John B. Anderson¹, Antonio Rodriguez¹, Julia Smith Wellner¹, Ken Abdulah², Laura Banfield³, Brenda Eckles³, Michelle Fassell³, Jennifer Snow³, Phil Bart⁴, Heather Anderson⁴
(1) Rice University, Houston, TX
(2) Conoco
(3) BP Amoco
(4) Louisiana State University

Abstract: Diachronous response of late Quaternary Depositional systems of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Basin to base-level and climatic change: Do sequence stratigraphic models aid in prediction of reservoir sands?

A recently completed high-resolution stratigraphic investigation of late Quaternary strata of the northern Gulf of Mexico, from the Apalachicola River to the Rio Grande, focused on characterizing deposition and strata formation associated with different fluvial systems during a single glacial eustatic cycle. Radiocarbon dates, oxygen isotopes, and faunal zones were used to construct a detailed chronostratigraphic and sea-level framework and constrain the depositional systems that were present on the shelf throughout the last eustatic cycle. One of the most interesting discoveries was the diachronous and highly episodic flux of sediment to the shelf from the different fluvial systems. Sediments are sequestered in fluvial drainage basins for most of the glacial eustatic cycle. Purging of the different drainage basins has varied with time and has occurred throughout the eustatic cycle. Thus, deposition and stratal packaging are more complex than most sequence stratigraphic models predict, but these models can be improved.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90914©2000 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana