U-PB DETRITAL ZIRCON GEOCHRONOLOGY AND PROVENANCE ANALYSIS OF THE BLUEJACKET/BARTLESVILLE SANDSTONE, CHEROKEE PLATFORM, OKLAHOMA

Reconstruction of Early-Late Pennsylvanian paleogeography and sediment dispersal patterns can be extremely valuable in developing an accurate model for deposition of important sandstone reservoirs in the North American Midcontinent. While several potential sources of detrital grains existed for Early-Middle Pennsylvanian sandstones in the Oklahoma Cherokee platform and Arkoma basin, sediment provenance has yet to be sufficiently explored to reconstruct sediment dispersal systems. This study used U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology to establish sedimentary provenance of the Bluejacket (surface name) and Bartlesville (subsurface operational name) sandstones in order to reconstruct Early-Middle Pennsylvanian sediment dispersal patterns for the Midcontinent. Four samples were collected from the Bluejacket Sandstone outcrop in Mayes County along OK Highway 20, west of Pryor, OK on the Cherokee Platform. The samples were processed and analyzed at the University of Arizona LaserChron Lab and the results from 455 concordant analyses were interpreted. U-Pb ages of approximately 72% of the zircons occurred at three dominate age peaks with provenances interpreted as the Acadian-Taconic (350-490 Ma), Neoproterozoic (530-750 Ma), and Grenville (950-1300 Ma) terranes in the Appalachian region. Subordinate populations of zircons consisted of Yavapai-Mazatzal Terrane (1600-1800 Ma), Midcontinent Granite-Rhyolite (1300-1500 Ma), Trans-Hudson Terrane (1800-2300 Ma), and Superior provenance (>2500 Ma). The Appalachian Mountain region is determined to be the primary source of zircons in the Bluejacket/Bartlesville sandstones with sediment likely transported from a north-northeasterly source by a substantial trans-continental fluvial system. This allowed southward movement of sediment across the Midcontinent onto the Cherokee Platform and Arkoma shelf where the Bartlesville sands were deposited mostly in migrating distributary channels and as transgressive valley fills.