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The Gulf of Mexico Basin THE GULF OF MEXICO BASIN . »1 .llr.. The Geology of North America Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 The Geology of North America Volume J The Gulf of Mexico Basin Edited by Amos Salvador Department of Geological Sciences The University of Texas at Austin P.O. Box 7909 Austin, Texas 78713-7909 1991 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Acknowledgment Publication of this volume, one of the synthesis volumes of The Decade of North American Geology Project series, has been made possible by members and friends of the Geological Society of America, corporations, and government agencies through contributions to the Decade of North American Geology fund of the Geological Society of America Foundation. Following is a list of individuals, corporations, and government agencies giving and/or pledging more than $50,000 in support of the DN AG Project: Amoco Production Company Pennzoil Exploration and ARCO Exploration Company Production Company Chevron Corporation Phillips Petroleum Company Cities Service Oil and Gas Company Shell Oil Company Diamond Shamrock Exploration Caswell Silver Corporation Standard Oil Production Company Exxon Production Research Company Oryx Energy Company (formerly Getty Oil Company Sun Exploration and Production Gulf Oil Exploration and Production Company) Company Superior Oil Company Paul V. Hoovler Tenneco Oil Company Kennecott Minerals Company Texaco, Inc. Kerr McGee Corporation Union Oil Company of California Marathon Oil Company Union Pacific Corporation and Maxus Energy Corporation its operating companies: McMoRan Oil and Gas Company Union Pacific Resources Company Mobil Oil Corporation Union Pacific Railroad Company Occidental Petroleum Corporation Upland Industries Corporation U.S. Department of Energy © 1991 by The Geological Society of America, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data All rights reserved. The Gulf of Mexico Basin / edited by Amos Salvador, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. All materials subject to this copyright and included ISBN 0-8137-5216-7 in this volume may be photocopied for the noncommercial 1. Geology—Mexico, Gulf of. 2. Marine mineral resources—Mexico, purpose of scientific or educational advancement. Gulf of. I. Salvador, Amos. QE71.G48 1986 vol. J Copyright is not claimed on any material prepared [QE350.22.M48] by government employees within the scope of their 557 s—dc20 employment. [551.46W09364] 91-36132 CIP Published by The Geological Society of America, Inc. 3300 Penrose Place, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, Colorado 80301 Printed in U.S.A. Front Cover: Part of a relief map of North America showing the Gulf of Mexico region, produced by Johann Baptist Homann (1664-1724), who ranked next in greatness to Mercator among German cartographers. The map is from an atlas published in the early 1700s in Nuremberg, Germany. Reproduced courtesy of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin. 10 987654321 ii Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Contents Preface v Foreword vii /. Introduction 1 A. Salvador 2. Physiography and bathymetry 13 W. R. Bryant, J. Lugo, C. Cordova, and A. Salvador 3. Structural framework 31 T. E. Ewing 4. The crust under the Gulf of Mexico basin 53 D. S. Sawyer, R. T. Buffler, and R. H. Pilger, Jr. 5. Salt tectonics and listric-normalfaulting 73 T. H. Nelson 6. Igneous activity 91 G. R. Byerly 7. Pre-Triassic 109 R. D. Woods, A. Salvador, and A. E. Miles 8. Triassic-Jurassic 131 A. Salvador 9. Lower Cretaceous 181 E. McFarlan, Jr., and L. S. Menes 10. Upper Cretaceous 205 N. F. Sohl, E. Martinez R., P. Salmeron-Urena, and F. Soto-Jaramillo iii Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 iv Contents 11. Cenozoic 245 W. E. Galloway, D. G. Bebout, W. L. Fisher, J. B. Dunlap, Jr., R. Cabrera-Castro, J. E. Lugo-Rivera, and T. M. Scott 12. Late Quaternary sedimentation 325 J. M. Coleman, H. H. Roberts, and W. R. Bryant 13. Seismic stratigraphy of the deep Gulf of Mexico basin and adjacent margins 353 R. T. Buffler 14. Origin and development of the Gulf of Mexico basin 389 A. Salvador 15. Oil and gas resources 445 R. Nehring 16. Mineral resources and geopressured-geothermal energy 495 S. R. Riggs, S. P. Ellison, Jr., W. L. Fisher, W. E. Galloway, M.L.W. Jackson, and R. A. Morton 17. Groundwater 529 J. M. Sharp, Jr., C. W. Kreitler, and J. Lesser 18. Summary; Current knowledge and unanswered questions 545 A. Salvador Index 551 Plates (in accompanying slipcase) Plate 1. Bathymétrie chart, Gulf of Mexico region W. R. Bryant and J. R. Bryant Plate 2. Principal structural features, Gulf of Mexico