Depositional systems in the Queen City Formation (Eocene), Central and East Texas

Abstract

Surface and subsurface studies between the San Marcos-Guadalupe and Sabine Rivers indicate that terrigenous clastic sequences in the Queen City Formation accumulated as part of a high-constructive, lobate delta system. Principal facies in outcrop are delta front and delta plain; chief facies in subsurface are delta front and prodelta. Facies distribution, composition, and size of the deltas are similar to certain lobes of the Holocene Mississippi Delta; and Gulf Coast Basin Eocene deltas in the lower part of the Wilcox Group, and in the Jackson Group and Yegua Formation. Five major lobes of the high constructive or Mississippi type are developed in the Queen City Delta System between the Colorado and Angelina Rivers. Deltas of the Queen City Formation prograded gulfward over shelf muds, glauconites, and marls of the Reklaw Formation; they are overlain by comparable shelf facies of the Weches Formation. Deltaic facies of the Queen City Formation wedge out in Nacogdoches and Angelina Counties; shelf sediments of the Reklaw and Weches Formations merge to become the Cane River Formation of western Louisiana. A minor amount of oil and gas has been produced from delta front and distributary channel sand facies of the Queen City Delta System.