The Stratton Ridge salt dome, Brazoria County, Texas

The Stratton Ridge salt dome is a characteristic Gulf Coast salt dome. It has a low topographic mound. Salt and cap rock have been drilled into in many wells. The dome has been delineated roughly by deep wells on three sides. It is elongated in a northeast-southwest direction. The Oligocene and Miocene beds are sharply upthrust, do not extend over the top of the dome, and near the salt are overlain conformably by the Pliocene beds, all but the lower beds of which lie fairly flat across the top of the salt. The stratigraphic section (Recent to Vicksburg Oligocene) has been worked in considerable detail by microscopic study. Lists are given of the occurrence of the microscopic and megascopic fossils. Upthrust of the salt core took place during or just prior to the Lower Oligocene, but most of the deformation came between the Oligocene and Early Pliocene. Although many tests have been put down, only two small producers have been obtained, from around 4,300 feet. Commercial production has not been established.