MICROFAUNA AND BIOMARKERS OF THE WOODFORD SHALE: WESTERN ARKOMA BASIN, OKLAHOMA

The Woodford Shale was deposited during the Late Devonian and Early Mississippian, and can be found in the subsurface throughout the Anadarko, Ardmore and Arkoma Basins, and in outcrop through Arkansas and southern Oklahoma. Major time correlative units of the Woodford Shale include the Chattanooga Shale, New Albany Shale, Ohio Shale and Antrim Shale. The biomarkers and microfauna of the Woodford Shale are analyzed in order to create a detailed interpretation of the unit’s depositional environment to address the source(s) of organic matter during anoxia in the Late Devonian. Taxonomic assignments of recovered members of Acritarcha will be evaluated by chemical characterization of their cysts via Raman spectroscopy to give potential new insights to the depositional environment of the Woodford Shale. Bulk geochemical and precise biomarker data will allow for detailed environmental interpretation when combined with paleontological data, and temporal context will be provided by conodont and spore biostratigraphy. Resolution of the sources of organic matter in the Woodford Shale will assist in the discernment between oceanic upwelling and terrestrial influx in the pelagic environment of the Late Devonian in North America.