites 1,250 1,650 feet thick were deposited in a northeast-trending seaway across this region. Distinctive insoluble residues (Cheney, 1940, p p . 71-74) confirm the widespread distribution of the uppermost San Saba limestone member. Differences of thickness shown in Figure 3 seem definitely related to differential subsidence during Cambrian lime.
ORDOYIC'JAV

EUenburger outcrops clearly outline the Llano uplift. They serve as a very useful stratigraphic reference in the subsurface over nearly all of central Texas. Measured sections (Cloud and Barnes, 1948) of EUenburger preserved in structurally low areas in Llano and Mason counties are in accord with the regional pattern as to character and thickness of these Lower Ordovician beds. Evidently no structural growth of the Llano uplift took place during Early Ordovician time. Westward loss of upper parts of the EUenburger appears uniform beneath the scattered patches of marine Devonian limestones in Blanco. Lampasas, and Mason counties; also beneath widespread overlapping Mississippian marine sediments which must have once covered the Llano region. Most of the marked loss of thickness of EUenburger westward across the Llano region is therefore accepted as evidence of pre-Devonian and pre-Mississippian uplift and erosion centering west and northwest of the present Llano uplift as shown in Figure 4. However, pre-Canyon erosion of all EUenburger in northeastern Menard County and vicinity may be attributed in part to post-Mississippian movements, particularly to uplift of the western Llano region after deposition of upper Lampasas beds. West and northwest of this area of maximum hiatus, a detrital zone of red and green shales with more or less coarse insoluble material generally separates Lampasas from EUenburger beds. The coarser detritus includes chert and other residual materials from solution of the EUenburger, and locally sand probably derived in part from the Cambrian sandstones eroded from local areas of more extreme uplift. As much as 300 feet of sandy green shale and sandstones in patterns indicative of a karst topography have been found replacing EUenburger in wells drilled in Tom Green County. As recently indicated by Adams, Frenzel, Rhodes, and Johnson (1951, Fig. 1, p. 2601) and shown by Figure 4 herein, a pronounced early omgenic trend appears to extend northward across the main north-northwest trend of the Concho arch. Near the south end of this trend, beds containing FusiiUndla of Atoka age (as determined by the Paleontological Laboratory, K. V. llollingsworth el al., Midland, Texas) occur above a detrital zone resting on EUenburger or Cambrian in areas of local folding discovered by the Shell Oil Company in southeast Sutton County. Northward the stratigraphic gap increases so that in Tom Green and Coke counties cither the "Caddo lime" or Strawn was deposited on EUenburger or older rocks except where separated by the red or green shales previously men-

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tioned. Atoka and Mississippian rocks are again present from Fisher County northward even over the Royston arch with its several hundred feet of structural relief on the Ellenburger. This more local arch extends north-northeast from Fisher across eastern Stonewall and east-central King County where it joins the northwest-trending Bateman arch as shown by C. S. Noland (1952, p. 133). Farther northwest the Ellenburger is absent below Mississippian over a considerable area (Robert Roth, 1949, PI. 1, Figs. 3-6). This condition extends northwestward in trend with the main Concho axis across several counties in the western Panhandle region of Texas according to G. L. Meholin (1952). There is some evidence that the local uplifts from Sutton County to Fisher County may represent separate en echelon developments at intersections of

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northwest- and northeast-trending lines of weakness. For example, the pronounced folds in southeast Sutton County are in line with southwest extension of the Richland Springs-Katemcy-Streeter tectonic axis, but a local northwest trend of Ellenburger truncation is noted in the several wells drilled on one of these folds (Miers-Wilson field). Presumably many additional data will be necessary before the exact time, location, and trend of these many post-Ellenburger-pre-Canyon orogenic features can be sharply delineated.
DEVONIAN', MISSISSIPPIAN, AND LOWER PENNSYLVANIAN

Recurrent, mild regional subsidence and uplift during Devonian time are indicated by the isolated outcrops of the Pillar Bluff, Stribling, Bear Springs, and Zesch limestones resting on different members of the Ellenburger in Burnet, Blanco, and Mason counties (Barnes, Cloud, and Warren, 1947). The same may apply to the more widely occurring Ives breccia, Chappel limestone, and Barnett formation of the Mississippian system. Most of the development of the early Ouachita trough or Llanoria geosyncline (Sellards, 1934, pp. 36-38) occurred between deposition of Barnett and lower Marble Falls beds. Outstanding orogenic movements during this Late Mississippian through Early Pennsylvanian time include (1) progressive uplift of Llanoria, the main source of the thick Stanley and Jackfork sediments (mostly of Springer age), (2) the two main movements of the Wichita mountain system, near the beginning and closing of Morrow time (E. L. Selk, 1951, p. 586), and (3) early movements of the Ouachita mountain system before or during deposition of the Morrowan Johns Valley shale with included massive boulders. The strata representing these three major divisions of geologic time are so thin in central Texas that they are combined in one map (Fig. 5). However, thicknesses of at least 15,000 feet would be shown if this map were extended to include the Ouachita region of southeast Oklahoma; more than 7,500 feet if extended to the Ardmore and Marathon basins. That a deep trough extended from the Ouachita area southward around the Llano region to the Marathon basin is supported by considerable stratigraphic, structural, and geophysical evidence (Miser and Sellards, 1931; Sellards, 1931; Barnes, 1948; and Nettleton, 1949, pp. 275-84). By the close of Early Pennsylvanian time older Paleozoic rocks must have become many thousand feet higher structurally in the Llano-Concho region than in the Llanoria geosyncline. The axis of this arcuate geosynclinal belt, which became the site of intense orogeny in Middle Pennsylvanian time, was probably located within 30-60 miles of the area contoured in Figure 5. The great size and variety of boulders in the Johns Valley shale from near Atoka, Oklahoma, to Boles, Arkansas, are evidence of extensive tectonic activity prior to deposition of these Morrow beds and possibly of some thrusting before deposition of thick Atoka beds. An interesting review of this challenging subject was prepared by Ff. C. Rea (1947 Guidebook, Tulsa Geological Society, pp. 47-49).

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FIG. s

These very thick, shallow-water Stanley, Jackfork, Springer, and Tesnus beds give proof that extensive subsidence occurred during Late Mississippian and Early Pennsylvanian time. Development of some compensating epeirogenic uplift and local tectonic features trending north to northwest in the Llano-Concho arch region, central to these large areas of deep subsidence, appears certain. Definite stratigraphic evidence of this is limited to thinning or absence of Chappel and Barnett locally in the Marble Falls district and generally over the Concho arch region. Abundant subsurface evidence shows that a major break occurred after deposition of the Morrowan Comyn formation (Cheney, 1940, p. 85; cross sections, Abilene and West Texas Geological Societies, 1950,1951). Lithology, thick-

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ness, and stratigraphic sequence traceable in many wells support correlation of the Comyn formation with both the Sloan and Aylor members as designated by the late F. B. Plummer in his extensive report on Carboniferous rocks of the the Llano region (1950, p p . 52-66). T h e western margin of the Comyn, shown in Figure 5, is based on contact of fusulinid-bearing Atoka beds with the Barnett formation in outcrops of McCulloch and Mason counties and in wells elsewhere. Over a large area farther west the Mississippian beds also are generally absent, presumably mainly as a result of emergence and erosion between deposition of Morrow and Lampasas beds. A pre-Atoka detrital zone, probably of subaerial origin, accumulated over a base-levelled surface in the Concho arch region west and northwest of the Llano uplift. This red and green shale may have been mistaken for Barnett in some places. I t contains a variable amount of coarse detrital material as noted in many wells from Concho to Edwards County and in the adjoining area on the west. Extensive pre-Lampasas uplift and folding must have occurred over considerable area west of the present Llano uplift.
MIDDLE PEN-YSYLVAXIAN

Progressive northwestward shifting of geosynclinal axes following Morrow time permitted accumulation of very thick sedimentary wedges in the Fort Worth and Kerr basins as shown by Figures 6 and 7. Doubtless the deeper parts of these geosynclinal developments were connected around the more positive Concho-Llano area, as indicated by recent drilling of more than 7,000 feet of unmetamorphosed, nearly horizontal Pennsylvanian shales and sandstones in Carr's Mather No. 1 of northwest Williamson County. Thickness maps reveal t h a t in the included area more than half of all regional structural differentiation of Paleozoic beds developed during the Lampasas epoch. Doubtless subsidence was the dominant factor during much of this time, b u t compressive forces evidently caused local and regional uplifts, especially near the close of Atoka and Kickapoo Creek time. Uneroded sediments of the Lampasas series show t h a t the Llano region and Concho platform underwent repeated subsidence and uplift between the Morrow and Strawn epochs. Typical Atoka beds have been preserved along the downthrown side of major northeast-trending faults in the Llano region, for example, the 900-foot Big Saline limestone and Smithwick shale section in Mason County (M. L. Thompson, 1947, p . 156). Erosion of several hundred feet of Smithwick shale before deposition of sandstones of the Kickapoo Creek stage occurred locally in the northeast part of the Llano uplift. Alignment of " C a d d o lime" front northeast and southwest of the Llano uplift, as shown in Figure 7, is accepted as evidence t h a t the Llano region was also covered by Kickapoo Creek deposits with usual east-west facies changes. T h e 5,000-6,000 feet of sediments, mostly shale and sandstone, of the L a m pasas series in the Fort Worth-Kerr basins is in sharp contrast to the few hundred

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FIG.

feet of dominantly black to gray limestones and shales of the Big Saline-Smithwick-Caddo section of the Bend axis and Concho platform. Evidently intermittent inundation of the Llano and Concho regions occurred during Atoka and Kickapoo Creek time while adjacent subsiding basins were receiving great quantities of clay, silt, sand, and some gravel deposits, derived mostly from uplifts on the north, northeast, and southeast. Some of the extensive northeast-trending folds and normal faults transverse to the main Llano axis were formed near the close of Lampasas time. This is demonstrated by wells near Regency in southwest Mills County where the typical Strawii sands and shales, Drake's No. 13, 14, and 15 beds (Drake, 1917), reveal

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only minor structural movement although the underlying section shows a difference of 1,000 feet in thickness in two wells 5 miles apart (wells 9-A and 10 of Fig. 3, Cheney, 1947; Abilene and West Texas Geological societies cross sections, 1950, 1951). The Big Valley beds (Drake's No. 12) appear to be correlative with upper "Caddo lime" where traced in subsurface from southern Mills County about 40 miles northward, thence westward into northern Brown County. The "Caddo lime"-shale transition zone shown in Figure 6 approximately coincides with the Bend axis in southern Brown and western Mills and San Saba counties. Here the Bend axis or northward extension of the Richland Springs axis developed as an arch. Shales of the "Caddo" or Kickapoo Creek stage were readily eroded from this arched area. This arching of pre-Strawn beds diminishes in intensity

