5 New Insights on the Wichita Mountains: A Failed Aulacogen?

Sunday, 21 April 2024
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Mojave Room, Oasis Hotel

RE-EXAMINATION OF GEOPHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS ON ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS

Paper number: 5-9
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 4:05 PM – 4:25 PM

Authors

Abstract

Research in the Wichita Mountains region of southwestern Oklahoma has long been conducted within the framework of an aulacogen: the failed arm of a plume-generated Cambrian rift. However, this framework was first suggested and developed prior to the widespread acceptance of plate tectonic theory when the terminology used was primarily descriptive. Other workers have interpreted this region as the result of transform-parallel faulting, similar to several other Appalachian-Marathon-Ouachita orogen-normal structures located throughout the southeastern North American continent. Here, we present reinterpretations of previous geophysical studies from the literature as well as new microgravity and geomagnetic data in order to place geometric constraints on the subsurface (and surface) contacts between the plutonic rocks. By better understanding these contacts, we reinterpret the “aulacogen” framework as an alternate series of potential emplacement and deformation events.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 3

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024NC-398808

© Copyright 2024 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.