Hartselle Sandstone Research Articles

Detrital zircon geothermochronology reveals pre-Alleghanian exhumation of regional Mississippian sediment sources in the southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province

AbstractThe Black Warrior foreland basin records sedimentation associated with the development of intersecting Ouachita and Alleghanian thrust belts along the southern margin of Laurentia. Mississippian–Pennsylvanian units in the Black Warrior basin are interpreted to be sourced from either the northern Appalachians and mid-continent or more regionally from the southern Appalachians or nearby Ouachita thrust belt. We present detrital zircon U-Pb ages and Th/U values from Paleozoic units that indicate zircon from the Mississippian Hartselle Sandstone are temporally and chemically compatible with being sourced from the southern Appalachians. Zircon mixing models suggest sediment was primarily recycled from Cambrian, Ordovician, and Devonian strata in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge, with minor influx from Piedmont units. A ca. 415 Ma zircon population requires additional input from the Maya Block of the Yucatan Peninsula or similar outboard terranes. We present zircon (U-Th)/He analysis and thermal history modeling of Paleozoic units, which detail pre-Alleghanian exhumation in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge. Both the Cambrian Chilhowee Group and Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation exhibit (U-Th)/He dates ranging from 507 to 263 Ma with a Mississippian subset (353–329 Ma, n = 4), which indicates rapid cooling and inferred exhumation during Late Devonian–Early Mississippian Neoacadian tectonism. We propose a Mississippian drainage system that transported material along southern Appalachian structural fabrics to the juncture between Appalachian and Ouachita thrust belts followed by a sediment-routing rotation toward the Black Warrior foreland. This interpretation honors chemical-age zircon data, accounts for metamorphic grains in thin section petrography, and matches Mississippian–Pennsylvanian Black Warrior foreland lithostratigraphic relationships.

Integrating Petrography, X-Ray Fluorescence, and U-Pb Detrital Zircon Geochronology to Interpret Provenance of the Mississippian Hartselle Sandstone, USA

The Chesterian (Mississippian) Hartselle Sandstone is a tar sand exposed in the Black Warrior Basin and southern Appalachian fold belt in northern Mississippi and Alabama. Previous studies disagree about the delivery direction and relative contributions of sediment from the cratonic interior, the Appalachians, and the Ouachitas. The goal of this research is to investigate lateral trends in sedimentary and geochemical properties to provide new details about the provenance of the Hartselle. Samples were collected along a west-to-east transect and analyzed using petrography, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemistry, and U-Pb detrital zircon (DZ) geochronology. Point counting indicated a major cratonic interior source with a minor recycled orogen signal. Sillimanite in the easternmost sample narrows down the potential Appalachian sources to areas of high-grade metamorphism. Petrographic observations suggest both western and eastern sources. The XRF results showed high concentrations of Ti and Mo in the westernmost sample, suggestive of a nearby terrigenous source. All of the samples had similar U-Pb DZ age distributions except for the easternmost sample, which had statistically higher proportions of Paleozoic- and Archean-aged grains (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test: p < .02). For the first time, Eoarchean and Paleoarchean grains were found in the Hartselle, indicating a likely sediment source from the Minnesota River Valley gneisses of the Superior Craton prior to Grenvillian overprinting. Based on integration of all data, we conclude that a large fluvial system draining the continental interior provided a substantial volume of sediment from the northwest. At the same time, a more dispersed drainage basin associated with the Appalachian front contributed recycled orogenic material from the northeast.

A new mound-building biota from the lower Carboniferous of Alabama

AbstractA small (1.2 m) columnar carbonate mound in shaley strata equivalent to the Hartselle Sandstone (lower Serpukhovian) near Woodville, northeastern Alabama, was built by a consortium of species unlike those of other Carboniferous mounds in the southeastern United States. The mound contains a new problematic microencruster,Aphralysia anfractanew species, along with encrusting bryozoans (FistuliporaM'Coy, 1849), nonskeletal microbes, and other microencrusters, includingAphralysia caprioraeMamet and Roux, 1975, in a carbonate mud matrix. Mound cavities are filled with three generations of carbonate and siliciclastic sediment. Other biotic constituents of the mound include oncoids, sponges (includingPileospongiaRigby, Keyes, and Horowitz, 1979), gastropods, crinoids, a tabulate coral, and coenobionts, including coccoid calcimicrobes. The mound biota, especially the microencrusters, is dramatically different from those of other Serpukhovian mounds that have been described from Alabama (made by various consortia of rugose corals, fenestrate bryozoans, crinoids, sponges, and nonskeletal microbes). Indeed, the Woodville mound extends the range of the lower Carboniferous encrusterAphralysiaGarwood, 1914 to North America.UUID:http://zoobank.org/d3988875-a7fb-4382-bd14-b17c083d87ad

Actuopaleoichnology of a modern Bay of Fundy macro-tidal flat: analogy with a Mississippian tidal flat deposit (Hartselle Sandstone) from Alabama.

Trace fossil zonation in the Hartselle Sandstone of Mississippian age (Chesterian: Visean-Serpukhovian) exposed on Fielder Ridge, Alabama is compared with modern macro-tidal flat ichnocoenoses on the Bay of Fundy at Lubec, Maine, and demonstrated to be analogous by sedimentologic and ichnotaxonomic criteria. The modern flat has minimal influence from either waves or freshwater influx, and can be divided into five distinct ichnocoenoses, characterized by surface traces (epichnia) and four sedimentologic facies defined by gross grain texture or hydrodynamic characteristics, but lacking significant surface traces. Several characteristics of tidal flat deposits in a fetch-limited, marine (i.e., non-estuarine), meso- to macro-tidal regime can be used to recognize similar environments as old as the late Paleozoic. These criteria include (1) limited influence of wind and waves on the depositional environment, (2) lack of significant freshwater influence and therefore any persistent brackish environments, (3) a distinct spatial distribution of microenvironments defined by substrate and exposure period, (4) high diversity of epichnial traces directly associated with microenvironments across the tidal flat, (5) generally low degree of reworking of traces by bioturbation but high degree of reworking by tidal currents, and (6) preservation of traces of predation and scavenging behavior on an exposed surface. These features, together with the regional depositional pattern of the Hartselle Sandstone interpreted as tide-influenced bars and shoals, support a meso- to macro-tidal interpretation of the depositional environment.

Bioirrigation in Alph n. igen., arthropod cubichnia from the Mississippian Hartselle Sandstone of Alabama (USA)

Cubichnia from the Hartselle Sandstone, described as Rusophycus hartselleanus and herein renamed Alph hartselleanus n. igen., includes specimens with well-defined, terminal cylindrical structures. We interpret these oblique shaft-like structures as having a respiratory function based on: (1) exact placement of cylindrical structures on the cubichnial axis; (2) unique sculpture with both transverse and longitudinal striation, absent elsewhere in the assemblage despite excellent preservation of trace fossils; (3) associated features in the trace such as bubbly structure that also could be caused by bioirrigation. Alph hartselleanus is much larger than known Carboniferous trilobites. While similar to Rusophycus, the Hartselle cubichnia has a complex morphology suggesting a crustacean tracemaker. The trace is quadrilobate, with distinct anterior and posterior regions. The posterior region has 5 or 6 pairs of coarse, obliquely transverse striae corresponding to digging appendages, crosscut by fine, obliquely longitudinal striae that may record bioirrigation. The anterior region has a bubbly structure suggestive of thixotropic movement of sand, again, possible evidence for bioirrigation. The axial shafts do not match known trilobite appendages, but could have been made by crustaceans. Were the cubichnia merely resting traces, or did they have additional functions such as nesting or protection during moulting? In a broader context, the physical evidence for bioirrigation represents a nearly untapped opportunity for understanding the Cambrian Substrate Revolution as well as Phanerozoic ecosystems. Where preserved, the apertures of burrows should be investigated for evidence of bioirrigation.

Wewokella costata new species, a large heteractinid calcareous sponge from the upper Mississippian Hartselle sandstone in Northeastern Alabama

Several specimens of the gigantic new species, Wewokella costata, have been recovered from the Upper Missisippian Hartselle Sandstone of Marshall County, east of Huntsville, in northeastern Alabama. The large sponges have flutted columnar growths and basic skeletons of triactines that are grossly encrusted or overgrown by calcium carbonate to produce massive fused skeletons. These are the oldest and largest specimens of Wewokella yet certainly identified. Wewokella costata has a skeleton with reduced numbers of triactines, but with extensive calcareous cement. The species could be in the lineage leading to the Inozoida Rigby and Senowbari-Daryan, 1996, which have spicule-free skeletons of sphaeroidal aragonite.

Paleoweathering of Mississippian Monteagle Limestone preceding development of a lower Chesterian transgressive systems tract and sequence boundary, middle Tennessee and northern Alabama

The contact between the Hartselle Sandstone (Mississippian, lower Hombergian) and the underlying Monteagle Limestone (Mississippian, upper Gasperian) in central Tennessee and northeastern Alabama is a regional disconformity. A paleoweathering surface developed in the uppermost Monteagle is truncated by this disconformity, and only remnant pedogenic features are preserved. These paleosol remnants and associated meteoric diagenetic features are evidence for the subaerial exposure and weathering of the Monteagle Limestone prior to intense erosional scour accompanying deposition of the Hartselle Sandstone. Petrographic evidence for subaerial exposure and meteoric diagenesis includes extensive micritization, reddening, dissolution, and calcitization of allochem grains. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of whole-rock samples exhibit depth patterns consistent with subaerial exposure, pedogenesis, and meteoric diagenesis. Stable isotope compositions of nonferroan calcite spar occluding moldic pores are considerably depleted relative to Mississippian marine carbonate compositions, further evidence for subaerial exposure and meteoric diagenesis. The paleoweathering surface was modified after burial when reducing conditions developed, resulting in pyritization. Stabilization of high-Mg calcite grains and cements after burial provided a source of magnesium for localized replacement by ferroan dolomite. This disconformity is interpreted to be a third-order Vail/Exxon sequence boundary that marks a dramatic basinward shift in facies belts in the overlying Hartselle Sand-stone, the result of a sea-level fall.

Ichnology of a reworked strandplain complex: Mississippian Hartselle Sandstone of Alabama

The Hartselle Sandstone of northern Alabama represents a mesotidal strandplain complex of Hombergian (middle Chesterian) age that was reworked by a transgressing sea. Transgressive reworking resulted in complex facies patterns that can best be deciphered by ichnology. Thickly bedded, unbioturbated beach to shoreface sandstone is widespread at the base of the formation. Wavy-bedded back-barrier to shelf sandstone and shale predominate in the middle and upper parts of the formation and contain distinctive assemblages of trace fossils, invertebrates, and plants.Barriers with a broad, gently sloping beach face and muddy coastal swamps typified the Hartselle strandplain which extended across northern Alabama. Barrier and coastal-swamp deposits lack trace fossils but locally contain an indigenous lycopod flora including stumps and Stigmaria root systems.Back-barrier tidal flats and lagoon deposits have trace-fossil assemblages dominated by bivalve traces that probably represent brackish environments. Marginal-marine sandstone contains chiefly monospecific assemblages and is reworked by bivalves and unknown organisms; Lockeia, Uchirites, and Rosselia are dominant at different sites. The Lockeia assemblage includes bedding surfaces with crowded bivalve resting traces. The abundance, density, and small size of monospecific burrows suggests estuarine conditions with high food supply and rapid larval colonization. The Uchirites assemblage is characterized by bivalve trails, representing probably brackish substrates with a high sedimentation rate.Shelf sandstone and shale include bivalve resting traces and trails (Lockeia ispp., Uchirites isp. aff. U. triangularis, Walcottia rugosa, and W. imbricata), asteroid and ophiuroid resting traces (Asteriacites stelliforme and Pentichnus pratti), trilobite resting traces and trackways (Rusophycus ispp. and Petalichnus isp.), and dwelling burrows, feeding burrows, trails, and trackways of unknown organisms (Chondrites-like burrows, Phycodes isp., Haplotichnus isp., Rosselia isp., Planolites montanus, Nereites missouriensis, Tasmanadia twelvetreesi, imbricate burrows, and wavelike burrows). Some shelf areas even supported diverse calcified faunas containing crinoids, fenestrate bryozoans, and articulate brachiopods.The Hartselle Sandstone is a facies mosaic that records indundation of an extensive strandplain complex and a distinctive stratigraphic succession of lithofacies and biofacies. Hartselle ichnofacies have unique aspects, but are similar to those of other marginal-marine Carboniferous strata in eastern North America. The paleoecologic complexity of the Hartselle Sandstone helps to establish the dynamic range of Carboniferous ecosystems, which have yet to be fully explored.

