Massive siliciclastic deposits juxtaposed against massive carbonate bodies: paradox of eastern Gulf of Mexico

Conference · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6177329

Doyle, L J

The eastern Gulf of Mexico is the location of a major and dramatic transition from siliciclastic to carbonate deposits and deposition. The region now occupied by the continental margin of the eastern Gulf has been cut off from clastic sedimentation since Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous time, and over 5000 m (16,404 ft) of predominantly carbonate sediments have built up. Surficial sediments of the carbonate portion of the transition zone are called the West Florida Lime Mud Facies. A foraminifera-coccolith ooze is still being deposited in water depths as shallow as 200 m (656 ft); this facies covers over 40,000 km/sup 2/ (15,444 mi/sup 2/) and in many respects resembles a deep-sea ooze. Composition, rates of accumulation, and relatively shallow deposition suggest that this sedimentary body may be an analog of some of the chalk deposits of northwestern Europe. The actual contact between carbonates and siliciclastics occurs in a variety of styles. Carbonate rubble is found in a terrigenous lutite matrix at the base of the West Florida Escarpment. Farther west on the Mississippi Cone the brown and yellow-brown siliceous lutites contain carbonate turbidites with provenance the West Florida slope. Another type of contact is shown in some piston cores with carbonate ooze in normal and alternating depositional contact with Mississippi siliceous lutite. The position and timing of alternating carbonate and fine terrigenous deposition, as well as the loci of carbonate buildups on the slope, must be affected and perhaps even controlled by the positioning of the Loop Current, a major precursor to the Gulf Stream, irregularly advances into or retreats from the eastern Gulf.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Southern Florida, St. Petersburg
• OSTI ID: 6177329
• Report Number(s): CONF-8304200-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 67:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580100* -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
ATLANTIC OCEAN
CARIBBEAN SEA
CORRELATIONS
DEPOSITION
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GULF OF MEXICO
ROCKS
SEAS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTATION
SEDIMENTS
SURFACE WATERS