ABSTRACT: Lateral Correlation Trends in Bedded and Massive Turbidites, with an Example From De Gray Lake, Arkansas

DE VRIES, MICHAEL B., Exxon Exploration Company, Houston, TX, and ARNOLD H. BOUMA, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

Data collection methods for modern and ancient turbidite systems are necessarily different. Therefore, the integration of data sets from both types of systems is desirable if lithofacies and surface morphological models are to be linked. To achieve this, two activities have to be dealt with: (1) outcrops in ancient turbidite systems must be correlated laterally in sufficient detail to establish a framework to aid the interpretation of subenvironments that build the turbidite system, and (2) modern and subsurface turbidite systems must be extensively cored and described. The first approach can be accomplished only in a few turbidite systems that are relatively well exposed, with outcrops exposing thick sections of turbidites having an equally thick correlative.

Field studies on the parallel outcrops of the Jackfork Group in the DeGray Lake spillway clearly demonstrate that direct correlation of individual layers is not possible because of rapid lateral changes that can occur. However, pattern recognition works well. This example also demonstrates that the degree of correlation may be a means to better identify the depositional subenvironment.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91014©1992 AAPG GCAGS and GC-SEPM Meeting, Jackson, Mississippi, October 21-23, 1992 (2009)