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| Bartlesville Sandstone | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bartlesville Sandstone |
| Type | Formation |
| Age | Lower Pennsylvanian (Morrowan) |
| Period | Pennsylvanian |
| Region | Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri |
| Country | United States |
| Unitof | Greenwood Group (local usage) |
| Underlies | Skinner Sandstone, Holdenville Formation (local equivalents) |
| Overlies | Mississippian limestones, Cherokee Group (locally variable) |
| Thickness | 10–200 ft (3–61 m) |
Bartlesville Sandstone The Bartlesville Sandstone is a Pennsylvanian-age sedimentary unit recognized in northeastern Oklahoma and adjacent parts of southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri. It is a predominantly sandstone-dominated formation that has been the focus of regional stratigraphic correlation, petroleum exploration, and paleontological study involving multiple state geological surveys and university research programs. The unit has been integrated into local hydrocarbon plays and ground-water investigations involving state and federal agencies.
The Bartlesville unit is characterized by medium- to coarse-grained quartzose sandstone interbedded with siltstone, shale, and localized conglomerate lenses, commonly exhibiting cross-bedding, trough sets, and planar lamination described by field studies from the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Kansas Geological Survey, and Missouri Geological Survey. Petrographic analyses by researchers at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and University of Kansas emphasize a framework of monocrystalline quartz, feldspar fragments, and lithic grains with variable cementation by calcite and silica noted in cores held by the U.S. Geological Survey. Detrital modes resemble sediments reported in contemporaneous units such as the Cherokee Group and correlate compositionally with sandstones in the Ardmore Basin and Wichita Uplift margins. Grain-size distribution and sorts reported in publications from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists indicate high porosity in certain intervals, with diagenetic overprint reducing permeability where calcite cementation is extensive.
The Bartlesville Sandstone is assigned to the Lower Pennsylvanian (Morrowan) in regional chronostratigraphy by stratigraphers at the U.S. Geological Survey and state surveys, tied to biostratigraphic markers also used in studies at the Smithsonian Institution. It occupies a stratigraphic position above late Mississippian carbonate units such as those mapped near the Osage County, Oklahoma exposures and beneath younger Pennsylvanian sequences including parts of the Cherokee Group and equivalents recognized by the Kansas Geological Survey. Correlations with units like the Morrow Sandstone and sections in the Ardmore Group have been debated in symposia sponsored by the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America. Radiometric constraints are indirect, relying on regional chronostratigraphic frameworks refined through conodont biostratigraphy by investigators at the Pennsylvania State University and Harvard University.
Sedimentological studies interpret the Bartlesville as deposited in fluvial-deltaic to shallow-marine settings influenced by Paleotectonic elements such as the Nemaha Uplift and episodic sea-level changes documented in work by researchers affiliated with the International Commission on Stratigraphy and regional universities. Facies analyses published in journals associated with the Society for Sedimentary Geology and the Journal of Sedimentary Research describe point-bar deposits, distributary-channel fills, shoreface sand bodies, and estuarine facies, with storm-influenced beds and tidal indicators recorded in cores curated by the Kansas Geological Survey. Provenance studies link sediment sources to the Ouachita Orogeny-affected highlands and reworking from nearby uplifts discussed at conferences of the North-Central Section (GSA).
The Bartlesville Sandstone crops out and is subsurface across northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas, and into southwestern Missouri, with well control documented in petroleum-company archives like those of Continental Resources and legacy datasets maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey and state geological surveys. Surface exposures are notable near Bartlesville, Oklahoma (type area), along stream cuts in Washington County, Oklahoma, and in roadcuts cataloged by the Oklahoma Geological Survey; subsurface mapping extends into the Cherokee Platform and adjacent structural basins including the Osage Basin. Thickness and continuity vary laterally due to paleotopography and erosional truncation reported in basin-scale syntheses presented at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists meetings.
The Bartlesville has been a reservoir target for hydrocarbons exploited by operators such as Marathon Oil and smaller independents, contributing to Pennsylvanian oil and gas production trends summarized by the Energy Information Administration. Reservoir intervals with favorable porosity have been developed via conventional completion techniques discussed in papers from the Society for Petroleum Engineers, while some intervals serve as aquifers tapped by municipal systems in counties administered by local utilities and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. Sandstone material has seen limited use as construction aggregate historically, and its presence has influenced mineral leasing and land-use planning coordinated through county governments and state resource management agencies.
Fossil content in the Bartlesville includes plant debris, body and trace remains of marine and nonmarine organisms recorded by paleontologists at institutions such as the University of Oklahoma and the Field Museum. Spores, plant fragments attributable to Pennsylvanian lycopsids and pteridosperms, as well as ichnofossils indicative of brackish to freshwater conditions, appear in shale and siltstone interbeds examined in reports to the American Paleontological Society. Occasional marine fossils correlated with the Lower Pennsylvanian assemblages of the Cherokee Group have been reported during well-log and core studies archived by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The unit was named for exposures near Bartlesville, Oklahoma in early 20th-century surveys by field geologists associated with the United States Geological Survey and state geological surveys; nomenclatural history has been discussed in bulletins produced by the Oklahoma Geological Survey and in compilation volumes from the Geological Society of America. Systematic mapping, petrographic study, and subsurface correlation advanced during mid-century petroleum exploration led by companies like Phillips Petroleum Company and academic collaborations involving the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, resulting in the current usage and stratigraphic placement refined through regional conferences and journal papers.
Category:Geologic formations of Oklahoma Category:Pennsylvanian geology