Mississippian (Chesterian) Sequence Stratigraphy in the Black Warrior Basin: Pride Mountain Formation (Lowstand Wedge) and Hartselle Sandstone (Transgressive Systems Tract)

ABSTRACT The Pride Mountain Formation (Gasperian Stage) is primarily a shelfal shale containing two deltaic sandstone members, the Lewis and the overlying Evans. Punctuating this siliciclastic section are thin limestones that mark interruptions in siliciclastic supply. Sand-rich deltaic facies occur to the north and east whereas distal, shale-dominated facies occur to the south and west. Isolith and isopach maps describe A) dip elongate, river-dominated lobes in the Lewis; and B) cuspate, wave-dominated lobes with SW/NE trending shorelines in the Evans. Both sets of lobes thin downdip to the south and west. Petrographic analysis of these quartz arenites indicates a cratonic rather than orogenic source. Southward flowing rivers, draining the craton, supplied sediment to the prograding Pride Mountain deltas. The overlying Hartselle Sandstone (Hombergian Stage) consists of relatively thin, less that 10 m thick, wave-dominated deltas with E/W to NW/SE trending shorelines; progradation was to the south and southwest. In northwest Alabama these deltas are arranged in an aggradational pattern; beginning in northeast Alabama they are in a backstepping or transgressive pattern that produces a nearly continuous sheet sandstone that extends across Tennessee to south-central Kentucky. Beginning in north-central Alabama the Hartselle disconformably overlies subaerially weathered Monteagle Limestone. Paleosol remnants have been identified in the uppermost Monteagle from Huntsville, Alabama, north to Cookeville, Tennessee. The subaerial weathering of the shallow-water, ramp carbonates of the Monteagle Limestone indicates a pronounced fall in relative sea level. This drop exposed the carbonate ramp as far south as northern Mississippi and Alabama. The Pride Mountain Formation and the Hartselle Sandstone of northwest Alabama represents a lowstand wedge deposited after sea level stabilized. One incised-valley fill associated with the Lewis Sandstone Member has been identified in the north Alabama subsurface; the Bethel channel-fill of north Kentucky is equivalent in age and may be related to this hypothesized Alabama, lower Chesterian valley-fill complex. The Hartselle Sandstone of northeast Alabama and central Tennessee is a transgressive systems tract that was deposited during the subsequent relative sea-level rise as the siliciclastic shoreline moved back to the north.

First report of hexactinellid dictyosponges and other sponges from the Upper Mississippian Bangor Limestone, northwestern Alabama

Dictyosponges from the Chesteran Bangor Limestone document the first known occurrence of these hexactinellids in Mississippian rocks of Alabama and their discovery adds information to the worldwide impoverished record of Lower Carboniferous Porifera. The sponges are generally fragmented and occur in marine, cross-bedded, sandy limestone and sandstone channel-fill lenses that occur up to 12 m above the base of the formation, above the Hartselle Sandstone. The reticulosid dictyosponges Dictyospongia(?) sp., Clathrospongia bangorensis n. sp., Clathrospongia(?) sp. A, Clathrospongia(?) sp. B, Thamnodictya(?) radiata n. sp., and Phragmodictya rugosa n. sp. are described. Previously, the lyssacinosid(?) hexactinellid Pileospongia lopados Rigby, Keyes, and Horowitz, 1979, was described from this region, from the slightly older Chesteran Monteagle Limestone, and its occurrence in the Bangor Limestone is the youngest yet discovered. In addition to the above hexactinellids, the demosponge Belemnospongia parmula Rigby, Keyes, and Horowitz, 1979, is questionably represented by a single impression in fine-grained sandstone of the Bangor Limestone.

