Title: 

Paleozoic structural styles and the influence on Early Permian sedimentation in the Midland and Delaware Basins

Abstract: 

The influence of basement‐involved fault propagation folding on Early Permian sedimentation patterns can be easily overlooked because faults that caused uplift or base‐level change are often blind thrusts that do not propagate to the intervals they influence. Without the kinematic framework of compressional structures formed during the Wolfcampian and Leonardian intervals, a fundamental control on sedimentation is missed. Furthermore, this requires interpreters to “think regionally, interpret locally” meaning that consideration of the regional structural context is required to better interpret stratigraphic changes within different areas of the basin.  The objectives of this presentation are to: (1) highlight structural styles that are common to the Permian Basin and correlate these structures to the timing of key tectonic events; (2) determine the youngest stratigraphic interval that the deeper structures influence; and (3) develop preliminary relationships between the structures and sedimentation patterns within both the Delaware and Midland Basins.

Bio:

Chris Zahm is a Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in 2002 from the Colorado School of Mines as a structural geologist and has M.Sc. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Hydrogeology and B.S. in Geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Chris has spent the last 12 years as a principal researcher within the Reservoir Characterization Research Group (RCRL)  at the Bureau of Economic Geology.