Print this pageThe purpose of this project is to study and correlate the unconformity and associated hiatus between the Austin Chalk and overlying rock units from Eagle Pass to San Antonio; to clarify ambiguities in age relation between the Olmos and San Miguel, Olmos and Escondido formations and to evaluate the extent of the hiatus between Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary deposits in the study area. There are many contradictions regarding age assignments and lateral relationships between the above mentioned units. In order to achieve the research goals, modern concepts of sequence stratigraphy are applied using seismic stratigraphy, well log, core, and outcrop-sedimentology, combined with palynostratigraphy for high-resolution correlation of time and facies. Computer workstation-interpretation is used for the 2D and 3D seismic data. This is expected to result in a high-resolution chronostratigraphic framework, leading to achieving the above research goals with high accuracy. Moreover, the present study is an attempt to determine the effects of eustasy on the sediment distribution. This comprises finding out if the relative changes of sea level are totally due to eustatic changes of sea level or due to the combined effects of tectonism, changes in the rate of sediment supply and eustatic sea level changes. This methodology is thought to allow looking at the study area in a more fresh way. Subsequently, new plays, not outlined by the old methods will be discovered, and present plays will be re-discovered. This is because of better understanding the chronostratigraphic relationships between them within the interpreted regional chronostratigraphic framework in the study area.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90925©1999 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid