Atoka Formation

Last updated
Atoka Formation
Stratigraphic range: Pennsylvanian
Type Geologic formation
Underlies Hartshorne Sandstone
Overlies Bloyd Formation, Johns Valley Formation
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Shale
Location
Region Arkansas, Oklahoma
Country United States
Type section
Named byJ.A. Taff [1]

Named after Atoka County, Oklahoma, the Atoka Formation is a geologic formation in central and western Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, central and western Texas, and eastern New Mexico. [2] It is the surface rock of the Boston Mountains and dominates exposures in the Frontal Ouachita Mountains of the Arkansas River Valley. [2]

Contents

Sedimentology

The Atoka Formation is a sequence of marine sandstones, siltstones, and shales, and may be as thick at 25,000 feet in the Ouachita Mountains. [2] The formation is conformable with the Bloyd Shale in the Boston Mountains and the Johns Valley Formation in the Ouachita Mountains. [2]

Paleofauna

Conodonts

C. lauta [3]
C. sinuata [4]
G. wapanuckensis [5]
G. bella [6]
L. lexingtonensis [8]
O. recta [9]
P. attenuata [10]
P. ouachitensis [11]
S. cancellosus [12]
S. gracilis [13]

Foraminifera

F. devexa [14]
F. oliviformis [15]
F. prolifica [16]
H. bulbosa [17]
I. semicronstrictus [18]
P. atokensis [19]
P. fittsi [20]
P. millcreekensis [21]
R. fittsi [22]
R. tumidulus [23]
T. sphaeroidalis [24]

Trace Fossils

C. arkansanus [25]

Related Research Articles

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Atoka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,143. Its county seat is Atoka. The county was formed before statehood from Choctaw Lands, and its name honors a Choctaw Chief named Atoka. The county is part of Choctaw Nation reservation lands.

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The Ouachita Mountains, simply referred to as the Ouachitas, are a mountain range in western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. They are formed by a thick succession of highly deformed Paleozoic strata constituting the Ouachita Fold and Thrust Belt, one of the important orogenic belts of North America. The Ouachitas continue in the subsurface to the northeast, where they make a poorly understood connection with the Appalachians and to the southwest, where they join with the Marathon uplift area of West Texas. Together with the Ozark Plateaus, the Ouachitas form the U.S. Interior Highlands. The highest natural point is Mount Magazine at 2,753 feet (839 m).

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Novaculite, also called Arkansas Stone, is a microcrystalline to cryptocrystalline rock type that consists of silica in the form of chert or flint. It is commonly white to grey or black in color, with a specific gravity that ranges from 2.2 to 2.5. It is used in the production of sharpening stones. It occurs in parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, as well as in Japan and parts of the Middle East. The name novaculite is derived from the Latin word novacula, meaning a sharp knife, dagger, or razor, in reference to its use in sharpening. The first recorded use of the term whetstone was in reference to a honing stone from Arkansas.

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References

  1. ↑ Taff, J.A.; Adams, G.I. (1900). "Geology of the eastern Choctaw coal field". Twenty-First Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1899-1900, Part 2, General Geology, Economic Geology, Alaska: 272, 273–274.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Stratigraphic Summary of the Arkansas River Valley and Ouachita Mountains". Arkansas Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  3. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  4. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  5. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  6. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  7. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  8. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  9. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  10. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  11. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  12. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  13. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  14. ↑ Thompson, M.L. (1948). "Studies of American fusulinids". University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Protozoa. 1: 184.
  15. ↑ Douglass, R.C.; Nestell, M.K. (1984). "Fusulinids of the Atoka Formation, lower-middle Pennsylvanian, south-central Oklahoma" (PDF). Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin. 136: 19–39. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  16. ↑ Thompson, M.L. (1935). "Fusulinids from the lower Pennsylvanian Atoka and Boggy formations of Oklahoma". Journal of Paleontology. 9: 291–306.
  17. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  18. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  19. ↑ Thompson, M.L. (1935). "The fusulinid genus Staffella in America". Journal of Paleontology. 9: 111–120.
  20. ↑ Thompson, M.L. (1935). "Fusulinids from the lower Pennsylvanian Atoka and Boggy formations of Oklahoma". Journal of Paleontology. 9: 291–306.
  21. ↑ Douglass, R.C.; Nestell, M.K. (1984). "Fusulinids of the Atoka Formation, lower-middle Pennsylvanian, south-central Oklahoma" (PDF). Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin. 136: 19–39. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  22. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  23. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  24. ↑ Johansson, F. C. Jr. (1960). Micropaleontology of the Wesley Johns Valley and Atoka Formations of the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (PhD. dissertation). University of Wisconsin. p. 45.
  25. ↑ Branson, Carl C. (May 1961). "New records of the Scyphomedusan Conostichus" (PDF). Oklahoma Geology Notes. 21 (5): 130–138. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
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