28 BOONE PICKENS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY “The BPSoG Wichita Mountains Task Force” James H. Knapp and Brandon Spencer Beginning in early 2023, Drs. Jim Knapp and Brandon Spencer launched a new undergraduate research initiative in the Boone Pickens School of Geology, the Wichita Mountains Task Force (WMTF), to revisit the origin and evolution of the Wichita Mountains and the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen in southwestern Oklahoma. Long held up as the type example of a failed continental rift, this tectonic system appears to bear little resemblance to well-known failed rift systems in other parts of the world. In cooperation with the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, and supported by the Boone Pickens Distinguished Geoscience Chair, this study aims to place new constraints from modern geobarometric, geothermometric, and geochronologic techniques on the depths of crustal emplacement for the Cambrian magmatic system which makes up the core of the Wichita Mountains. In addition, we are reassessing the role that small- and large-scale faults may have played in the evolution of this tectonic province, and re-evaluating previous geophysical studies for their bearing on crustal-scale structure. To date, six of our BPSoG undergraduate students are involved in the project, including Mr. Bryston Smith, Mr. Hudson Moseby, Mr. Ian Kallenberg, Ms. Jacqueline MacGregor, Ms. Emily Tompkins, and Mr. Jason Bryant. These students will all be presenting the results of their undergraduate research efforts in a theme session entitled “New Insights on the Wichita Mountains: A Failed Aulacogen?” at the 2024 Joint North-Central South-Central Section Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Springfield, MO April 21-23. Wichita Mountains Task Force with Dr. John Hogan (Missouri University of Science and Technology). Pictured (L to R) are Bryston Smith, Hudson Moseby, Dr. Hogan, Jacqueline MacGregor, Dr. Jim Knapp, Will Glathar, Ian Kallenberg, Dr. Brandon Spencer, Emily Tompkins, and Jason Bryant. BPSoG in the Field
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAxMjk=