Print this pageDENMAN, H. EDWARD and SCOTT F. SCHOLZ
Results of a new deep water seismic effort in the Gulf of Mexico middle to
lower slope reveal the presence of a series of deep salt mats at water depths of
2500 to 7000 feet. Initial lines from a new 60,000 mile, high effort seismic
program resolves features produced by late salt movement and formation of young
traps. Examination of more recently formed sills provides keys to the mechanisms
of formation of the outer slope structures. Young basins currently down-building
into the tops of these sills represent the initiation of new sediment pathways
over the salt 
Analysis
of the salt sills suggests mechanisms of salt deformation
and sill emplacement with the youngest features forming at the Sigsbee scarp and
progressively older and more complex features observed to have been deformed as
the slope section is traversed up dip.
In certain instances, the deep water sub-salt play
can be more precisely
imaged than the older shelf counterpart. Water bottom multiples obscure the
reflectivity in sub-salt reflectors and present a significant impediment to
imaging in shallow water. The combination of deep water and shallow, relatively
thin salt allows potential reservoirs to be imaged without interference from
water-bottom multiples.