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northward and changes to a flexure from central Brown County northward; hence, the use of the inclusive term "Bend axis" in this report. Many of the local structural features in and near the Llano region are in the form of block movements. Those of a negative or graben type may have resulted in large part from uneven subsidence while basins were being formed, whereas the higher blocks or horsts may have been elevated somewhat later by deepseated pressures associated with the intense Ouachita orogeny, especially near the close of Lampasas time. General erosion of Lampasas beds of the Llano region appears related to these pre-Strawn movements which doubtless included both pronounced northeasttrending folds (Richland Springs-Bend, Pontotoc, San Saba, and Lampasas axes, Cheney, 1940, pp. 105-10), and positive movements trending northwestward. Epeirogeny of the Ouachita mountain region and westward tilting of the central Texas region apparently did not begin until after Canyon time. This conclusion is based on (1) eastward thickening of Atoka to Canyon beds, (2) the eastward deepening of channels in the upper Canyon, and (3) westward thickening of Cisco and Permian beds. It appears that most of the tectonic activity preceded the extensive regional elevation of the Ouachita mountain system and westward tilting now observed in Permian and older rocks of central Texas. That orogeny is followed somewhat later by epeirogeny has been similarly interpreted for other overthrust mountain systems. Figure 8 indicates that during Strawn time a trend of moderate arching developed from Edwards County through the western part of the Llano uplift northward across McCulloch and Coleman counties, with axis paralleling the Bend axis but located about 30 miles farther west. This more western axis is in trend with a structural feature in Edwards County which Sellards (1934, pp. 87-88) referred to as the Edwards arch or nose. The presence of the red detrital zone belowT the Big Saline formation and loss of younger Lampasas beds on the west side of a fault or fracture zone in Edwards County indicate progressive development of this structural axis. The abrupt thickening of Strawn beds over the Bend axis in south-central Brown County, as shown in Figure 8, seems best explained as sandstones and shales of middle Strawn age deposited along a subsiding "Caddo lime" front after erosion had removed 300-400 feet of shaly section of the transitional "Caddo" lime-shale belt, as previously discussed. The southeast margin of this "Caddo" limestone of the Kickapoo Creek stage, shown in wells of Young, Stephens, Eastland, Brown, McCulloch, Kimble, and Sutton counties, may be accepted as marking the eastern and southern limits of the Concho platform, a large region which was favorable to biostromal and biohermal developments because of (1) remoteness from sources of excessive amounts of muds and sands and (2) probable shallowness of water during Atoka, Kickapoo, Creek, and Strawn time when initial/eef building took place. As shown

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in cross sections by J. E. Adams and others (Adams et al., 1951, Fig. 3) the western margin of thick Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian limestones (conversely the eastern margin of the black shales of the "starved Pennsylvanian Midland basin") trends northward through central Schleicher County. This transitional belt forms a similar, though in part younger, lithologic western boundary of the Concho platform, a term introduced b y these authors in their very stimulating discussion of regional sedimentary and structural conditions from west-central Texas westward. Each of the three divisions of the Middle Pennsylvanian presents special problems of correlation and classification. This is not surprising when one considers that the extensive geosynclines developing in various parts of the earth dur-

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53

ing this time received sediments as much as 15,000 feet thick while nearby some areas remained relatively stable at or near sea-level and others underwent folding and thrusting to a degree rarely exceeded in the earth's history. The resulting rapid lateral changes of environment and structural conditions are well recorded by more or less abrupt changes of thickness and character of sediment and their fossil content. Consideration of all types of paleontologic, stratigraphic, and structural evidence is deemed essential to establishment of correct correlations of the resultant complex stratigraphy and of a satisfactory classification thereof. One criterion for establishing the classification of a rock sequence is the degree of usefulness to a maximum number of geologists, including those engaged in economic and field work as well as specialists in some particular branch of geology. Past usage and priority should of course be given due consideration. Brief discussion of the classification, correlation, and stratigraphy of the complex Middle Pennsylvanian divisions is included both for clarification and with hopes of earlier solution of some of the problems involved.
ATOKA STAGE

Classification and correlation.As used herein the Atoka stage is meant to be identical with the Atoka series proposed by R. C. Spivey and T. 0. Roberts (1946). Little if any comment has been made concerning correlation and classification problems involved by use of Atoka in time-stratigraphic sense instead of merely a rock unit without special regard to time relationships. Apparently the term Atoka stage or series should not include the upper part of the 5,000-9,000 feet of sparsely fossiliferous shales and sandstones traditionally included in the type Atoka formation. Hendricks, Gardner, and Knechtel (1947) have stated: "The lower part [of the Atoka formation] is equivalent to the Pottsville of Pennsylvania and the upper part to the Allegheny" (presumably classifying Mercer as Pottsville, Clarion as Allegheny). M. L. Thompson (1936) reports that "Fusulinella iowensis Thompson occurs in the lower Mercer and upper Mercer limestones, and F. iowensis var. stouti, n. var., occurs in the Boggs, lower Mercer, and upper Mercer limestones, all of the Pottsville Series." These are the "advance type" of Fusulinella, which fusulinid specialists generally place in the lower part of the Ues Moines (or Strawn) series. Thus, some geologists classify Mercer beds as younger than Atoka, whereas others correlate post-Mercer beds with the upper Atoka. It appears that a higher position is needed for the AtokaDes Moines boundary or that the name Atoka should be restricted to beds of preMercer age. The latter procedure would of course call for a new name for Atoka beds of Mercer age and younger. Hendricks el al. base their interregional correlations mainly on fossil plant studies by David White and Chas. B. Read. The latter has stated his belief that beds from Hartshorne up to at least lower Boggy are "basal Allegheny [Clarion] age" (Hendricks and Read, 1934, footnote, p. 1056); also that the Clarion flora is more closely related to the Pottsville than to the Allegheny (Cheney, 1945, p. 147). Thus he agrees with George H. Ashley

