--> Plates to Prospects: Interplay Between Crustal Structure and the Development of the Deepwater Fold-and-Thrust Belts Offshore Northeast Mexico

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Plates to Prospects: Interplay Between Crustal Structure and the Development of the Deepwater Fold-and-Thrust Belts Offshore Northeast Mexico

Abstract

The deepwater fold-and thrust-belts in the US-waters of the Northern Gulf of Mexico are a major hydrocarbon province containing stacked plays comprising the Cretaceous Tuscaloosa Formation, Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Formation, and Oligocene Vicksburg and Frio Formations. Attention is now focused on the southern extension of these foldbelts in relatively under-explored Mexican waters where significant acreage has been recently acquired. We make use of a large 3D seismic survey across the region to address some of the broader geological questions pertinent to exploration. At the outset, a critical step in the exploration of gravity-driven deep-water foldbelts is understanding their formation in the context of a complex translation history above Middle Jurassic Louann salt. It has been well established that margin progradation and uplift are strong drivers of foldbelt development. More recently, physical modelling has demonstrated the importance of base-salt relief. Newly reprocessed 3D seismic data across the area has allowed us to better evaluate the formation of these foldbelts in their wider geological context, especially those that extend below thick assemblages of allochthonous salt. The seismic data shows the foldbelts to be closely related with steps in the basement. Our reprocessing and interpretation of open-source potential field data has been used to investigate the relationship of basement relief with crustal structure and demonstrates that the rift-drift development of the margin had profound impact on subsequent structural development above salt, including the foldbelts and salt canopies. Finally, by use of basin modelling we illustrate how the evolution and relative timing of the foldbelts and canopies may play an important role in the timing of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion.