Provenance and sediment dispersal of Mississippian sandstones in the Black Warrior basin, NE Mississippi

Abstract

The Black Warrior Basin is one of several Carboniferous foreland basins along the Ouachita belt in the southern midcontinent region. Mapping the distribution of siliciclastic rocks and building a depositional model in the Black Warrior Basin is challenging because of the complex tectonic history, lack of outcrops, and sandstone maturity. This study focuses on documenting the provenance and proposing potential sediment dispersal patterns for Mississippian sandstones. Data for this study includes conventional core from seven wells, and forty-seven thin sections from the Mississippian sandstones in northeastern counties of Mississippi (Monroe and Lowndes). Uranium-lead detrital zircon geochronology along with sandstone point counting is used together to determine sediment sources of these sand bodies and identify depositional systems. Two competing models exist to explain the sediment sources. The first model suggests that siliciclastic sediment was sourced from a prograding deltaic system southwest of the basin; the second model argues that these sand bodies were from a cratonic interior provenance northwest of the basin. Modal mineral analysis results display that sublitharenites to mature quartzarenites dominate this section and are mainly derived from intracratonic sources. However, detrital zircon geochronology results of three sandstones (Lewis, Sanders, and Carter Sandstones) suggest that provenance of these Mississippian sand bodies include Acadian and Taconic orogenic sources from the northeast, along with Proterozoic basement influence.