Subsurface Upper Jurassic Stratigraphy in the Campeche Shelf, Gulf of Mexico

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Angeles-Aquino ◽  
Abelardo Cantú-Chapa
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Upper Jurassic

Jurassic raft tectonics in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. SM39-SM55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin S. Pilcher ◽  
Ryan T. Murphy ◽  
Jessica McDonough Ciosek
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Carbonate Platform ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Original Position ◽  
Smackover Formation ◽  
The North ◽  
Structural Style ◽  
Cotton Valley ◽  
Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico

The northeastern Gulf of Mexico is dominated by the 900–1800-m Florida Escarpment, which forms the bathymetric expression of the Cretaceous carbonate shelf edge. Outboard of the escarpment lies a region of salt-detached raft blocks, which are closely analogous to type examples in the Kwanza Basin, Angola, in terms of structural style, scale, and amount of extension. We undertook the first detailed structural interpretation of an emerging petroleum exploration province. The rafts detached and translated basinward by gravity gliding on the autochthonous Louann salt in the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous. The Upper Jurassic source rock (lime mudstones) of the Smackover Formation and eolian sandstone reservoir intervals of the Norphlet Formation are structurally segmented and entirely contained within the raft blocks. The rafts are separated by salt ridges and/or extensional fault gaps containing expanded uppermost Jurassic and lower Cretaceous strata of the Cotton Valley Group. The main episode of rafting occurred after deposition of the Smackover and Haynesville Formations and broke the Jurassic carbonate platform into raft blocks 2–40 km in length, which were then translated 25–40 km basinward from their original position. Map-view restoration of the raft blocks suggested a minimum extension of 100%, with basinward transport directions indicating a radial divergence of rafts. In the north of the study area, the transport direction was westerly, whereas in the south, translation was southerly. This pattern, which mimics the Florida Escarpment, suggested that the morphology of the Jurassic slope controlled the style of gravitational tectonics and the location of subsequent Cretaceous carbonate buildups. As with other linked systems on mobile substrates, the observed extension and translation must be balanced by downdip contraction. In the case of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, the contraction is largely cryptic, being accommodated by salt evacuation, compression of salt walls/stocks, and possibly open-toed canopy advance.

Late Jurassic continental flood basalt doleritic dykes in northwestern Cuba: remnants of the Gulf of Mexico opening

2008 ◽  
Vol 179 (5) ◽  
pp. 445-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Allibon ◽  
Henriette Lapierre ◽  
François Bussy ◽  
Marc Tardy ◽  
Esther M. Cruz Gàmez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Crustal Contamination ◽  
Flood Basalt ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Continental Flood Basalt ◽  
Continental Flood Basalts ◽  
Accreted Terranes ◽  
Eastern Cuba

Abstract Accreted terranes, comprising a wide variety of Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous igneous and sedimentary rocks are an important feature of Cuban geology. Their characterization is helpful for understanding Caribbean paleo-geography. The Guaniguanico terrane (western Cuba) is formed by upper Jurassic platform sediments intruded by microgranular dolerite dykes. The geochemical characteristics of the dolerite whole rock samples and their minerals (augitic clinopyroxene, labradorite and andesine) are consistent with a tholeiitic affinity. Major and trace element concentrations as well as Nd, Sr and Pb isotopes show that these rocks also have a continental affinity. Sample chemistry indicates that these lavas are similar to a low Ti-P2O5 (LTi) variety of continental flood basalts (CFB) similar to the dolerites of Ferrar (Tasmania). They derived from mixing of a lithospheric mantle source and an asthenopheric component similar to E-MORB with minor markers of crustal contamination and sediment assimilation. However, the small quantity of Cuban magmatic rocks, similarly to Tasmania, Antarctica and Siberia differs from other volumetrically important CFB occurrences such as Parana and Deccan. These dolerites are dated as 165-150 Ma and were emplaced during the separation of the Yucatan block from South America. They could in fact be part of the Yucatan-South America margin through which the intrusive system was emplaced and which was later accreted to the Cretaceous arc of central Cuba and to the Palaeogene arc of eastern Cuba. These samples could therefore reflect the pre-rift stage between North and South America and the opening of the gulf of Mexico.

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