Structure Maps of the Top-Rift Unconformity/Oceanic Crust and Top Cretaceous Surfaces, and the Oxfordian Rift-Drift Reconstruction, Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

The ION seismic datasets in and around the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) now comprise the deep penetration depth imaged offshore GulfSPAN and FloridaSPAN surveys, the reprocessed pre-stack depth migrated data from onshore (GulfSPAN Land, FloridaSPAN Land), as well as offshore from both the US and Mexican sides of the GoM (YucatánSPAN), plus a regional refraction profile from the East Texas Basin to the U.S./Mexico border in the GoM abyssal plain (LithoSPAN). These data permit basement structural geometries and other deep reflectors to be constrained in relation to models for passive margin formation and tectonic evolution of the GoM. In this paper, these data are used in parallel with an aeromagnetic survey of the GoM (Pindell et al., in prep; aeromagnetic map not shown here), which provides an independent means by which to map the continent-ocean boundaries and the seafloor spreading fabric in the central deep GoM. All these data are remarkably compatible and can be readily integrated to provide an internally consistent and comprehensive view of the tectonic framework and Jurassic evolution of the greater GoM.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90219 © 2015 GCAGS, Houston, Texas, September 20-22, 2015