Norphlet Formation (Upper Jurassic) - Berg - Hughes Center

886 Norphlet Formation (Upper Jurassic), AlabamaO .•••'i-.'". •-:.J4.--:-*.,S* j'1oH^-^1.0 IN.2.5 CMFigure 5—Photographs of core slabs illustrating sedimentary structures of Norphlet Formation in southwestern and offshore Alabama.(A) Marine shoreface sandstone depicting massive nature, Getty Creola Minerals 33-101 well, Mobile County, depth 18,440 ft(5,620.5 m). (B) Eolian dune sandstone depicting bimodal high-angle foreset laminae, Getty Peter Klein 3-141 well, Mobile County,depth 18,400 ft (5,608.3 m). (C) Eolian dune sandstone depicting planar and high-angle, bimodal foreset laminae, Mosbacher PowellGas Unit 19-41 well, Escambia County, depth 15,488 ft (4,720.7 m). (D) Marine shoreface sandstone depicting wavy horizontal laminations,Mosbacher Powell Gas Unit 19-41 well, Escambia County, depth 15,430 ft (4,703.1 m). (E) Eolian sandstone depicting horizontalto low-angle laminae, Getty Peter Klein 3-14 1, Mobile County, depth 18,307 ft (5,580.0 m). (F) Eolian sandstone depictingripple laminae, Getty Creola Minerals 35-112 well Mobile County, depth 18,448 ft (5,623.0 m).updip with respect to Norphlet sediment deposition. Thepaleogeographic setting and arid climate for Norphlet sedimentaccumulation, in addition to the sedimentary characteristicsof the conglomeratic sandstones, suggest thatthis lithofacies was deposited as coalescing alluvial fanssimilar to the bajada sediments accumulating today at thebase ofthe Oman Mountains, Persian Gulf along the TrucialCoast (Glennie, 1972), and at the base of the crystallinehighlands of the peninsular ranges, Baja California,Mexico (Walker, 1967).The restricted updip distribution of these deposits inassociation with apparent pre-Jurassic paleohighs andJurassic highs, the presence of granule to cobble-size clastsof chert, shale, quartzite, granite, and rhyolite (Figure