Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.10,
No.1, pp. 5-40, 1987
©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press,
Ltd.
THE STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE
GOLDEN LANE, TAMPICO EMBAYMENT, MEXICO
H. H. Wilson*
* Standard Oil Production Co.,
5151 San Felipe, PO Box 4587, Houston, Tx. 77210, USA.
Abstract
The Golden Lane oil fields of Mexico will
always hold a place of prominence in the annals of petroleum
geology. The most prolific oil-well ever drilled, Cerro Azul No.
4, was one of a string of wildcats which defined a Cretaceous
carbonate ridge that lay buried below gently-dipping Neogene
clastics on the Tampico coastal plain. Continued drilling showed
that the buried ridge had an arcuate shape, and this led to the
interpretation that the feature was a Lower Cretaceous reef. When
the Poza Rica "giant" was discovered in detrital
Cretaceous limestones west of the ridge, these were naturally
considered to be forereef talus. Later drilling offshore
discovered another string of Cretaceous carbonate traps which
joined the onshore fields to complete the circlet that became
renowned as the "Golden Lane atoll."