basin T. E. Ewing and R. F. Lopez Plate 3. Structure at the base, and subcrop below, Mesozoic marine section, Gulf of Mexico basin A. Salvador Plate 4. Natural resources, Gulf of Mexico basin A. Salvador and R. Nehring Plate 5. Stratigraphie correlation chart, Gulf of Mexico basin A. Salvador and J. M. Quezada Muneton Plate 6. Cross sections of the Gulf of Mexico basin A. Salvador Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Preface The Geology of North America series has been prepared to mark the Centennial of The Geological Society of America. It represents the cooperative efforts of more than 1,000 individuals from academia, state and federal agencies of many countries, and industry to prepare syntheses that are as current and authoritative as possible about the geology of the North American continent and adjacent oceanic regions. This series is part of the Decade of North American Geology (DNAG) Project, which also includes seven wall maps at a scale of 1:5,000,000 that summarize the geology, tectonics, magnetic and gravity anomaly patterns, regional stress fields, thermal aspects, and seismicity of North America and its surroundings. Together, the synthesis volumes and maps are the first coordinated effort to integrate all available knowledge about the geology and geophysics of a crustal plate on a regional scale. The products of the DNAG Project present the state of knowledge of the geology and geophysics of North America through the 1980s, and they point the way toward work to be done in the decades ahead. A. R. Palmer General Editor for the volumes published by The Geological Society of America J. O. Wheeler General Editor for the volumes published by the Geological Survey of Canada v Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733456/9780813754598_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Foreword The goal of The Geology of North America series of volumes has been to provide a com• prehensive summary or synthesis of the current geological and geophysical knowledge of the regions or subjects covered by each of the volumes. The volumes are intended not so much for those most familiar with the region or subject, but for a broader audience of earth scientists— geologists and geophysicists from anywhere in the world who want to inform themselves about the geological and geophysical configuration of the North American Plate and its surrounding regions. This volume, covering the Gulf of Mexico basin, was planned with these goals in mind. Assuming that a good number of the readers may not be familiar with the geography of the region, much less with the multitude of structural and stratigraphic terms in common use, efforts were made, with varying degrees of success, to keep geographic and geologic terminol• ogy as simple as possible. Keeping in mind, for instance, that earth scientists unacquainted with the stratigraphy of the Gulf of Mexico basin may be confused when faced with the countless number of group, formation, and member terms used in the area, the stratigraphy of the basin was described whenever possible in terms of internationally recognized chrono- stratigraphic terms. As further assistance to the unfamiliar reader in this respect, those chapters of this volume that describe the stratigraphy of the basin contain simplified stratigraphic cor• relation charts that show the relation of the local lithostratigraphic units discussed in the volume to the global chronostratigraphic scale. A more detailed stratigraphic correlation chart, Plate 5, is also included in the volume. For the same reasons, an effort was also made to show in the figures and plates of the volume all geographic and structural terms used in the text. Another important goal of this volume, of course, was for it to be useful to the hundreds of geologists and geophysicists working in the Gulf of Mexico basin, in both the United States and Mexico. Even though the space limitations have not permitted discussion of all aspects of the geology of the basin in as much detail as the local geoscientists may have wanted, I am hopeful that by having available in one place a much-needed summary of a wide range of geological and geophysical information on the basin, as well as a review of current thinking about its interpretation, they may find this volume a valuable reference. For this purpose, emphasis was placed during the preparation of the volume on including an extensive list of references on the subject of each chapter, particularly recent, significant, and up-to-date references. This will allow readers interested in particular subjects to enlarge their knowledge and satisfy their need for additional information.
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