Date of Award
12-2018
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science - Geology
Department
Geology
First Advisor
Dr. Melinda S. Faulkner
Second Advisor
Dr. Kevin W. Stafford
Third Advisor
Dr. LaRell Nielson
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Joseph A. Musser
Abstract
The Owl Mountain Province is a plateaued, karst landscape located in the eastern section of the Fort Hood Military Installation and is characterized by Lower Cretaceous Fredericksburg Group carbonates. The topography is capped by thick sequences of the Edwards limestone; steep scarps and incised valleys along the edges of the plateaus host inter-fingering outcrops of the Edwards and Comanche Peak limestones, and the lower valleys are covered by alluvial sediments and intermittent outcrops of the Walnut Clay. These formations were deposited to the north and west of the main Edwards trend, and are thought to be part of a series of complex carbonate mounds that developed as backreef deposits in a restricted environment on the Comanche Shelf, associated with the western flank of the Belton High.
The purpose of this study is to describe the microfacies within the Fredericksburg Group and characterize the depositional environment of the study area. Field observations and laboratory analyses were used to investigate the microfacies in greater detail to provide evidence relating to the compositional makeup and diagenetic processes of the Lower Cretaceous strata. Sixteen lithostratigraphic sections were measured in the Comanche Peak and Edwards formations, identifying microfacies through field descriptions based on allochems, matrix, bioturbation, bedding style, and other distinct features. After thin section analyses, 11 microfacies were identified, characterized, and used to create a diagenetic model to provide an accurate depiction of the Lower Cretaceous middle shelf depositional environment of the Owl Mountain Province.
Repository Citation
Meinerts, Jacob, "DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND FACIES ANALYSES OF THE OWL MOUNTAIN PROVINCE, FORT HOOD MILITARY INSTALLATION, BELL AND CORYELL COUNTIES, TEXAS" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 222.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/222
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
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