My Favorite Outcrop: Cold Springs Breccia - Oklahoma Geological ...

THE JOURNAL OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

VOLUME 63 ~ MARCH | APRIL 2013 ~ 

NUMBER 5 

Hands~On, Student Geophysical Modelling at the 

ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics, 

University of Oklahoma; 

And Much More.

Volume 63 | Number 5 

The Journal of the Oklahoma City Geological Society 

Shale Shaker Staff 

EDITOR: 

Michael Root, 

CEO, TerraQuest Corporation 

CFO, WeatherBank, Inc. 

[email protected], [email protected] 

405.359.0773 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: 

Neil Suneson, 

Geologist IV, Oklahoma Geological Survey 

[email protected] 

PEER CONTENT DIRECTOR: 

This Position is Available 

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS DIRECTOR: 


STUDENT THESES DIRECTOR: 

Kris Wells, 

Geologist, Mustang Fuel Corporation 


EXISTING ADS DIRECTOR: 


NEW ADS DIRECTOR: 


SOCIETIES DIRECTOR: 


OF COUNSEL: 

M. Charles Gilbert, 

Geologist, ConocoPhillips School of Geology 

and Geophysics, OU 


GEOLOGIST WIVES ASSOCIATION: 

Elaine Root, 


PRODUCTION & DESIGN: 

Theresa Andrews, 

Art Director, Visual Concepts and Design, Inc. 


405.514.5317 

OCGS Executive Committee 

PRESIDENT: 

Greg Flournoy, District Geologist, RKI Exploration and 

Production 

VICE PRESIDENT: 

Mark Goss, RKI Exploration & Production 

SECRETARY: 

Jami Poor, MAP 

PAST PRESIDENT: 

Suzanne Rogers, Sandstone Energy Acquisitions Corporation 

TREASURER: 

John A. Brett, III, Independent Petroleum Geologist 

LIBRARY DIRECTOR: 

Steve Harris, Okland Oil Company 

COUNCILOR: 

James R. “Dick” Howell, Weatherford Wireline 

WEBMASTER: 

John McLeod, Chesapeake Energy Corporation 

EDITOR: 

Michael Root, 

CEO, TerraQuest Corporation 

CFO, WeatherBank, Inc. 

[email protected], [email protected] 

405.359.0773 

SOCIAL CHAIR: 

Greg McMahan, SandRidge Energy, Inc. 

AAPG MID-CONTINENT REPRESENTATIVE: 

Robert D. Cowdery, Consultant 

ENERGY LIBRARIES ONLINE CHAIR: 

Suzanne Rogers, Sandstone Energy Acquisitions Corporation 

OCGS Offices and Geological Library: 

120 North Robinson, Suite 900 Center, 

Oklahoma City, OK 73102 

Phone: (405) 236-8086 | Fax: (405) 236-8085 

Website: www.ocgs.org 

Michelle Hone, 

Accounting Manager/Administrative Assistant 

Email: [email protected] 

Pam Yeakley, Library Manager, OCGS 

Email: [email protected] 

March ~ April 2013 | Page 289

Table of Contents 

The Journal of the Oklahoma City Geological Society 

Shale Shaker Features 

294 Let’s Face Atmospheric Realities —And 

Implement The Appropriate Changes Now; 

Michael Root, Editor, CEO, TerraQuest 

Corporation, Edmond, OK 

304 Oklahoma Well Status; Randy Peterson, IHS 

379 State of the Industry; Michael Root, Editor, CEO, 

TerraQuest Corporation, Edmond, OK 

Oil and Gas Exploration 

326 Characterizing a Mississippian Tripolitic Chert 

Reservoir Using 3D Unsupervised Multi-attribute 

Seismic Facies Analysis; Atish Roy, Benjamin 

L. Dowdell and Kurt J. Marfurt, ConocoPhillips 

School of Geology and Geophysics, Mewbourne 

College of Earth and Energy, The University of 

Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 

340 Why Should We Pay For A Merged Survey 

That Contains the Data We Already Have? An 

Oklahoma Red Fork Example; Yoryenys Del 

Moro, Alffredo Fernandez Abad, and Kurt J. 

Marfurt; ConocoPhillips School of Geology and 

Geophysics, Mewbourne College of Earth and 

Energy, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, 

Oklahoma 

364 Postack Acoustic Impedance Characterization 

Of A Mississippian Tripolitic Chert Reservoir, 

Osage County, Oklahoma; Benjamin L. Dowdell, 

Henry White and Kurt J. Marfurt; ConocoPhillips 

School of Geology and Geophysics, Mewbourne 

College of Earth and Energy, The University of 

Oklahoma, Norman, OKlahoma 

Our Favorite Outcrop 

316 Cold Springs Breccia; Brittany N. Pritchett, 

Oklahoma Geological Survey, Mewbourne College 

of Earth and Energy, University of Oklahoma; 

Dan S. Ambuehl, ConocoPhillips School of 

Geology and Geophysics, Mewbourne College of 

Earth and Energy, The University of Oklahoma, 

Norman, Oklahoma 

Professional Organizations 

302 Oklahoma Geological Foundation Report; 

Thomas C. Cronin, OGF Chairman, CEO, K. 

Steward Exploration LLC 

306 Oklahoma City Geological Society Officer 

Candidates - 2013-2015 

322 Geologist Wives Association; Elaine Root, 

GeoWives Shale Shaker Publicist 

Oklahoma Universities 

314 Department of Geosciences Seminar Series 

Spring 2013, The University of Tulsa 

In Remberance 

310 Charles K. Mankin 1932-2012, Kenneth S. 

Johnson, Oklahoma Geological Survey, Norman, 

Oklahoma 

Announcements 

377 6th Annual 2013 Real Deal Mid-Continent 

Prospect Expo 

About the Cover 

Michael Root creates the covers of the Shale Shaker. His cover for this Issue utilizes a 

background image of a drilling rig in the Williston Basin active in the Bakken Play. The 

image came from: 

http://www.statoil.com/en/NewsAndMedia/Multimedia/Pages/TheBakkenFormation.aspx 

The image in the foreground is of the crustal imaging facility at the ConocoPhillips School 

of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, in Norman. Graduate students 

Alfredo Fernandez, Ben Dowdell (with cap), and Atish Roy (pointing) are discussing the 

interpretation of Atish’s unsupervised 3D seismic facies classification using a vertical 

section through the attribute volume near one of the wells in the survey area. The students 

are co-authors of papers in this Issue of the Shale Shaker. 

Page 290 | March ~ April 2013

Our Favorite Outcrop 

By: Brittany N. Pritchett, Oklahoma Geological Survey, 

Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; 

Dan S. Ambuehl, ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics, Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, 

The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 

Our Favorite 

Outcrop: Cold Springs 

Breccia 

Of all the igneous formations in the Wichita 

igneous province in southwestern Oklahoma, 

one of the most interesting, bizarre, 

and beautiful is the Cold Springs Breccia 

(Figure 1). First termed the Cold Springs 

Granite by Taylor (1915), this highly variable, 

intermingled light and dark rock has 

intrigued and confounded geologists for 

nearly 100 years, however, few in-depth 

analyses have been conducted on it. The 

Cold Springs Breccia is found near Cold 

Springs, Oklahoma (Figure 2) and traditionally 

the best exposures are within private 

quarries. Our favorite outcrop, however, 

is located at SW¼ NW¼ NW¼ Sec. 

8, T. 4 N., R. 17 W. in a very accessible, 

recently expanded road cut just south of 

Roosevelt, Oklahoma on US Highway 

183. 

The Cold Springs Breccia was first systematically 

studied by Walper (1949) 

and defined by Powell et al. (1980). The 

breccia is composed of dark Otter Creek 

Microdiorite blocks in a leucogranite and 

aplite matrix. Locally an associated medium-gray 

intermediate rock forms the matrix, 

like that in our favorite outcrop. The 

mineralogy of the microdiorite is primarily 

plagioclase feldspar and hornblende 

with some biotite, quartz and clinopyroxene. 

The granites are primarily composed 

of plagioclase, quartz and potassium feldspar. 

The mineralogy of the intermediate 

rocks is between the two and contains pla- 

Figure 1: North –south outcrop of Cold Springs Breccia on the east side of US Highway 183. The road has wide shoulders for easy parking along the 

outcrop. Do be careful if crossing the street—even though there is not a lot of traffic, vehicles tend to drive very fast in this area. 


Figure 2. Generalized 

map of the Wichita 

Mountains showing 

the extent of the 

Cold Spring Breccia 

(from Vidrine and 

Fernandez, 1987). 

gioclase, quartz and potassium feldspar 

with biotite and hornblende (Vidrine and 

Fernandez, 1987). Originally termed a hybrid 

rock by Walper (1949), the intermediate 

rock was thought to be a product of 

an assimilative reaction between the microdiorite 

and the leucogranite. However, 

magma-mixing is the most commonly 

proposed mechanism for the formation 

of the intermediate rocks. A third origin 

Figure 3 . The Otter 

Creek Microdiorite (seen 

here in the intermediate 

matrix) has elongate, 

rounded shapes. Note 

that the microdiorites on 

the left have flattened 

appearances. Rock hammer 

for scale. 


My Favorite Outcrop 

Our Favorite Outcrop: Cold Springs Breccia, cont. 

Figure 4. The microdiorite fragments are much more 

angular and brecciated than in Figure 3. Rock hammer 

for scale. 

Figure 5, Close-up of the Cold Springs Breccia. 

The darkest rock shown here is the Otter Creek 

Microdiorite and the medium-gray matrix is 

the intermediate rock, which is granodioritic in 

composition. Both are intruded by late-stage felsic 

dikes seen here. Note the differential weathering of 

the more mafic rock versus the felsic rock at the top of 

the photo. Five-pound sledge hammer for scale. 

was proposed by Vidrine and Fernandez 

(1987), who suggested that the intermediate 

rocks could be a product of magmatic 

differentiation. 

Textural complexities visible in the outcrop 

compound the disputed origin of the 

breccia. One model suggests that there 

was a near simultaneous intrusion of two 

magmas (mafic and felsic) (Powell et al., 

1980), and a similar model postulates a 

near simultaneous intrusion of three different 

magmas (mafic, intermediate, and 

felsic) (Vidrine and Fernandez, 1987). Another 

model proposes that either the granitic 

or the microdioritic material intruded 

the other while one was still warm in the 

center, allowing for intrusion brecciation 


Figure 6. Large felsic dike intruding Cold Springs Breccia. 

Rock hammer for scale. 

Figure 7. Large quartz crystals surround the 

microdiorite. It is unknown whether these silicic 

zones represent the last stage of crystallization of the 

intermediate rocks or if they originated from a later 

felsic intrusion along zones of weakness. Rock hammer 

for scale. 

along cooler outer edges and plastic deformation 

in other areas. The last model 

suggests that a commingling of magmas 

occurred before intrusion (Vidrine and 

Fernandez, 1987). After looking at the 

textures visible in the Highway 183 outcrop, 

it is easy to see why its origin is still 

disputed. Many of the microdiorite inclusions 

are elongate and rounded (Figure 3), 

whereas in other places the microdiorite 

looks broken by the intermediate rock 

(Figure 4). 

Intrusive relationships show that the Cold 

Springs Breccia is younger than the Raggedy 

Mountain Gabbro Group but its age 

relative to the Wichita Granite Group is 

still uncertain. The Cold Springs Breccia 

is approximately 514 ± 10 m.y. old (Gil- 


My Favorite Outcrop 

Our Favorite Outcrop: Cold Springs Breccia, cont. 