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(Moore el al., 1944) that the Clarion as well as Mercer beds should be included in the Kanawha division of the Pottsville. Ashley's recommendation was based on nearly 50 years study of the Pennsylvanian rocks of the Eastern Interior and northern Appalachian coal basins. One of his earliest reports (1898) was 1,573 pages on "The Coal Fields of Indiana," and one of his latest (1945) was on this question of proper placement of the top boundary of the Pottsville. Reconciliation of these interregional classification difficulties may be achieved by recognizing a Lampasas series equivalent to a standard Kanawha (upper Pottsville) series which includes Mercer and Clarion beds as advocated by Ashley; also of a Strawn (Des Moines) series equivalent to a standard Allegheny series of the type area of the Pennsylvanian system. In central Texas such a Lampasas series would be divisible into an Atoka stage comprising the Big Saline and Smithwick formations (including lower "Caddo lime"), and a Kickapoo Creek stage of the middle and upper "Caddo lime" and equivalents. Cross sections and thickness maps clearly indicate that the "Caddo lime" of central Texas is lithologically and structurally more related to the Smithwick and Big Saline than to the Strawn. Although doubtless less satisfactory to fusulinid specialists, the fusulinid zones of Spivey and Roberts (1946) may be adapted, as shown in Figure 2, to such a classification, thereby permitting continuance of a logical practice begun at least 35 years ago of classifying the "Caddo lime" and related beds with earlier rather than later sediments as was done in all early papers including those by Wallace E. Pratt (1919), F. B. Plummer and R. C. Moore (1921), Marcus I. Goldman (1921), and Frank Reeves (1922). A Lampasas series thus defined would be in close agreement with the Tradewater of Illinois and Kanawha of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania as used during the past half century. Faunal evidence supports the correlation of Mercer and Clarion beds with Tradewater of Illinois, the upper Atoka to lower Boggy beds of Oklahoma, and the middle and upper "Caddo lime" (including Kickapoo Falls limestone of the outcrop section) in Texas (Weller, Henbest, and Dunbar, 1942; Moore el al., 1944). These correlations are in general agreement with paleobotanical evidence where available. Stratigraphy and structure.A basal conglomerate or sandstone is commonly found in wells of central Texas below limestones bearing Atoka type fusulinids and above fossiliferous limestones and shales in which these spindle-shaped fusulinids are absent. The conglomeratic character of this bed has been noted especially in San Saba and Coleman counties, apparently at the stratigraphic position of the Gibbons conglomerate in its type area (Plummer, 1950, p. 61). Earliest use of the names Brister and Aylor did not include the word "Bluff" (Plummer, 1947, p. 142). From Richland Springs westward this conglomerate where present commonly rests on the Burnett formation or older rocks. The McClesky pay sand of the Ranger oil field occurs in the lower part of the Big Saline formation, probably at the position of the Gibbons conglomerate. A

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number of somewhat younger sandstone lenses of the Big Saline and lower Smithwick occur in and near Eastland County as in the Desdemona oil field, and the Lake sand fields in northwest Eastland County and vicinity. In the northern part of the Fort Worth basin, lower Atoka conglomerates contain arkoses evidently derived from the Electra and Muenster arches. Farther north the Bostwick conglomerate (C. W. Tomlinson, 1928) is made up of large limestone boulders obviously derived from the Criner Hills uplift. This strong tectonic activity near the beginning of Atoka time in the Mid-Continent region was designated the upper phase of the Wichita orogeny by van der Gracht
(1931, p . 1004).

Unconformities within the Atoka formation have been reported in Oklahoma by Hendricks (Cheney, 1945, p. 156), also in central Texas between beds correlated as Smithwick and Big Saline (Cheney, 1940, p. 82). Several hundred feet of upper Atoka beds present in the Fort Worth and Kerr basins are absent over the Bend and Concho arches according to R. C. Spivey and T. G. Roberts (1946, pp. 184-85). The Atoka section in much of central Texas is a foreland or platform facies with a much better array of marine fossils than in its type locality. Outcrops in the Llano region show lithologic changes indicative of basinal developments toward the east, the Big Saline limestone becoming mostly shale and the Smithwick shale including more sandy and conglomeratic beds in that direction. Similar changes in the subsurface north of the Llano region form important stratigraphic traps for oil and gas accumulation in some areas.
KICKAPOO CREEK STAGE

Classification and correlation.A Kickapoo Creek group was proposed (Cheney, 1947, p. 209) for the section between the Bend group and Millsap Lake group (restricted). Division of this group into three formational units was suggested on the same lithologic basis as used for designation of formations in the Pennsylvanian outcrops of this region. In ascending order these formations were called Caddo Pool, Parks, and Rayville, each exhibiting cyclic development characterized in the lower part by shales with more or less thick sandstones and in the upper part by resistant limestones. The Kickapoo Creek stage as used herein is thought to be equivalent to the term "lower Strawn" as used by some geologists on the basis of fusulinid zoning. The boundary between upper and lower Strawn in such usage has remained somewhat indefinite in the literature as to its position in the outcrop section of central Texas. Decision as to whether the Fnsulina found is of the early or late type may be difficult in some cases, being subject in some degree to individual opinion of the fusulinid specialist. This applies with equal force as to whether a particular Fusulinella is sufficiently advanced to be considered Strawn (Des Moines) rather than Atoka type, thereby adding uncertainty to the position of Atoka-lower Strawn boundary.

2256

M. G. CHENEY

AND

LOUIS

F.

