Abstract

The study area is located within the Mad Dog development area in the Gulf of Mexico. Several studies have been carried out in the area, including the use of coherence and seismic amplitudes to identify fan sands behind the prominent Sigsbee Escarpment. This paper focuses on integrating seismic attributes and age dates to infer the depositional history of one of the fan systems landward of the escarpment, and is based on data sets licensed to the University of Houston by BP America, Inc.

The detailed architectural and facies analysis of the fan system (a channel-lobe complex) was interpreted using 3D high-resolution seismic imaging and seismic attributes. Integration of the seismic facies analysis with biostratigraphic ages was used to infer the prevalent geologic processes and thus the depositional history of the system.

The study revealed the channel-lobe complex to consist of multiple smaller splays, the youngest of which is very similar to a turbulent jet plume model based on flume studies. Deposition was mainly controlled by the interaction of changing sea level, sedimentation rates, and salt movement. Age dates of bounding markers reveal that the channel-lobe complex was probably initiated and deposited during a period of lowstand to rising sea level (oxygen-isotope stages 14 and 13).