Geohazards in Green Canyon, Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

The mapping of shallow geohazards often demands special site surveys which provide sufficient resolution to delineate the hazards. Often, however, shallow geohazards are directly linked to deeper geological structures, which makes a seamless investigation from the seafloor down to deep geological structures desirable. The main obstacle preventing this seamless analysis has been insufficient signal-to-noise ratio, and low vertical and lateral resolution of geophysical data. A new method for analysis and interpretation is presented which maps the geophysical data into the color domain, allows the extraction of geological structures, and provides color texturing for the results. With this method the geologist can interpret geophysical data in a color environment, and obtain results which resemble the clarity and interpretability of satellite images for subsurface geological structures. Seafloor instabilities, shallow faults, and gas hydrates are delineated and studied in their structural and depositional context, providing a geological background for geohazard assessment from 3D geophysical data.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90216 ©2015 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Denver, CO., May 31 - June 3, 2015