ABSTRACT

Located 25 miles northwest of Alexandria, Louisiana, the 4-mile long Cane River Diversion Canal continuously exposes a 75-foot thick Miocene upper deltaic sequence. This outcrop permits a detailed study of the rapid lateral and vertical variations of lithologies, sedimentary structures, bed geometry, and diagenetic alterations in the depositional environments of a prograding upper deltaic sequence. From this study, the sedimentary features of channels, point bars, levees, back swamps, and lacustrine sediments have been characterized and compared to modern deltaic environments. Similar environments frequently are encountered in subsurface sections, i.e., the oil-producing Eocene Wilcox of central Mississippi and Louisiana. This study provides a model to aid the subsurface interpreter in understanding the seemingly random occurrences of lithologies and their related correlation problems.