A review of palaeomagnetic data on the timing and origin of multiple fluid-flow events in the Arbuckle Mountains, southern Oklahoma

Abstract

A synthesis of palaeomagnetic/geochemical studies on Palaeozoic rocks in the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma, indicates that basinal and meteoric fluids, as well as burial diagenetic processes, caused multiple remagnetization events. Basinal fluids migrated laterally through palaeoaquifers and vertically through faults/fractures, causing localized remagnetization and alteration in, and around, the fluid conduits. These fluids migrated during multiple flow events that spanned an approximately 60 Ma time interval in the late Palaeozoic. Based on the timing of remagnetization, most of the basinal fluids can be considered orogenic fluids. The palaeomagnetic results from the Arbuckle Mountains are consistent with migration of orogenic-type fluids during and after orogeny, although there were multiple flow events rather than one event as has been hypothesized for the central Appalachians. Meteoric fluids also caused localized alteration and remagnetization whereas a burial diagenetic mechanism (e.g. maturation of hydrocarbons) is a likely explanation for pervasive chemical remagnetization in an impermeable unit.