Abstract: Modern and Ancient Hurricane Deposits - Their Geological Significance

By

William Ralph Walton

The shoreline sands occurring along the coastlines of the northern Gulf of Mexico offer excellent examples of the processes that have created them and determine their distribution. Sands of such varying origin as eolian sands of the south Texas sand sheet, the burrier islands of the Central Texas Bay - Barrier Island Province, the chenier sands of southwestern Louisiana, the channel sands of the active and inactive passes of the Mississippi River delta complex, the reworked sands of the old distributary channels of the Mississippi delta, and the Mississippi-Alabama barrier island chain, are well documented in this almost unique basin of deposition. The point is strongly made that these sands are "made" by nearshore processes from other sand-containing sediments and are not deposited as such from their sources. They, in essence, are all multicycle sands.

The "normal" shoreline and nearshore processes maintain these sand deposits in their present environments. Major storms, however, completely disrupt these "normal" processes and cause unusual sand distributions. Many of the storm-caused distributions are repaired by the "normal" processes shortly after they are formed. Some, however, remain as a permanent distribution and probably are included in the geological record as such.

Many examples of sand bodies in he subsurface Tertiary of the Gulf Coast geosyncline are directly analogous to modern "normal "and "abnormal" sand bodies available for study in the northern' Gulf of Mexico. The Oligocene "Frio Barrier" in South Texas is associated with probable storm deposits and production from these deposits is discussed.

End_of_Record - Last_Page 2---------------

Copyright © 2005 by Houston Geological Society. All rights reserved.