ABSTRACT

New geochemical, geological, and well-production data indicate a Mesozoic hydrocarbon source for many younger reservoirs in central Louisiana and southwest Mississippi. A Jurassic source has been determined for several Cretaceous reservoirs in oil and gas fields of northeast Louisiana.

The characteristic Wilcox, Sparta, and Frio biomarker, Bisnorhopane, identified in Austin Chalk oils from southwest Mississippi, links these Mesozoic and Tertiary oils. Cross-plots of ¹³C_AROM versus ¹³C_SAT indicate an Upper Jurassic (Smackover) and Lower Cretaceous source for certain Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary oils. However, the pristane/nC₁₇ ratio versus ¹³C_SAT cross-plot indicates Wilcox and Sparta oils are heavily biodegraded Mesozoic (Lower Cretaceous) oils.

There is an absence of gas accumulations in central Louisiana and southwest Mississippi in Midway, Wilcox, and Sparta reservoirs updip from coeval gas-prone source rocks. This is an indication of (1) a sealing regional fault system and/or stratigraphic migration barrier paralleling the Paleocene-Eocene shelf edge or (2) an earlier selective escape via vertical migration pathways.

Vertical migration of hydrocarbons in northeast Louisiana, central Louisiana, and southwest Mississippi was accomplished primarily through fracture systems caused by wrench faulting; to the south and west, salt tectonics and related normal faulting played significant roles in the process. In onshore and offshore south Louisiana, normal faulting and salt-related tectonics created primary migration pathways.

Regional hydrocarbon generation-migration patterns differ conceptually from those illustrated in previous models employing long-range migration based primarily on geochemical considerations. This new interpretation integrates geochemical, geological, and production data useful in identifying new exploration plays in north and central Louisiana and in southwest Mississippi.