PROVENANCE OF PENNSYLVANIAN DELTAIC SANDSTONE IN THE FORT WORTH BASIN: CONSTRAINTS FROM DETRITAL ZIRCON U-PB GEOCHRONOLOGY

The Fort Worth Basin is one of the foreland basins of the Ouachita fold-and-thrust belt formed by the collision of Laurentia and Gondwana during the late Paleozoic. Despite the fact that the late Paleozoic depositional environment has been intensely studied for petroleum exploration and production, the provenance of the sediments remains controversial. Two major schools of thought include: 1) Appalachian-sourced sediment dispersed westward along the axis of the Ouachita suture; 2) combined sources from the Ouachita hinterland and the basement-cored uplifts to the north of the basin. Therefore, constraints to the provenance of Pennsylvanian sandstone in the Fort Worth Basin can help to evaluate the two hypotheses. In addition, the timing of Gondwana-derived sediment may help to infer the tectonic processes forming the supercontinent Pangaea. We apply detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology to determine the provenance of the Pennsylvanian deltaic sandstone in the Fort Worth Basin. Five samples are collected from different stratigraphic levels to document changes in provenance. Maximum depositional age constrained from youngest zircon population may improve the chronostratigraphic framework of the Fort Worth Basin. This research will shed light on the paleogeography and tectonic processes forming the Fort Worth Basin and Pangaea during the late Paleozoic.