Louisiana slope salt-ridge continuity confirmed
The Louisiana offshore is a world-class hydrocarbon province. Abundant reservoirs develop as the result of interaction between salt tectonics and sedimentation. Thus, it is essential to know both regional and local characteristics of the extent and timing of salt tectonics as an aid in hydrocarbon exploration. Exploration mythology mandates that salt domes and ridges are virtually random across the slope area. In sharp contrast, the authors describe a definite pattern to the salt ridges of slightly concave (to the north) arcs, with the southernmost arc located along the Sigsbee Escarpment and the northernmost along the shelf break. Furthermore, salt domes may not be truly randomly located but rather part of ancestral or existent salt ridges. Confirming data are provided by dip bathymatric and seismic profiles. The bathymetric profiles are at 5-mi (8-km) spacings from 1987 published charts of the Gulf of Mexico. Dip seismic lines reveal that bathymetric highs are associated with underlying salt. Buried salt accumulations are surficially expressed by actual ridges and domes, a leveling of sea floor, or a local decrease in the rate of regional slope descent. Salt is the Neogene-age basement of the Louisiana slope. The existence of an overall salt-ridge pattern implies that there is a single dynamic geologic system controlling the evolution of this slope. As salt tectonic rates and timing are deciphered for specific sites along dip, intervening rates may be interpolated to unmapped zones. Confirming an overall salt tectonic pattern is mandatory prior to quantifying regional and specific rates for the whole slope.
- OSTI ID:
- 5799328
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-890404-
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bull.; (United States), Vol. 73:3; Conference: AAPG annual convention with DPA/EMD Divisions and SEPM, San Antonio, TX, USA, 23-26 Apr 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Hydrocarbon traps within passive-margin evolution of Louisiana
Interpretation of sea-floor processes in Gulf of Mexico using GLORIA side-scan sonar system
Related Subjects
LOUISIANA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
EXPLORATION
GULF OF MEXICO
OFFSHORE SITES
RESERVOIR ROCK
SALT DEPOSITS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
TECTONICS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
CARIBBEAN SEA
FEDERAL REGION VI
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
RESOURCES
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
SURVEYS
USA
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration