[1] The Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen is primarily composed of basaltic dikes, gabbros, and units of granitic rock.

[4] The aulacogen is inverted: rather than extending across the surface it penetrates into the North American craton,[3] and is aligned with the northern edge of a deeply buried Proterozoic basin of uncertain origin which may have formed through igneous layering or deposition.

This assemblage is very similar to the mid-Proterozoic age anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) complexes of North America, but for the lack of coarse massif anorthosites.

[2] More recently, different interpretations of seismic and outcrop data, as well as stratigraphy in the area have led some studies to postulate that this formation may not be an aulacogen after all, but a system of transform faults.

It is hypothesized that between the mafic and felsic stages of magmatic activity substantial uplift occurred, which correlates to the lack of coarse-grained massif anorthosites presented previously.

This coincides with the closing of the Iapetus spreading zones and the overthrusting of the Ouachita uplift over the Anadarko Basin, forming the Wichita Mountains.

As there was no major deformation of the midsection of North America during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, the aulacogen's structure and rift assembly were mostly preserved.

[5] The mafic rocks of the Southern Oklahoma aulacogen can be separated into two primary groups, the Raggedy Mountain Gabbros and the Late Diabase Dikes.

This further suggests that the area may have served as an oil formation bed before a late Ordovician fluid migration pulse.