--> Abstract: Relation Between Holocene and Tertiary Normal Faults: A Comparison of Shallow and Deep Seismic, Gravity and Images Across the Baton Rouge Fault System, Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast, Louisiana, USA, by Juan Lorenzo, Carrie Cazes, Clay Westbrook, Byron Miller, Richard P. McCullogh, Allen Lowrie, and Ivor Van Heerden; #90032 (2004)
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Previous HitRelationNext Hit Previous HitBetweenTop Holocene and Tertiary Normal Faults: A Comparison of Shallow and Deep Seismic, Gravity and Images Across the Baton Rouge Fault System, Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast, Louisiana, USA

Juan Lorenzo1, Carrie Cazes1, Clay Westbrook1, Byron Miller1, Richard P. McCullogh1, Allen Lowrie2, Ivor Van Heerden3
1 Dept. Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
2 Consultant
3 Louisiana State University, Hurricane Center

The Baton Rouge fault is part of a regional east-west trending, down-to-the-south active fault zone known as the Baton Rouge - Tepetate Fault System. This fault system traverses eastern Texas, western Louisiana (Tepetate System), eastern-to-central portions of south Louisiana (Baton Rouge System), passes eastward of the Pearl River and serves as the northern limit of St. Louis Bay, Mississippi.

At depth, this fault system exhibits late Eocene to Oligocene synextensional growth strata. Pronounced surface expression of the Baton Rouge fault indicates Holocene fault movement.

Hydrocarbon productive fields occur along the Baton Rouge fault in rollover structures downthrown to the fault. Shallow oil accumulations and hydrogeology data suggest that the fault zone once may have permitted migration of hydrocarbons updip and across the fault zone.

New models for soft-sediment deformation may be applied advantageously to explain the location of hydrocarbon fields adjacent to overlapping normal fault zones. A 100-meter wide fault zone is interpreted from 100 Hertz, high-resolution, seismic data. Together with forced folds that are expected from competent rock models, a complex sediment distribution pattern is predicted. It can be interpreted using:

  • new gravity data (+/- .01 milligal),
  • digital elevation models (LiDAR, +/- 0.3 m; Light Distance and Ranging)
  • borehole data (0-30 meters depth)

Overlapping normal fault zones divert local stream flow and concentrate local-scale sediment fluxes.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90032©2004 GCAGS 54th Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas, October 10-12, 2004