--> 2-D Seismic Reflection Imaging of the Bennett Thrust Fault in the Indio Mountains of West Texas

AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition

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2-D Seismic Reflection Imaging of the Bennett Thrust Fault in the Indio Mountains of West Texas

Abstract

We will present results from a 1-km long, 2-D seismic reflection line across the Bennett Thrust Fault in the Indio Mountains of southwest Texas, 34 kilometers southwest of Van Horn at the UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) Field Station. Active sources used in this survey included 100 one-third-pound explosions and a higher frequency dataset produced from 500 sledge-hammer blows at the same 100 source points (5 blows will be stacked at each source point). Receivers included 200 Reftek 125A (“Texan”) stand-alone seismometers. The dominant regional lithologies comprise a transgressive sequence nearly 2 km in total stratigraphic thickness, formed by extensional processes. The stratigraphic sequence is an analog for similar areas that are ideal for petroleum reservoirs, such as reservoirs off the coasts of Brazil and Angola. The area is highly faulted with multiple fault generations. The youngest fault is a large northwest striking, southwest-side down normal fault named the Indio Fault. The Indio Fault cuts a number of major thrust belts that formed during the northeast directed thrusting during the Laramide Orogeny. I will be imaging the Bennett Thrust Fault, a northwest striking fault with a dip to the northeast. I aim to determine the near-surface geometries of the Bennett Thrust Fault and accompanying rock units. While there are no petroleum plays in the Indio Mountains region, imaging and understanding subsurface structural and lithological geometries and how that geometry directs potential fluid flow has implications for other regions with petroleum plays.