--> Bathymetric Characteristics of the Continental Slope, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico, by J-Y. Liu; #90986 (1994).

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Abstract: Bathymetric Characteristics of the Continental Slope, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Jia-Yuh Liu

Before 1990, the bathymetric maps for the Gulf of Mexico were from single wide-beam sounding systems and had a spatial resolution of 8-14 km. From 1984 to 1991, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted bathymetric survey on the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the northern Gulf of Mexico using a hull-mounted multibeam echo sounding system called "Sea Beam." Selected soundings of the Sea Beam data, with a grid of 15 s (approx. 400+ m) in longitude and latitude, were released at the end of 1992.

In July 1993, the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University received the full resolution soundings of the Sea Beam data from National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). Based on the full resolution data, part of the NOAA survey, 93-90° W longitude and 25.6-28° N latitude, has been compiled with a spatial resolution of 50 m. The high resolution bathymetric data plus computer animated flyby demonstrates the detailed bathymetry and 3-D imaging of intraslope basins and the Sigsbee Escarpment.

Data analysis and modeling was based on GRASS, a geographic information system developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Labs in Champaign, Illinois. Contour maps and slope gradient charts have been generated for the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Steeper than expected slope angles have been revealed. Through image analysis techniques, numerous basins, mounds, and channels have been identified on the continental slope. Basin types have been classified and correlated according to individual basin size, shape, and their relationship with halokinesis.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994