As the energy quest probes deeper into the oceanic environment, enormous depositional anticlines formed by deep current action are being documented, and certain of these with favorable rock properties beckon the explorationist.

Wind-driven surface currents such as the Gulf Stream can shape these anticlines at the outer edges of detrital sedimentation, where high-velocity currents sweep the bases of continental slopes. Similarly, the "bottom" currents, which are moving at slower velocities deeper on the continental rises, will form varied anticlinal profiles characteristic of particular bottom conditions. Redistributed terrigenous materials, which in great part compose these anticlines, are carried into both current systems by spasmodic gravity sliding and turbidity currents.

A striking example of wind-driven current deposition is present in the Florida Strait where calcareous sands from the Florida reef area are swept by the Gulf Stream along a trough, thence onto a broad anticlinal rise. Examples typifying "bottom" current anticlines are numerous in the North Atlantic, and deep-water coring programs have partly documented their sediments.

A wind-driven current origin can explain plausibly the Poza Rica trend in Mexico. As the Golden Lane Reef contributed its Tamabra talus downslope into swift currents of the Chicontepec foredeep, anticlines were shaped at the base of the slope. Similar origins are suggested for other examples in the geologic record.

Significant reserves in anticlines formed by forceful currents will be found beyond the reefs and laterally away from the deltas in the deep environment where the subtle character of these features must come to be recognized. Reservoirs such as Poza Rica attest to the excellent structural and reservoir qualities which can be realized in an inspired search for such targets.

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