DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND FACIES ANALYSES OF THE OWL MOUNTAIN PROVINCE, FORT HOOD MILITARY INSTALLATION, BELL AND CORYELL COUNTIES, TEXAS

<p>The Owl Mountain Province is a plateaued, karst landscape located in the eastern section of the Fort Hood Military Installation and is characterized by Lower Cretaceous Fredericksburg Group carbonates. The topography is capped by thick sequences of the Edwards limestone; steep scarps and incised valleys along the edges of the plateaus host inter-fingering outcrops of the Edwards and Comanche Peak limestones, and the lower valleys are covered by alluvial sediments and intermittent outcrops of the Walnut Clay. These formations were deposited to the north and west of the main Edwards trend, and are thought to be part of a series of complex carbonate mounds that developed as backreef deposits in a restricted environment on the Comanche Shelf, associated with the western flank of the Belton High. </p> <p>The purpose of this study is to describe the microfacies within the Fredericksburg Group and characterize the depositional environment of the study area. Field observations and laboratory analyses were used to investigate the microfacies in greater detail to provide evidence relating to the compositional makeup and diagenetic processes of the Lower Cretaceous strata. Sixteen lithostratigraphic sections were measured in the Comanche Peak and Edwards formations, identifying microfacies through field descriptions based on allochems, matrix, bioturbation, bedding style, and other distinct features. After thin section analyses, 11 microfacies were identified, characterized, and used to create a diagenetic model to provide an accurate depiction of the Lower Cretaceous middle shelf depositional environment of the Owl Mountain Province. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science - Geology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geology

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Meinerts, Jacob

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Melinda S. Faulkner
• Dr. Kevin W. Stafford
• Dr. LaRell Nielson

• Carbonates
• Edwards
• Microfacies
• Depositional Environments
• Texas
• Geology
• Geomorphology
• Hydrology
• Sedimentology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/222

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1237