A review of depositional setting, structural history, and hydrocarbon occurrence of the Cenozoic US Gulf Coast sedimentary sequence
文摘
In the Mesozoic to Cenozoic U.S. Gulf Coast Basin continuous clastic sedimentation occurred on all the margins of the basin as a fill of the marginal sag basin. The Cenozoic sequence has been most affected by a combination of salt domes, diapirs, ridges, massifs, and nappes, in conjunction with regional growth faults and the movement of masses of unconsolidated shale. The Cenozoic section is largely represented by coastal and marine clastics similar to those of the Upper Cretaceous but lacking the carbonates. The Cenozoic reservoir rocks in the Gulf Coast sequence fall into the three major groups separated on the basis of age and sedimentary facies - 1) the Paleocene Wilcox sandstone group, 2) the Oligocene Vicksburg-Frio and Anahuac sandstone group, and 3) the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene sandstone group. Major trap types include growth faults with rollover anticlines, and salt-related anticlines from low relief pillows to complex salt diapirs.