--> Geology & Hydrocarbon Potential of Paleozoic Sedimentary Succession, US Gulf Coastal Province

2020 AAPG Hedberg Conference:
Geology and Hydrocarbon Potential of the Circum-Gulf of Mexico Pre-salt Section

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Geology & Hydrocarbon Potential of Paleozoic Sedimentary Succession, US Gulf Coastal Province

Abstract

Within the northernmost Gulf of Mexico Basin in the United States, below the Early Mesozoic syn-rift section there are places where unmetamorphosed upper Paleozoic (Pennsylvanian-lowermost Permian) shallow marine sedimentary rocks have been penetrated by various wells. They are interpreted to have been deposited in successor/piggyback basins that developed just after the Gondwana-Laurentia continental collision that created the Ouachita/Marathon orogenic belt and extend from south Arkansas/north Louisiana southwestward into Texas and perhaps adjacent parts of northern Mexico. Though lacking outcrops, a few old wells have penetrated this upper Paleozoic sedimentary section. No discoveries have yet been made, but the upper Paleozoic play in the Gulf of Mexico Basin is extremely underexplored. In addition, interpretation of deep seismic profiles and potential fields data suggest that a thick section of Cambrian-Mississippian sedimentary rocks may also exist, part of the southern passive margin of Laurentia that was overridden by the “Ouachita Facies” accretionary prism during the assembly of Pangea.