Print this pageThe study of a sequence of five consecutive listric growth faults within the Plio-Pleistocene detachment province of the northern Gulf of Mexico in the southern additions of the Eugene Island lease blocks revised current depositional models for regions of syndepostional faulting. Revisions employ basic principles derived from sequence stratigraphy, and incorporate aspects of growth fault dominated models and mini-basin fill and spill models. Nine fourth order and four third order Pleistocene cycles are identified, recording the migration of alluvial valley, lower delta plain, and slope settings basinward as the shelf edge and associated wave dominated delta systems rapidly prograded. Sequences and their geometries are the products of the complex relationships between salt movement, fault development, glacioeustasy, and sediment supply. Timing of a glacially derived sediment supply may create thicker transgressive and highstand sequences than previously estimated. Approximately 54 sq mi of 3D seismic data, regional 2D lines, and a suite of traditional well logs are used in conjunction with biostratigraphy and sea level curves to address timing and magnitude of movement on major faults and establish links between interpreted systems tracts, depositional systems, and fault motion. Study results should have a direct bearing on the petroleum industry, improving the predictability of potential reservoir sands and adding to the sequence stratigraphic techniques used in interpreting the highly mobile strata of the Gulf and analogous basins.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90925©1999 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid