Fairman Anticline

Location

Near common comer of Bond, Clinton, and Marion Counties (H-5)

References

Smoot 1958, Bristol and Buschbach 1973

Description

This anticline trends and plunges toward the northeast and is roughly parallel with the Patoka Anticline on the northwest. The Fairman is near the north end of the Du Quoin Monocline. The southeast flank of the Fairman Anticline merges with the east flank of the Du Quoin Monocline.

Structural and isopach mapping (Smoot 1958) based on abundant borehole data demonstrate that the Fairman Anticline is present at all levels from the Galena Group (Trentonian) through Pennsylvanian. Two Silurian reefs, Boulder and Patoka East, are located near the southwest and northeast ends of the Fairman Anticline. Most oil production in the Boulder and Patoka East fields is from Devonian and Mississippian rocks in structural traps overlying the reefs. Structural closure in these fields resulted from a combination of tectonic folding and drape or compaction over the reefs. Smoot surmised that the anticline is a pre-Silurian structure, where a high point on the sea floor was favorable for reef development.

See also PATOKA ANTICLINE.