--> Abstract: Early Mesozoic Structure and Stratigraphy of the Northwestern Florida Shelf, by B. K. Reitz; #91004 (1991)

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Early Mesozoic Structure and Stratigraphy of the Northwestern Florida Shelf

REITZ, BRUCE K., Conoco Inc., Houston, TX

The pre-Mesozoic basement of the northwestern Florida shelf is composed of attenuated continental crust deformed during the late Triassic and Early Jurassic rifting of the Gulf of Mexico. Two distinct areas with different rift basin orientations are defined on the northwestern Florida shelf. The northeastern set of rifts has axes parallel to the rift basins of the Atlantic margin. The southwestern rift axes are orthogonal to the first set. These two areas are separated

by an undisturbed northwest-southeast linear zone previously termed the Bahamas fault zone. Margins of a major asymmetric rift basin, north of the Middle Ground arch, parallel the Bahamas fault zone. The asymmetric plan view and degree of crustal extension calculated for this basin suggests the Middle Ground arch formed by a counterclockwise rotation of 16 degrees. The geometries of the Upper Jurassic postrift sediments are related to rift morphology. Louann Salt updip limits are parallel to or coincident with the margins of the rift basins and the salt is thickest over the deepest portions of the rift basins. The distribution of Smackover-Haynesville and Cotton Valley Group sediments is strongly influenced by the underlying rift basins.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)