Benton Anticline (New)
Location
Eastern T5 and 6S, R2E, Franklin County (I, J-6)
References
Howell 1948, Cameron 1951, Parkison 1957
Description
This anticline is partly responsible for the trapping of hydrocarbons in the Benton Oil Field. Treworgy (1981) listed it as a "significant unnamed structure." The Benton Anticline is named after the city and oil field. Cameron (1951) and Parkison (1957) provided structure maps showing a north-trending anticline with about 70 feet (21 m) of closure in the productive Tar Springs Sandstone (Chestenan) in the Benton Oil Field. Some of the apparent closure is due to stratigraphic thickening of the Tar Springs. The Benton Anticline also exists, however, on the underlying Beech Creek ("Barlow") Limestone and continues beyond the limits of the Benton Oil Field. On the Beech Creek (ISGS open files), the anticline is about 7 miles (11 km) long and has two separate areas of closure. Anticlinal nosing continues another 6 miles (10 km) southward from the area of closure.
Maps by Keys and Nelson (1980) show that the Benton Anticline is well developed on the Walche Limestone Member of the Menard Formation (Chesterian), but has little or no relief on the Herrin Coal Member (Pennsylvanian). This evidence implies that major uplift of the Benton Anticline was post-Chesterian, pre-middle Pennsylvanian (fig. 18).
