Post-Carboniferous tectonics in the Anadarko Basin, Oklahoma: Evidence from side-looking radar imagery

The Anadarko Basin is a west-northwest–east-southeast elongated trough filled with 10+ km of Paleozoic sediments. Most models call for tectonic activity to end in Pennsylvanian time. NASA Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-A) has revealed a distinctive and very straight west-northwest–striking lineament set extending virtually the entire length of the Anadarko Basin. The lineaments cut across the relatively flat-lying Permian units exposed at the surface. The character of these lineaments is seen most obviously as a tonal variation. Between the lineaments there is a poorly reflecting “gray” zone; better reflectors are located south and particularly north of the lineaments. Analysis of stream drainage and topography suggests that the area between the lineaments is low in the west and high in the east. Major streams, including the Washita and Little Washita rivers, appear to be controlled by the location of the lineaments. Subsurface data indicate that the lineaments may be the updip expression of a buried major fault system, the Mountain View fault. This fault is characterized as southerly dipping; recent COCORP data suggest a shallow dip (30°–40°). Two principal conclusions arise from this analysis: (1) the complex Mountain View fault system appears to extend southeast to join the Reagan, Sulphur, and/or Mill Creek faults of the Arbuckle Mountains, and (2) this fault system has been reactivated in Permian or more recent time. We infer that minor reactivation of the Pennsylvanian faults has resulted in a subdued surficial expression of buried structures that largely control the location of several oil fields in the Anadarko Basin.