Testing a seismic interpretation of Great Bahama Bank with a computer simulation
Journal Article
·
· AAPG Bulletin
OSTI ID:75750
- Univ. of Miami, FL (United States)
- Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia (United States)
Sixty million years of carbonate deposition were simulated to test an interpretation of platform development based on seismic data and limited well control from northwestern Great Bahama Bank. Seismic profiles of the northwestern Great Bahama Bank document the lateral growth potential of isolated platforms that were welded together by progradation to form the modern bank. The mechanism the authors proposed responsible for an evolution from aggradation to progradation was sediment overproduction on the platform, the excess of which was transported offbank and which caused a decrease in accommodation space on the marginal slope. Progradation occurred in pulses that were interpreted to be the result of third-order sea level fluctuations. To evaluate the proposed mechanism, 15 input parameters were used to model the platform evolution. The simulation program, which uses empirical relationships to model basin fill, successfully reproduced the geometries seen on the seismic lines, indicating that the proposed interplay of mechanisms could have built the observed platform architecture. The simulation demonstrated, in particular, that in a setting like the Bahamas, a basin must be substantially filled before progradation can take place, and that sea level changes can drive the pulses of progradation. This implies that laterally stacked sequences often contain the record of sea level changes, and therefore have potential use in sequence stratigraphy.
- OSTI ID:
- 75750
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 78; ISSN 0149-1423; ISSN AABUD2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Role of Cenozoic progradation in evolution of Great Bahama Bank
Simulation of the response of carbonate sequences to Eustatic Sea level changes (Tertiary, northwest Great Bahama Bank): A scheme for enhancing seismic interpretation
Accumulation of bank-top sediment on the western slope of Great Bahama Bank: Rapid progradation of a carbonate megabank
Conference
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Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987
· AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States)
·
OSTI ID:6151201
Simulation of the response of carbonate sequences to Eustatic Sea level changes (Tertiary, northwest Great Bahama Bank): A scheme for enhancing seismic interpretation
Conference
·
Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990
· AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)
·
OSTI ID:6744948
Accumulation of bank-top sediment on the western slope of Great Bahama Bank: Rapid progradation of a carbonate megabank
Journal Article
·
Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990
· Geology; (USA)
·
OSTI ID:6314128