Speculations on the origin of the Anadarko Basin

Abstract

The Anadarko Basin of the southern midcontinent, USA, is the deepest cratonic basin in north America, with an existing in-place sedimentary section of 12-13 km. It formed over a pre-existing rift zone - the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen. The rift was active in the late Proterozoic-early Cambrian, but may have inherited an earlier Proterozoic grain. The Paleozoic Anadarko Basin was deepened in the Pennsylvanian during the Ouachita collision. It had a poorly recognized Permian phase which perhaps extended into the Mesozoic and a clear thermal subsidence phase in the early Paleozoic. The basin was reactivated in the Mississippian, and this reactivation presumably required plate margin interactions in some form. The basin was thrust-loaded in the Pennsylvanian. -from Author