Jurassic faults of southwest Alabama and offshore areas

Conference · Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:7024824

Mink, R M; Tew, B H; Bearden, B L; Mancini, E A ^[1]

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1. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (United States)

Four fault groups affecting Jurassic strata occur in the southwest and offshore Alabama areas. They include the regional basement rift trend, the regional peripheral fault trend, the Mobile graben fault system, and the Lower Mobile Bay fault system. The regional basement system rift and regional peripheral fault trends are distinct and rim the inner margin of the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. The regional basement rift trend is genetically related to the breakup of Pangea and the opening of the Gulf of Mexico in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic. This fault trend is thought to have formed contemporaneously with deposition of Late Triassic-Early Jurassic Eagle Mills Formation and to displace pre-Mesozoic rocks. The regional peripheral fault trend consists of a group of en echelon extensional faults that are parallel or subparallel to regional strike of Gulf Coastal Plain strata and correspond to the approximate updip limit of thick Louann Salt. Nondiapiric salt features are associated with the trend and maximum structural development is exhibited in the Haynesville-Smackover section. No hydrocarbon accumulations have been documented in the pre-Jurassic strata of southwest and offshore Alabama. Productive hydrocarbon reservoirs occur in Jurassic strata along the trends of the fault groups, suggesting a significant relationship between structural development in the Jurassic and hydrocarbon accumulation. Hydrocarbon traps are generally structural or contain a major structural component and include salt anticlines, faulted salt anticlines, and extensional fault traps. All of the major hydrocarbon accumulations are associated with movement of the Louann Salt along the regional peripheral fault trend, the Mobile graben fault system, or the Lower Mobile Bay fault system.

• OSTI ID: 7024824
• Report Number(s): CONF-910403-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Vol. 75:3; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Dallas, TX (United States), 7-10 Apr 1991; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
03 NATURAL GAS
58 GEOSCIENCES
ALABAMA
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
ANTICLINES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGY
JURASSIC PERIOD
OFFSHORE SITES
PLATE TECTONICS
SALT DEPOSITS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
RESOURCES
TECTONICS
USA
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
030200 - Natural Gas- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
580000 - Geosciences