About This Item
- Full text of this item is not available.
- Abstract PDFAbstract PDF(no subscription required)
Share This Item
The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: The Structural Evolution of the
Golden Lane Area, Mexico
By
The discovery well for the Old Golden Lane was drilled in
1908. Follow-up wells quickly defined a buried Cretaceous
carbonate ridge.
This narrow buried ridge was interpreted as a structural
feature with some crossing faults. As drilling proceeded, an
alternate interpretation emerged in 1923 describing the carbonate
ridge as a huge buried Cretaceous reef. The reef concept quickly gained favor and was
reinforced by subsequent drilling results which defined the Tamabra fore-reef
apron on the west
and lagoonal back-reef evaporites on the east. Continued drilling revealed the
New Golden Lane and
then the Marine Golden Lane offshore which joined the Old
and New Golden Lanes to form the Middle Cretaceous Golden
Lane Atoll. However, geological investigation suggests that this
popular concept of the nature of the Golden Lane is erroneous and its application as an analog for exploration may be very
misleading. Interpretations of the Golden Lane "Atoll" generally are
supported by illustrations of present day geometry and attempts to unravel its structural history
have been discouraged
by the lack of reliable time stratigraphic control of the
varying Cretaceous and Tertiary facies. Furthermore, seismic
data quality is adversely affected by fracturing and injection of
numerous Neogene dikes and plugs.
Paleostructural reconstructions on an Oligocene datum
show that the present day Golden Lane is an inverted
Oligocene syncline which plunged westward Strong positive
features present to the east in Oligocene time collapsed in the
Neogene as the Gulf basin developed. The east side of the
"Atoll" is a Neogene fault contact.
In late Cretaceous time strong positives were present
north and south of the Golden Lane and at least one east-west
horst block was uplifted north of Poza Rica. Paleontological data show that much of the El Abra and
Tamabra carbonates are of late Cretaceous age. The presence
of bentonite intervals in the El Abra of the Golden Lane and the Tamabra also suggest a late
Cretaceous age by reference to
both local and regional volcanogenic history. Age relationships in the Cretaceous
are confused by fossil
reworking. The presence of Jurassic detritus in the Tamabra
casts doubt on its Golden Lane provenance. Tectofacies, volcanicity,
unconformities and structural
growth indicate an active structural environment during the
late Cretaceous which lends more support to a structural than
passive carbonate build-up interpretation for the Golden Lane.
Late Cretaceous and Tertiary structural history in the
Tampico embayment also point to an active, probable extensional
tectonic evolution of the southwestern Gulf of Mexico
during that period rather than the post-Jurassic quiescence
interpreted from seismic-stratigraphic studies. End_of_Record - Last_Page 3---------------