| dc.description.abstract | The Delaware Basin (DB), a sub-basin of the greater Permian Basin (PB), formed during
the collision between the Gondwana and Laurentian plates in the Late Paleozoic. The basin is
situated within the foreland of the Ouachita-Marathon (OM) fold-thrust belt, separated from the
shallower Midland Basin (MB) by the Central Basin Platform (CBP) basement uplift. The
complex structural geometries of the CBP, DB, and OM lead to uncertainties regarding the
tectonic mechanisms driving formation of PB, and associated drainage and catchment pattern
filling the basin. This research shows the siliciclastic paleodispersal patterns of the DB spanning
pre- to post- OM deformation. As the first provenance study of the area to span this temporal
range, the results from U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology, thin section petrology, heavy mineral
analyses, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical tests reveal four major drainage reorganizations
that correspond to the regional tectonic events. Results indicate that Ordovician strata, previously
interpreted as allochthonous, may have originated in Gondwana, and remained attached to
North America after the breakup of Pangea in the Late Paleozoic. Mississippian strata of the
Tesnus Formation were likely sourced from the distal Appalachian system during the initial
collision phase, and transported axially along the Marathon-Ouachita fold-thrust belt. As
collision continued, Pennsylvanian strata were sourced from alternating axial transport of distal
material, and margin-perpendicular transport from Gondwanan sources. During the Cretaceous,
sediment from the Cordilleran arc along the western margin of North America was transported
east towards the Delaware Basin region. | en |