Comparison of Depositional System and Reservoir Characteristics of Selected Blanket-Geometry Tight Gas Sandstones: ABSTRACT

Future development of gas in tight sandstones is highly dependent upon price and the state of technology, including detailed understanding of internal and external reservoir geometry. Part of the tight gas resource lies in blanket-geometry, siliciclastic sandstones; over 30 such sandstones in 16 sedimentary basins and at depths mostly less than 10,000 ft (3,000 m) were reviewed for the Gas Research Institute. Emphasis was placed on depositional systems and resulting lithogenetic facies as an important control on sand body geometry. In contrast to lenticular sandstones, blanket-geometry tight gas sandstones were deposited as deltaic, barrier strand plain, and shelf systems. Overlap occurs between systems, as in the case of a strand plain developed marginal to a deltaic depocenter. Not all parts of all sandstones are tight (< 0.1 md permeability); tight areas vary from extensive (J Sandstone, Denver basin) to very limited (Hartselle Sandstone, Black Warrior basin). Five stratigraphic units were selected from which developments in reservoir characterization, fracture treatment, and other technologies can likely be extrapolated to a wider group of tight gas reservoirs. The Travis Peak Formation (East Texas basin/North Louisiana salt basin) is a fan delta system. It ranges in depth from 3,000 to 11,000 ft (900 to 3,350 m), with net pay of 30 to 86 ft (9 to 26 m) and post-stimulation gas flows of 500 to 1,500 MCFGD. The Frontier Formation (Greater Green River basin) is a wave-dominated End_Page 460------------------------------ deltaic system with associated barrier strand plain facies; shallower prospective areas range in depth from 7,000 to 12,000 ft (2,100 to 3,650 m). The Frontier has net pay of 10 to 90 ft (3 to 27 m) and post-stimulation gas flows up to 2,500 MCFGD. Characteristics of the Travis Peak have extrapolation potential to Tuscarora-Medina-Clinton sandstones of the Appalachian basin; deltaic facies of the Frontier may correspond to parts of the Davis Sandstone (Fort Worth basin), Olmos Formation (Maverick basin), and the Fox Hills Sandstone (eastern Greater Green River basin). Cozzette and Corcoran Sandstones (Piceance Creek basin) are predominantly barrier strand plain deposits; they range in depth from 2,500 to 8,000 ft (760 to 2,400 m), with net pay of 10 to 70 ft (3 to 21 m) each and pos -stimulation gas flows average 1,250 MCFGD. The upper Almond Formation (eastern Greater Green River basin) may contain more shallow marine and offshore bar than barrier strand plain facies. It occurs at depths of 6,000 to 15,000 ft (1,800 to 4,600 m), with net pay of 14 to 18 ft (4 to 5.5 m); and post-stimulation gas flows up to 1,700 MCFGD. The characteristics of the Cozzette, Corcoran, and upper Almond may be extrapolated to other marginal marine units in the Mesaverde Group and parts of the Dakota Sandstone in several Rocky Mountain basins. Shelf deposits include the Mancos B interval of the Mancos Shale (Piceance Creek and Uinta basins) at depths of 3,500 to 5,000 ft (1,000 to 1,500 m) in areas of recent drilling. Mancos B net pay ranges from 38 to 120 ft (11.5 to 36.5 m), and po t-stimulation gas flows range up to 350 to 1,200 and MCFGD. Extrapolation potential exists in the Anadarko basin and Northern Great Plains area. These five stratigraphic units have potential for increased commercialization. By understanding the initial properties derived from the depositional setting of a tight gas sand, the explorationist can better extrapolate successful exploration, stimulation, and production techniques between reservoirs in similar depositional settings. End_of_Article - Last_Page 461------------

Paleogeographic relationship of a Mississippian barrier-island and shelf-bar system (Hartselle Sandstone) in Alabama to the Appalachian-Ouachita erogenic belt

