Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.10, No.1, pp. 5-40, 1987

©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press, Ltd.

THE STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE GOLDEN LANE, TAMPICO EMBAYMENT, MEXICO

H. H. Wilson*

* Standard Oil Production Co., 5151 San Felipe, PO Box 4587, Houston, Tx. 77210, USA.

Abstract

The Golden Lane oil fields of Mexico will always hold a place of prominence in the annals of petroleum geology. The most prolific oil-well ever drilled, Cerro Azul No. 4, was one of a string of wildcats which defined a Cretaceous carbonate ridge that lay buried below gently-dipping Neogene clastics on the Tampico coastal plain. Continued drilling showed that the buried ridge had an arcuate shape, and this led to the interpretation that the feature was a Lower Cretaceous reef. When the Poza Rica "giant" was discovered in detrital Cretaceous limestones west of the ridge, these were naturally considered to be forereef talus. Later drilling offshore discovered another string of Cretaceous carbonate traps which joined the onshore fields to complete the circlet that became renowned as the "Golden Lane atoll."