Subsurface Analysis of Mississippian Tripolitic Chert in Northwest Arkansas

<p>Over the past 70 years the Mississippian strata of Northwest Arkansas have been studied in great detail. The study area is located on the escarpment between the Boston Mountains Plateau and the Springfield Plateau where a surface occurrence of Mississippian age rock allows for access to outcrops in close proximity to gas wells that encounter subsurface Mississippian strata. Many outcrops found in Northwest Arkansas expose Lower Mississippian (Kinderhookian-Osagean) strata that represent a full third order transgressive/regressive sequence that is unconformity bounded. These Mississippian outcrops are commonly treated as surface analogs to the Mississippi Lime Play in North Central Oklahoma. This thesis focuses on the analysis of Boone tripolitic chert in the subsurface utilizing wireline data available from selected gas wells within the study area. The primary goal of this project is to determine and quantify the subsurface stratigraphic position of tripolitic chert from wells that cut a complete section of the Boone Formation. 24 of the 27 (89%) wells within the study with bulk density logs penetrated a substantial section of the Boone Formation and confirmed the presence of tripolite through a density value less than 2.1 g/cc. </p> <p>Analysis of wireline data from selected wells is used to characterize the Mississippian system with a specific focus on the distribution of tripolitic chert. Correlation of Mississippian gas production to tripolitic chert occurrence along with the correlation of subsurface data with outcrop data are secondary objectives. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Geology (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Liner, Thomas Jason

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Liner, Christopher L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Potra, Adriana
• Moyer, Christopher

• Boone Formation
• Geology
• Mississippian Limestone
• Northwest Arkansas
• Tripolitic Chert
• Sedimentology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2968

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uark.edu:etd-4524