ABSTRACT

The Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Regional Office of the Minerals Management Service has been conducting detailed stratigraphic correlations of the Texas/Louisiana Outer Continental Shelf for the past several years as a part of the geological and geophysical effort of the Resource Evaluation program. In late 1985, the Minerals Management Service will publish an atlas titled Correlation of the Cenozoic Sediments of the Guy of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Part I, Galveston Area Offshore Texas through Vermilion Area Offshore Louisiana. Part II will extend down the Texas Coast to Port Isabel and Part III will extend eastward beyond the Main Pass Area.

The primary objective of the stratigraphic study is to establish a regional stratigraphic correlation grid including all major productive intervals based upon electric logs, seismic and paleontological data. Twenty-five stratigraphic horizons have been identified and regionally correlated. With the cooperation of industry, key portions of Minerals Management Service's large proprietary data base in addition to publicly available information, were incorporated into this publication. Work on Part I includes the detailed analyses of more than 1,500 wells, three quarters of which had paleontologic data, and the interpretation of 12,000 line miles of seismic data.

The correlations of regional markers are persented on both electric log (geological) cross sections and on seismic sections which closely parallel the geological cross sections. The regional markers correlated on electric logs were projected on to nearby seismic sections and correlated from well to well to verify the accuracy of the electric log correlations. Timedepth values were calculated from bore hole velocity surveys and/or integrated sonic logs.

Approximately 33 electric log and 42 seismic sections have been constructed. The final sections will be presented in color to enchance the visual quality of the presentation.