GOSS

As used herein, Kickapoo Creek stage is intended to include the post-Smithwick " C a d d o lime" of the Bend axis-Concho platform region and equivalent and related beds of the geosynclinal areas. Fusulinids in cores from the uppermost p a r t of the " C a d d o lime" in wells in Coleman County, Texas, have been identified by Lloyd G. Henbest (1943) and Carl 0 . D u n b a r (1945) as Fusulina leei, F. novamexicana, W edekindellina euthysepta, W. ellipsoides, W. excentrica, thereby showing probable equivalency with Kickapoo Falls and possibly Dennis Bridge limestones of the Brazos River Valley section. Certain of these species offer a basis for correlation with Savanna and lower Boggy of eastern Oklahoma, and the Curlew and Stonefort limestones of the Tradewater of Illinois. These Illinois beds are correlated with the Clarion formation of the northern Appalachian section on the basis of fusulinids and brachiopods ( D u n b a r and Henbest, 1942; Weller, Henbest, and D u n b a r , 1942). As previously discussed, Ashley and Read have advocated placing the Pottsville-Allegheny boundary between the Clarion and Kittanning formations. Certain changes in brachiopods, including initial appearance of smooth type Mesolobus and extinction of striated forms, occur at or very near the base of the Kittanning according to M . T . Sturgeon (1943). Mesolobus slriaius and other Pottsville type brachiopods are found at least as high as the lower Boggy near Porum, Oklahoma (Wilson and Newell, 1937, p. 53). The most appropriate position for the boundary between transitional beds of the K a n a w h a and Allegheny and corresponding Lampasas-Strawn series is of course subject to adjustment as fossil, stratigraphic, and structural information is expanded and refined. Three distinct facies are present in the Kickapoo Creek stage in central Texas as follows: (1) limestone with some black and gray shale and thin local sandstones of the Bend axis-Concho platform area; (2) shales with thick lenticular mostly dense sandstones and variable limestone members in the Fort Worth basin; and (3) shales and sandstones rarely containing limestones or conglomerates near the Llano uplift. T h a t the Ouachita orogeny extended southwestward into Texas not far east of the present Llano uplift is evidenced by steeply dipping Smithwick and Marble Falls beds in the Spicewood area as reported by Virgil E. Barnes (1948). Dips up to 70 0 as well as increasing metamorphism on the east are reported in his informative paper. In Atoka County, Oklahoma, the Hartshorne and McAlester as well as Atoka beds show essentially vertical dips just west of the Choctaw fault (Hendricks el al., 1947). In the McAlester district Boggy, Savanna, and McAlester beds are involved in northeast-trending folds paralleling the Ouachita Mountains, with dips up to 90 0 as mapped by T. A. Hendricks (1937)- Northeast-trending faults with vertical displacement of 600 feet or more are common in Boggy and older beds in the Muskogee district (Wilson and Newell, 1938, pp. 76-82). Beds younger than Boggy in Oklahoma or than Kickapoo Creek stage in central Texas show much less folding and faulting, commonly in a different direction. Stratigraphy and structure.Based on many years of research work, L. E .

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Fitts, Jr. (1950, p p . 39-40) has stated t h a t major unconformities exist at the lower and upper boundaries of the Boggy formation in northeastern Oklahoma. This is illustrated by his strike section from southwest Muskogee County to northwest Mayes County, located far enough west that Boggy beds below the Bluejacket sandstone are apparently absent. Fitts has expressed the following conclusions.
The unconformity at the base of the Boggy formation is the largest within the Pennsylvanian of Oklahoma and is probably the most widespread. Along the line of outcrop, it is progressively underlain by Pennsylvanian beds from Savanna to Atoka, locally in the Tri-State area upon Mississippian and in western areas of Oklahoma all formations down to granite. The top of the Boggy is marked by another unconformity, this one of more importance locally and to the Westward in the Seminole region. The section of beds above this unconformity is generally devoid of any angular discordance and for the first time can be seen a relationship which will persist through the rest of the Pennsylvanian and lower Permian; i.e., predominantly limestone in the North grading to shales and elastics in the Central to coarser elastics and red beds as the Arbuckle Mountains are approached.

This statement regarding structural changes at the top of the Boggy formation in the Seminole area is supported by W. I. Ingham (1941, p. 425), who reports,
In general, beds younger than the Boggy formation dip northwest across the Hunton arch, while the regional dip of the lower beds is northwest, north, northeast, or east, according to the position on the Hunton arch.
STRAWN

Classification and correlation.Difficulties concerning satisfactory placement of the lower boundary of the Strawn series are the result of several causes. Inclusion of the Kickapoo Creek stage in the Strawn is supported by probable first appearance of the genera Fusidina and Wedekindellina, by the lithologic contrast and unconformity between outcropping Smithwick and overlying beds, and by correlations with the Des Moines series which during the past 15 years has become generally restricted to a post-Atoka section. On the other hand, classification of the Kickapoo Creek stage as upper Lampasas has been based on close lithologic and structural relationships of middle and upper "Caddo lime" with underlying beds over most of central Texas, pronounced contrast of structural developments to overlying beds, and reluctance to discard earlier usage which is in agreement with long established classification in the Eastern Interior and northern Appalachian coal basins. Recent tendency toward a still higher boundary between Pottsville-Allegheny rocks in the latter region, the type area of the Pennsylvanian system, is considered important. A balancing of all types of paleontologic evidence seems to favor the inclusion of Kickapoo Creek stage in the Lampasas (Kanawha) series. Such practice is thought to be advantageous for intracontinental and intercontinental correlation and classification purposes. There now appears to be general agreement t h a t the top of Strawn boundary should be placed at the base of Lake Pinto sandstone of the Brazos River section and base of Brownwood shale in the Colorado River area. Stratigraphy and structure.Highly folded, faulted, and much truncated

2258

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older beds are widely overlapped by beds of Strawn age (post-Kickapoo Creek) not only in central Texas and eastern Oklahoma, as previously discussed, but notably in southern Oklahoma. The Deese of that highly folded region is correlative with the Strawn series as used herein, excepting possibly beds below the Devils Kitchen conglomerate. The following quotation is from R. M. Swesnik
(1950, p . 412). The full magnitude of pre-Deese orogenies may now be realized: the truncation of approximately 15,000 feet of pre-Deese sediments and the onlap of 3,500 feet of Deese, a total convergence of 18,500 feet.

Major changes which came with the close of Lampasas epoch include not only floral and faunal changes and a decline of major tectonic activity but an impressive amount of chert gravels noteworthy because of their great variety and quantity, commonly ascribed to a southeastern source on the basis of identity, depositional characteristics, and distribution. Quantitative and qualitative requirements for this influx are fulfilled by the pre-Pennsylvanian chert-bearing section, 1,500 feet thick, of the Ouachita-Llanoria trough. The conclusion seems inescapable from this and the structural evidence cited that tectonic corrugation of the Ouachita trough was well advanced by early Strawn time, thick sediments overlying Mississippian, Devonian, and Ordovician chert beds having been eroded from large areas of uplift and thrusting. Tectonic events of this magnitude must have had very great influence on all other geological developments over a very large area. Southward loss of Strawn beds toward the Llano uplift needs further study. It seems certain that progressive thinning of individual units is augmented by loss of basal and upper members. Channelling of upper Strawn beds becomes more common near the Colorado River. Truncation of uppermost Strawn beds becomes more apparent in northeast McCulloch County beginning a few miles south of the Colorado River. Probably several rather than one sedimentary wedge will be recognized by careful stratigraphic studies of this series. Figure 8 shows some westward migration of axis of subsidence and the development of two main trends of minimum deposition, one a broad area of thinning northwestward from the Llano uplift, the other a transverse trend extending from Edwards to Coleman County, as previously mentioned. The hiatus between Strawn and Canyon series, although not showing much angular unconformity, is well recognized and widespread, and generally distinguishable by a marked paleontological change, such as the extinction of Fusulina, Prismopora, and Mesolobns.
LATE PENN'SYLVAMAN TO CENOZOIC

Major structural changes in central Texas after the Strawn epoch were limited to epeirogenic tilting toward the west during Cisco, Permian, and probably Triassic time. A reversal of direction of tilting and drainage evidently began by Jurassic time. Total effect of eastward tilting in central Texas was apparently

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less than 10 feet per mile in the area northwest of the Llano region, about 20 feet per mile east-southeast and south thereof, to the Balcones fault zone (Cheney, 1929, p. 584). The lower part of the Canyon series loses thickness by thinning and onlap as the Llano uplift is approached. However, this uplift appears to have had no appreciable effect on deposition or folding through the remainder of Canyon, Cisco, and Permian time. An exception to this may be the thinning of lower Cisco beds. However, loss of thickness of lower Cisco beds is quite as evident eastward from Archer through Jack to Wise County as in the area near the Llano uplift; hence, the interpretation favored herein is that epeirogenic movement of the Ouachita Mountains is the cause of this thinning of the lower Cisco. Withdrawal of the sea and development of deep channels in upper Canyon and Cisco beds is presumably related to epeirogenic rise of the Ouachita Mountains rather than influence from the Arbuckle or Marathon orogenies of early and late Cisco time. Progressive growth of local structural features in central Texas may be attributed in part to these major tectonic developments in southern Oklahoma and Trans-Pecos Texas; also in part to later crustal adjustments. Draping over local reef masses has been demonstrated as an effective cause of adjustment in overlying beds of Late Pennsylvanian and Permian age, as illustrated by a number of papers included in structural symposiums published by the Abilene Geological Society, G. H. Brodie, chairman (1949, 1950). The Llano uplift gained some additional prominence in a very broad regional way during Mesozoic and Cenozoic time, principally by stability, while the Rio Grande, Gulf Coast, and East Texas areas were subsiding extensively. Continental elevation during the Cenozoic has brought removal of relatively thin Mesozoic rocks and thereby exhumed rocks ranging from pre-Cambrian to Pennsylvanian age which had been overlapped by Comanche limestones and shales in the Llano region. Periodic accentuation of the Concho-Llano-San Marcos structural axis may be attributed to the presence of a relatively buoyant or stable region in the earth's crust. However, recurrent negative movements of this region leave this theory in doubt. Excessive deltaic loading, particularly of Lower Pennsylvanian sediments in the Ouachita and Marathon geosynclines, and subsequently by Middle Pennsylvanian sediments in the Fort Worth and Kerr basins, may have been the major cause of broad compensating northwest-trending arching of this intervening region. Those who question the existence or effectiveness of isostatic tendencies in the crust usually omit consideration of half of the equation, namely, the effect of unloading which by itself is certain to attract subcrustal movement from beneath the area of loading. Slow processes of this type may have exerted major influence in causing the lateral shifting of the associated (yoked) uplifts and subsidences noted in the Pennsylvanian history of central Texas and elsewhere. It seems logical to believe that major tectonic adjustments may be caused either by

FIG.

FIG. IO

2262

M. G. CHENEY

AND LOUIS F. GOSS

convection and other internal forces or by the shifting of tremendous volumes of rock at the earth's surface, a process which must continue unceasingly as long as the earth has an atmosphere and topographic relief. Presumably both types of forces, internal and external, contribute in varying degree to produce the tremendous changes which have occurred and are occurring here and there in the earth's crust.
STRUCTURAL MAPS

The present sea-level position of the pre-Cambrian surface and the location of principal tectonic features of central Texas are shown in Figure 9. Growth of these main structural features have been discussed under prior headings. The thickness maps reveal the time, place, and amount of successive structural changes from Cambrian through Middle Pennsylvanian, after which regional structural changes have been essentially limited to epeirogenic tilting movements. Tilting has brought prominence to the Llano uplift, Bend axis, and Concho platform. Subsidence beneath the Midland basin has all but obscured the earlier dominant feature, the Concho arch. The heavy contour lines in Figure 10 give the depth to the pre-Cambrian surface as of late Canyon time. It is assumed that the Winchell limestone was deposited horizontally in a fairly shallow sea; hence, that the thickness of rocks from the top of Winchell limestone to the base of the Cambrian closely represents the sub-sea level position of the pre-Cambrian surface when the Winchell limestone was being deposited. The lighter contour lines from minus 3,000 to plus 1,000 feet are mainly derived from the cross sections mentioned in the introduction. The observed rate of dip is projected eastward, beginning with the plus 2,000-foot contour, across an area about equal to that where definite control exists. The conjectural data are thought to represent minimum figures, but their accuracy is of minor importance compared with the factual data which show the dominant structural position attained by the Concho arch prior to burial beneath Upper Pennsylvanian rocks and before regional tilting.
RESUME

