Ahh now I get it.
And that's why we need more geology classes -- otherwise a guy like me has to read the abstract three times in order to have any idea what it actually says. Reminds me of an instructor who once told me that his goal as an educator wasn't necessarily infusing me with a bunch of knowledge that I'd likely just end up forgetting but rather to 1) impart the nomenclature of one's profession -- that I had to be able to "speak it" and 2) help me know where to be able to find the information that I otherwise don't have at my immediate disposal. If an educator accomplishes those two goals his/her students will be well served.
But back to the abstract -- what is amazing about Arkansas is that it was once an ocean bed, an estuary, a delta plain, and then a seabed again, then high plains, then mountains, then... over time its had fresh water deposits and saline deposits and everything in between. The fossil record tells of many environmental changes over the eons.
One of the things I have been interested in is Mazarn creek that lies within the Ouachitas -- for in essence this lowly stream (how dare me describe any stream as 'lowly') it is a rift zone that represents the collision of South America with what is now the Gulf Coast that gave form to the Ouachita mountains. If you haven't already stumbled upon this link, check it out: Ouachita System.
