New Insights into Structure and Stratigraphy of the Northern Gulf of Mexico

A new look at the Gulf of Mexico will be presented based on interpretation of mega-regional, seismic line composites made up of reprocessed PSDM legacy onshore data (sourced from SEI and GPI), newly acquired ocean bottom cable data and marine streamer data acquired and processed by ION/GX Technology as a continuation of the GulfSPAN™ project. The lines span on the order of over 300 miles (500 km) from onshore Texas and Louisiana to the ultra-deep water and finally show the full size of the geologic features. These lines offer the interpreter an unprecedented view of the mega-structural and stratigraphic features of the Gulf of Mexico. Key lines from this composite dataset link robust, onshore shelf lowstand wedges to deep water sediments and image, more clearly, criteria for deep structural styles and salt remobilization events. Structural styles of the western and eastern central Gulf are contrasted and the mega-regional, 2D, long-offset PSDM data provide advances to the interpretation of the Paleogene and Miocene of the Gulf of Mexico. Robust Wilcox shelf edges persist into Louisiana and the Paleogene and Mesozoic section is mapped from shelf edge into the abyssal plain. A sub-salt weld Miocene play in the eastern central Gulf area is clearly imaged. The interpretation highlights gravity forces that have affected the section, and includes the delineation of prominent extensional faults that sole-out at major detachment levels and are linked to a newly recognized Paleogene thrust belt as well as to previously documented Oligo-Miocene contractional belts. Significant lateral translation occurs along multiple levels of detachment surfaces, especially in the western Gulf area. The Louisiana offshore extension is also significant but exhibits a different style, and also drives deep water fold belts.