Based on data now available, the main tectonic features of central Texas are interpreted as follows. 1. The Llano uplift is the uptilted southeast part of a very extensive structural axis, the Concho arch. This arch extended northwest to the present Texas Panhandle region, but it has lost prominence as a result of subsidence beneath the Permian basin. A southeastward extension during part of Paleozoic time is indicated by the development of the post-Paleozoic San Marcos arch. 2. The major trend of the Concho arch parallels pre-Cambrian orogenic trends of the central and eastern Llano region. Periodic upwarping along this northwest trend after Early Ordovician and prior to Late Pennsylvanian time is recorded by several extensive erosion surfaces covered by marine overlaps. Dur-

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ing this interval large areas northeast, southeast, and southwest of the ConchoLlano axis received sediments having maximum thickness of not less than 8,000 feet, about 6,000 feet during the Lampasas epoch alone. The stratigraphic record shows that by Canyon time the Cambrian rocks must have been at least 10,000 feet higher in the western Llano region than beneath the deeper part of the Fort Worth basin. The southwest flank toward and beneath the Kerr basin may have been equally pronounced. 3. The intersecting northeast-southwest trending structural features are aligned with major pre-Cambrian orogeny of the western Llano region. These pronounced discordant features evidently record the diastrophic effects of encroaching northeast-trending troughs and basins, which had their main development during Springer and Lampasas time. The pronounced, northeast-trending horsts of the Llano region appear to have been developed mainly at the close of Kickapoo Creek ("Caddo lime-upper Lampasas") time, parallel with the Ouachita orogeny which intensely folded the equivalent Boggy (Clarion-Kanawha-upper Pottsville) and older beds in Oklahoma and Arkansas. 4. Uplift and truncation were most pronounced near the northwest part of the present Llano uplift where the Concho axis intersects northeast arching of Middle Pennsylvanian time. In this area erosion was sufficiently great to permit deposition of Canyon on Cambrian. Somewhat farther west, Middle Pennsylvanian rocks were deposited on Ordovician or older rocks over a broad area in which pronounced local uplifts occur along a north-south trend. These north- to northwest-trending axes doubtless became accentuated by intermittent positive movements which were especially active near the close of Springer, Morrow, Atoka, and Kickapoo Creek time when compressive forces were building other major northwest-trending uplifts in the Mid-Continent region. 5. Epeirogenic uplifting of the Ouachita tectonic belt is first indicated by the westward thickening of lower Cisco beds. Progressive upward movement during the Permian and possibly Triassic time led to extensive truncation of tilted Cisco, Canyon, and Strawn deposits in the Fort Worth and Kerr basin areas. This regional elevation was sufficient to permit general erosion of all Paleozoic rocks from much of the intervening arched Llano region. 6. Relatively thin Pennsylvanian beds covered by very thick Permian deposits attest extensive subsidence of the Midland basin, mainly during Permian time. Prior to westward tilting incident to this development, the Llano uplift had no well defined western flank. Thus the present domal aspect of the Llano uplift was not appreciably developed until Late Pennsylvanian and Permian time.
REFERENCES

ABILENE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Cross Sections, West-Central Texas, and 1949 Field Trip, November
2-4, 1949.

, 1950 Field Trip Guide Book Cross Sections, Interregional Geological Studies, November 2-4, , Structure Stud)' Group Symposium, 1949, G. H. Brodie, chairman.

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, Geological Contributions, 1950, G. H. Brodie, chairman.

ADAMS, J. E.; FRENZEL, H. N.; RHODES, M. L.; AND JOHNSON, D. P., 1951, "Starved Pennsylvanian

Midland Basin," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 35, pp. 2600-07. ASHLEY, G. H., 1898, "The Coal Deposits of Indiana," Indiana Dept. Geol. and Nat. Res. 23d Rept., PP- I-I573, 1945, "The Pittsburgh-Pottsville Boundary," Jour. Geol., Vol. 53, pp. 374-S9. BARNES, V. E.; CLOUD, P. E., Jr.; AND WARREN, L. E., 1947, "Devonian Rocks of Central Texas," Bull. Geol. Soc. America, Vol. 58, pp. 125-40. BARNES, V. E., 1948, "Ouachita Fades in Central Texas," Univ. Texas Bur. Econ. Geol. Rept. hives. 2. 12 PPCHENEY, M. G., 1929, "History of the Carboniferous Sediments of the Mid-Continent Oil Field," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 13, pp. 557-94. , 1940, "Geology of North-Central Texas," ibid., Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 65-118. CHENEY, M. G., ET AL., 1945, "Classification of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Rocks of North America," ibid., Vol. 29, pp. 125-69. CHENEY, M. G., 1947, "Pennsylvanian Classification and Correlation Problems in North-Central Texas," Jour. Geol., Vol. 55, No. 3, pp. 202-19.
CLOUD, P. E., J R . ; BARNES, V. E.; AND BRIDGE, JOSIAH, 1945, "Stratigraphy of the Ellenburger

