Chapter 8 - Cenozoic Depositional Synthesis and Emerging Hydrocarbon Plays

Summary

Cenozoic history of the Gulf of Mexico basin was dominated by changing rate and geography of sediment supply. Most sediment entered through eight fluvial–deltaic axes along the northern basin margin, and one axis in Campeche. Deltaic depositional systems constructed the continental platform along these axes. Strike-reworking in coastal and shelf systems infilled the bights between deltaic depocenters. Depositional offlap of delta- and shelf-fed slope aprons prograded the shelf edge about 200 km (125 miles) from its Cretaceous precursor. Abyssal plain submarine fan systems were deposited during the Paleocene and Middle Miocene–Pleistocene. Sediment bypass from basin-margin uplands directly to the deep basin dominated the western GoM until the Neogene; tectonic margin aprons and submarine channel systems dominated. Pervasive gravity and salt tectonics produced a diverse array of extensional and compressional structures. These, in turn, create a great variety of trap configurations that help make the Gulf a global petroleum giant.