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
Abstract
Structural Overview of the Deepwater to Ultra Deepwater Northern Gulf of Mexico Area Based on a Recent Regional Seismic Program: Abstract
Abstract
This interpretation project is based on an extensive 2-D seismic program (known in the industry as "Phase 45") that consists of 60,000 line miles, covering the central and western parts of the deepwater and ultra deepwater northern Gulf of Mexico region. This paper concentrates on the central part of the project area (Garden Banks, Keathley Canyon, Green Canyon and Walker Ridge) covering 38,000 mi2 and utilizing a 4 by 4 mile recently acquired seismic grid. Four horizons have been interpreted: top and base salt along with the Discoaster surculus (DS - approximate top Pliocene) and Discoaster berggrenii (MDB - approximate top Miocene) horizons. Abundant well data, in the form of electric logs, micropaleontology and velocity data, were available in the northern Green Canyon and Garden Banks regions. All interpretation was performed on a workstation.
The mapping of these horizons shows how salt geometry changes moving from north to south. Around the continental shelf break a series of coalesced but discrete allochthonous sheets with significant intersalt basins occur. To the south a virtually continuous salt sheet, with numerous suprasalt basins, develops out to the edge of the present day northern Gulf of Mexico salt province, marked, in part, by the Sigsbee Escarpment. In these distal parts of the salt province, particularly in the Walker Ridge area, there is comparatively little sedimentary cover above the salt except where suprasalt basins have locally depressed salt. These basins have both symmetric and asymmetric geometries. The Mio-Pleistocene section is often rafted above the allochthonous salt in these basins and seems to override deeper Mio-Pleistocene identified outboard of, and carried beneath, salt.
Acknowledgments and Associated Footnotes
1 Schlumberger Geco-Prakla
2 Schlumberger Geco-Prakla
3 Schlumberger Geco-Prakla
4 Schlumberger Geco-Prakla
Copyright © 2007 by the Houston Geological Society