High-resolution seismic, and engineering borehole data were integrated to interpret the shallow seismic stratigraphy of the Mississippi River delta front. Three seismic stratigraphic units have revealed the transgressive-regressive depositional sequences associated with late Pleistocene glacio-eustatic changes in sea level. Each of the stratigraphic groups was found to consist of a lower clayey unit and an upper fine-sand and shell unit. Paleotopographic maps of the stratigraphic units reveal the morphology of the former continental shelves. Structural features observed within the delta front area include shelf-edge growth faults, a salt diapir, and an extensive erosional unconformity which is believed to be the result of a large slide mass of early Holocene age.

The modern, prodeltaic sedimentary wedge includes up to 100 m of soft, underconsolidated, gas-bearing silty clays, deposited during the past 500 years. The thickness of this unit within the delta-front area has been mapped.

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