A Mississippian clastic facies in the southern United States is within one of several regionally extensive clastic wedges that record the evolution of the Appalachian-Ouachita orogenic belt along the eastern and southern margin of the North American craton. In the eastern fringe of the wedge in Alabama, the Hartselle Sandstone is a northwest-trending linear sandstone along the regional facies boundary between clastic-wedge rocks (Floyd-Parkwood) and carbonate rocks (Monteagle-Bangor) typical of the shallow-marine shelf of the craton. Internal facies distribution in the Hartselle Sandstone defines a depositional system consisting of a northwest-trending barrier-island complex on the southwest and migrating sand bars on a shelf on the northeast. Barrier-island facies include horizontally laminated foreshore sandstone that contains limestone interbeds, as well as crossbedded longshore bar sandstone that contains fossil logs. The shallow shelf was dominated by migration of bars, wave reworking, and deposition of fine sediment from suspension in interbar areas. These processes are indicated by a complex vertical succession of crossbedded sandstones, rippled sandstones, and mudstones. Shelf processes reworked the upper part of the barrier-island sediment during regional southwestward marine transgression that is confirmed by southwestward extent of the Bangor Limestone over the Hartselle Sandstone. The northwest-trending barrier island of the Hartselle indicates sediment supply from the southwest, and that sediment dispersal system suggests uplift at a tectonically active converging continental margin along the Appalachian-Ouachita orogen during the Mississippian.

Orogenic Provenance of Mississippian Sandstones Associated with Southern Appalachian-Ouachita Orogen

Mississippian clastic rocks in the Appalachian fold and thrust belt and Black Warrior foreland basin in northern Alabama are in the eastern part of a regionally extensive clastic wedge of Mississippian-Pennsylvanian age. The wedge thins onto the North American craton from the southern Appalachian-Ouachita orogenic belt and, like other clastic wedges along the orogen, may be interpreted to indicate uplift of a sediment source along the evolving orogenic belt. Mississippian clastic sediment in Alabama probably was derived from a provenance on the southwest within the Appalachian-Ouachita orogenic belt. However, an alternative interpretation proposes that the Mississippian clastic sediment was derived from a source on the north (unrelated to the Appalachian-Ouachita orogen) nd transported southward through the Illinois basin into the Black Warrior basin of northern Alabama. Petrographic data from outcrops of the two most sandstone-rich clastic units in the Mississippian of Alabama, the Hartselle Sandstone and Parkwood Formation, as well as compositional comparisons of the Hartselle-Parkwood sandstones with approximate time-equivalent sandstones in the Illinois basin, provide for discrimination between the alternative interpretations of provenance. Sandstones of the Parkwood Formation are lithic arenites (Q80F2R18) that contain metamorphic rock fragments and unstable polycrystalline quartz, indicating a low-rank metamorphic source. Lesser amounts of chert, pelitic rock fragments, and sandstone rock fragments suggest a secondary contribution from sedimentary source rocks. The Parkwood also has a minor component of volcanic rock fragments. The Hartselle Sandstone is mainly quartzarenite; compositional maturation was the result of marine depositional reworking. Despite the low concentration of labile grains, Hartselle samples contain high ratios of metamorphic to pelitic rock fragments and unstable to stable polycrystalline quartz. These data demonstrate a close affinity between the Hartselle and Pa kwood sandstones. The rock-fragment and quartz populations of the Hartselle and Parkwood sandstones indicate an orogenic provenance. The petrographic data and distribution of the clastic facies combine to indicate an orogenic source terrane southwest of the Black Warrior basin. Mississippian sandstones of the Illinois basin generally are sublitharenites (Q92F1R7), and the predominant lithic grains are chert and pelitic rock fragments, indicating a sedimentary source terrane. These data suggest that the Hartselle-Parkwood sandstones and Illinois basin sandstones were not derived from the same source but are consistent with the interpretation that Hartselle-Parkwood sediments were derived from an orogenic belt on the southwest while clastic sediment was supplied from the craton on the north to the Illinois basin. The orogenic provenance of Mississippian clastic sediments in Alabama demonstrates evolution of the Appalachian-Ouachita orogenic belt during the Mississippian.

Depositional Environments and Petroleum Potential of Asphaltic Hartselle Sandstone in North Alabama: ABSTRACT

Depositional Environments and Petroleum Potential of Asphaltic Hartselle Sandstone in North Alabama: ABSTRACT