Evolution of Permian Evaporite Basin in Texas Panhandle

Abstract

Permian (Leonardian to Ochoan) evaporites in the Texas Panhandle were deposited in a range of marine shelf to supratidal environments along an arid coastline. Carbonates in these strata generally were deposited in inner shelf systems and include subtidal to supratidal facies. Landward of shelf environments, evaporites were deposited in brine pans and salt flats. Brine-pan facies are laminated anhydrite and banded salt that formed in shallow, hypersaline waters such as restricted lagoons or supratidal salines. Salt-flat facies are mainly chaotic mixtures of mudstone and halite possibly formed by salt deposition on and within mud flats that bordered brine pans, or in brine-soaked mud-flat depressions. Periodically, mud flats built across the evaporite systems and were suppl ed with red terrestrial clastics, mainly mud and silt. These facies occur together in at least three different types of lithogenetic units. Strata in the Clear Fork Group (Leonardian) are considered deposits of a coastal evaporite basin that was progressively filled by terrestrial clastics. These rocks exhibit regressive cycles of brine-pan, salt-flat, and mud-flat facies. In contrast, San Andres strata (Guadalupian) were deposited in a broad marine embayment with persistent brine-pan conditions, and contain cycles of inner shelf and brine-pan facies. Post-San Andres strata (late Guadalupian and Ochoan) were deposited in the inner reaches of a broad interior salt basin and are composed mainly of mud-flat, salt-flat, and halite-rich brine-pan facies.