Figure 8 . Xenolith of a gabbro from the Glen Mountains 

Layered Complex within the Otter Creek Microdiorite. 

Rock hammer for scale. 

bert, 1986). Several later felsic and mafic 

dikes intruded the formation, however, 

only felsic dikes are visible in this outcrop. 

The panoramic photo (Figure 1) was taken 

of the eastern side of the highway, which 

is a much better exposure of the Cold 

Springs Breccia than that on the western 

side. As you move from north to south 

along the outcrop, the amount of breccia 

increases. Late-stage felsic dikes cut 

the Cold Springs Breccia throughout the 

outcrop (Figures 5 and 6). In some areas 

there are large quartz crystals surrounding 

the microdiorite (Figure 7). It is unknown 

whether these silicic zones represent the 

last stage of crystallization of the intermediate 

rocks or if they originated from a 

later felsic intrusion along zones of weakness. 

Also seen at this outcrop is an uncommon 

xenolith of the Glen Mountain 

Layered Complex country rock within a 

piece of the Otter Creek Microdiorite in 

the northern part of the exposure (Figure 

8). 

Be careful viewing the outcrop during late 

spring, summer, or early fall, as rattlesnakes 

are common. If looking for more 

to do in the area, this outcrop is only about 

one hour away from Quartz Mountain 

State Park to the northwest and the Wichita 

Mountains National Wildlife Refuge to 

the east. 

Acknowledgements 

We would like to thank Dr. David London 

for introducing us to this outcrop and 

for providing valuable insight. We would 

also like to thank Dr. Charles Gilbert for 

reviewing an earlier manuscript of this article, 

helpful discussions and advice and 

Dr. Neil Suneson for helpful discussions. 

References Cited 

Gilbert, M.C., ed., 1986, Petrology of the 

Cambrian Wichita Mountain igneous 

suite: Oklahoma Geological Survey 

Guidebook 23, 198 p. 

Powell, B.N., Gilbert, M.C., and Fischer, 

J.F., 1980, Lithostratigraphic classification 

of basement rocks of the Wichita 

province, Oklahoma: Geological 

Society of America Bulletin Part II, v. 

91, 123 p. 

Taylor, C.H., 1915, Granites of Oklahoma: 

Oklahoma Geological Survey 

Bulletin 20, 110 p. 

Vidrine, D.A., and Fernandez, L.A., 1986, 

Geochemistry and petrology of the 

Cold Springs Breccia, Wichita Mountains, 

Oklahoma, in Gilbert, M.C., 

ed., Petrology of the Cambrian Wichita 

Mountain igneous suite: Oklahoma 

Geological Survey Guidebook 23, 

20 p. 

Walper, J.L., 1949, Igneous rocks of the 

Cold Springs area, Wichita Mountains, 

Oklahoma: unpublished M.S. 

thesis, University of Oklahoma, 71 p. 


Biographical Sketch 

Brittany Pritchett is a petroleum geologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey as well as the 

manager for the Devon X-Ray Diffraction laboratory at the University of Oklahoma ConocoPhillips 

School of Geology and Geophysics. She is currently working on creating a comprehensive field trip 

guide of Oklahoma and is a co-investigator on a newly funded NASA grant to further investigate 

mineral dissolution in saturated brines, specifically in relation to Mars. Brittany is from Oklahoma 

City, Oklahoma. She received her B.S. degree in Geology from the University of Oklahoma in 

May 2010 as well as her M.S. degree in May 2012. 

Brittany N. Pritchett 

Biographical Sketch 

Dan received his B.S. in Geology from the University of Oklahoma. He is currently completing a 

Master’s degree in Geochemistry studying the effects of CO 2 

bubbles on the gas hydrate formation 

and dissociation rates. He is a member and past president of the Pick and Hammer Club. He 

presented his thesis work at the American Geophysical Union annual conference in December 

2012. He has accepted a job with EOG Resources, Inc. in Oklahoma City starting July 2013. 

Dan S. Ambuehl 

2012 

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