Effect of slope processes on shallow salt body orientation, northwest Gulf of Mexico

Conference · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:6729395

Fiduk, J C ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Austin (USA)

Detailed structure mapping, using 7,000 km of multifold seismic data of the salt along the upper slope within the Garden Banks and East Breaks areas of the northwest Gulf of Mexico has identified three basic types of salt structures: (1) diapirs, (2) ridges, and (3) sheets. These interpreted salt structures are a direct response to differential loading by prograding sediments and have both strike and dip orientations. The dip orientations indicate that strike-oriented structures may have been modified by slope processes (i.e., the downslope gravity mass transport of sediment). Seismic sequence analysis of surrounding intraslope basins reveals the presence of one large, infilled, submarine canyon directly downdip from a large shelf-edge delta. This canyon runs downslope parallel to several dip-oriented salt ridges, but has an erosional relationship with several intervening strike-oriented salt structures. The associations observed between this canyon and the dip-oriented salt structures, in an area where strike-oriented structures should dominate, suggest that erosion and sediment loading associated with sediments moving downslope may have created these dip-oriented salt bodies in three ways: (1) by erosionally dissecting strike-oriented bodies, (2) by dissecting strike-oriented bodies through direct sediment loading, or (3) by thrusting salt from strike oriented features by updip sediment loading. Dip-oriented salt structures, therefore, may indicate dominant sediment transportation pathways, where coarse clastic sediments are carried from the shelf edge into deep water.

• OSTI ID: 6729395
• Report Number(s): CONF-900605--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Journal Volume: 74:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
CARIBBEAN SEA
DEPOSITION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
GULF OF MEXICO
MINERAL RESOURCES
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
SALT DEPOSITS
SEAS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SURFACE WATERS
SURVEYS