Group in Central Texas," Univ. Tex. Pub. 4301, pp. 133-61. CLOUD, P. E., JR., AND BARNES, V. E., 1948, "The Ellenburger Group of Central Texas," ibid., Pub. 4621. 473 pp. DRAKE, N. F., 1917, "Colorado Coal Field of Texas," ibid., Bull. 1755. DUNBAR, C. 0., 1945, personal communication. DUNBAR, C. 0., and HENBEST, L. G., 1942, "Pennsylvanian Fusulinidae of Illinois," with a section on stratigraphy, Illinois Geol. Survey Bull. 67, pp. 1-218. EARDLEY, A. J., 1951, Structural Geology of North America. Harper and Brothers. FITTS, L. E., JR., 1950, Abilene Geol. Soc. ipso Field Trip Guide Book, pp. 39-40. GOLDMAN, M. I., 1921, "Lithologic Subsurface Correlations in the 'Bend Series' of North Central Texas," U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper I2g, pp. 1-22. HENBEST, L. G., 1943, personal communication. HENDRICKS, T. A., AND READ, C. B., 1934, "Correlations of Pennsylvanian Strata in Arkansas and Oklahoma Coal Fields," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. iS, pp. 1050-58. HENDRICKS, T. A., 1937, "Geology and Fuel Resources of the Southern Part of the Oklahoma Coal Fields," U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 874-A. 90 pp.
HENDRICKS, T. A.; GARDNER, L. S.; AND KNECHTEL, M. M., 1947, "Geology of the Western Part of

the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma," ibid., Prelim. Map 66. INGHAM, W. I., 1941, "Dora Oil Pool, Seminole County, Oklahoma," Stratigraphic Type Oil Fields, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., pp. 408-35. MEIIOLIN, G. L., 1952, Geology of the Palo Duro Basin, manuscript. MISER, H. D., AND SELLARDS, E. H., 1931, "Pre-Cretaceous Rocks Found in Wells in Gulf Coastal Plain South of Ouachita Mountains," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 15, pp. 801-18. MOORE, R. C , ET AL., 1944, "Correlation of Pennsylvanian Formations of North America," Bull. Geol. Soc. America, Vol. 55, p. 682. MOORE, R. C , AND JEFFORDS, R. M., 1945, "Description of the Lower Pennsylvanian Corals from Texas and Adjacent States," Univ. Tex. Pub. 4401, pp. 63-208. NETTLETON, L. L., 1949, "Geophysics, Geology and Oil Finding," Geophysics, Vol. 14, pp. 273-89. NOLAND, C. S., 1952, "Oil Development in Stonewall County, Texas," Oil and Gas Jour., Vol. 50, pp. 133-35PLUMMER, F. B., AND MOORE, R. C , 1921, "Stratigraphy of the Pennsylvanian Formations of North Central Texas," Univ. Tex. Bull. 2132. 237 pp. PLUMMER, F . B., 1947, "Lower Pennsylvanian Strata of the Llano Region," Jour. Paleon., Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 142-46. , 1950, "The Carboniferous Rocks of the Llano Region of Central Texas," Univ. Tex. Pub. 4329. 170 pp. PRATT, W. E., 1919, "Geologic Structure and Producing Areas in North Texas Petroleum Fields," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 3, pp. 44-70. REEVES, FRANK, 1922, "Geology of the Ranger Oil Field, Texas," U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 736, pp.
111-70.

ROTH, ROBERT, 1949, "Paleogeology of the Panhandle of Texas," Bull. Geol. Soc. America, Vol. 60, pp. 1671-88. SELK, E. L., 1951, "Types of Oil and Gas Traps in Southern Oklahoma," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 35, pp. 582-606. SELLARDS, E. H., 1931, "Rocks Underlying Cretaceous in Balcones Fault Zone of Central Texas," ibid., Vol. 15, pp. 819-27.

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, 1934, "Structural Geology of Texas East of Pecos River," Univ. Tex. Pub. 3401, Vol. II, pp. "-I33SPIVEY, R. C , AND ROBERTS, T. G., 1946, "Lower Pennsylvanian Terminology in Central Texas," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 30, pp. 181-86. STURGEON, M. T., 1943, "Contributions to the Stratigraphy of the Allegheny Series in Columbiana and Mahoning Counties, Ohio," Ohio Jour. Sci., Vol. 43, pp. 235-49. SWESNIK, R. M., 1950, "Golden Trend of South-Central Oklahoma," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol.. Vol. 34, pp. 386-422. THOMPSON, M. L., 1936, "Pennsylvanian Fusulinids from Ohio," Jour. Paleon., Vol. 10, pp. 673-83. , 1947, "Stratigraphy and Fusulinids of Pre-Desmoinesean Pennsylvanian Rocks, Llano Uplift, ' Texas," ibid., Vol. 21, pp. 147-64. TOMLINSON, C. VV., 1928, "Oil and Gas Geology of Carter County," Oklahoma Geol. Survey Bull. 40-Z. 78 pp. TULSA GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1947, Field Conference in the Western Part of the Ouachita Mountains in Oklahoma. VAN DER GRACHT, W. A. J. M. VAN VV., 1931, "Permo-Carboniferous Orogeny in South-Central United States," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 15, pp. 991-1057.
WELLER, J. M.; HENBEST, L. G.; AND DUNBAR, C. 0., 1942, "Pennsylvanian Fusulinidae of Illinois,"

Illinois Geol. Survey Bull. 67, pp. 9-34. WEST TEXAS GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1951, Guide Book ig$i Spring Field Trip, June 1-2, 1951. WILSON, C. VV., AND NEWELL, N. D., 1937, "Geology of the Muskogee-Porum District, Muskogee and Mcintosh Counties, Oklahoma," with a chapter on Carboniferous stratigraphy, Oklahoma Geol. Survey Bull. 57. 184 pp.