Late Mesozoic sandstone volumes recorded in Gulf of Mexico subsurface depocentres: Deciphering long‐term sediment supply trends and contributions by paleo river systems

Snedden, John W.; Hull, Harry L.; Whiteaker, T.; Virdell, Jon W.; Ross, C.

doi:10.1111/bre.12659

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Through most of Cretaceous time, the GOM basin remained relatively underfilled with its margin dominated by extensive carbonate platform and reef accumulations; thin clastic wedges of terrigenous sediment were delivered to the margin via small 110 fluvial catchments that drained rift basin-proximal highlands (Loucks et al, 2017;Galloway, 2008;Snedden et al, 2016aSnedden et al, , 2016bSnedden et al, 2022).…”

Section: Geologic Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Sharman

Szymanski

Hackworth

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) represents the most pronounced hyperthermal of the Cenozoic era and is hypothesized to have resulted in an intensification of the paleohydrologic cycle, including enhanced seasonality and increased sediment discharge to the coastal ocean. Although the PETM has been widely documented, there are few records from deposits that form the distal, deep-water components of large sediment routing systems. This study presents new constraints on the stratigraphic placement of the PETM in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico basin through analysis of geochemical, carbon-isotopic, and biostratigraphic data within a ~124 m cored interval of the Wilcox Group. Biostratigraphic and carbon-isotopic data indicate that the PETM extends over ~13.4 m based on acmes in the dinoflagellate Apectodinium homomorphum and calcareous nannoplankton Rhomboaster cuspis and a ~−2‰ shift in bulk organic δ13C values. A decrease in bioturbation and benthic foraminifera extinction suggest that deoxygenation of Gulf of Mexico bottom waters was coincident with the onset of the PETM. A ~2 m lag in the depositional record separates the onset of the PETM negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) and deposition of a 5.7 m thick interval of organic-lean claystone and marlstone that reflects a shut-off of the supply of sand, silt, and terrestrial palynomorphs to the basin. An increase in CaCO3 ~4.5 m above the CIE onset is consistent with other sites that indicate ocean acidification and shoaling of the calcite compensation depth during the early PETM. We interpret deposits of the PETM in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico to reflect the combined effects of increased erosional denudation and rising sea level that resulted in sequestration of sand and silt near the coastline but that allowed delivery of terrigenous mud to the deep-sea. The similarity of oceanographic changes observed in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean during the PETM supports the inference that these water masses were connected during latest Paleocene-earliest Eocene time. Although deposition of typical Wilcox Group facies resumed during and after the PETM recovery, an increased influx of terrestrial detritus (i.e., pollen, spores, organic debris) relative to marine dinoflagellates is suggestive of long-lasting effects of the PETM. This study illustrates the profound and prolonged effects of climatic warming on even the most distal reaches of large (≥1×106 km2) sediment routing systems.

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Section: Geologic Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Sharman

Szymanski

Hackworth

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…In offshore areas, marine 2D seismic reflection data allow correlation and mapping of trends in thickness. Subsurface depocentres, areas of enhanced sedimentary thickness, especially when spatially aligned with a palaeo‐river basin entry point and associated deltaic systems, tend to be sand‐prone (Snedden et al., 2022). There are, however, instances where individual minibasin depocentres may lack adequate sand because they are isolated from the local fairways (Rowan & Weimer, 1998).…”

Section: Regional Palaeogeographic Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing the Zama (Mexico) discovery source to sink palaeogeography, Part II: Sediment routing from the Late Miocene shelf‐margin to deepwater basin

Snedden,

Rowan,

Stockli

et al. 2024

Basin Research

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The Late Miocene source terrane tectonic history in the southern Gulf of Mexico Basin, as informed by detrital zircon geothermochronology data, supports a detailed regional palaeogeographic reconstruction from palaeoshoreline to the deepwater Zama minibasin of the Sureste salt basin. Seismic mapping points to a trio of pathways that converge upon two entry points into the Zama minibasin, illuminating how sediment gravity flows transit a complex seascape defined by shallow salt bodies. Consideration of empirical scaling relationships within and between segments of this sediment dispersal system allows for testable predictions of Upper Miocene submarine fan‐runout lengths over basin exploration areas. Distances from the reconstructed shelf‐margin to the Zama wells vary around 100 km, an increase of 20% over a straight‐line distance as flows likely navigated around extant salt stocks, walls and sheets. This 100‐km fan length is about 40% of the reconstructed minimum palaeo‐river length, within predicted ranges for smaller source‐to‐sink systems in tectonically active areas (25 to 50%). The estimated fan‐runout distance can be extended even further basinwards, considering the contemporaneous passage of the mobile Chortis block along the Tonala shear zone, expanding the Palaeo‐Rio Grijalva drainage network during the Tortonian. These Late Miocene deepwater systems linked to the Palaeo‐Rio Grijalva differ substantially from onshore Mexico‐sourced turbidity flows feeding into the axis of the north‐trending Veracruz Trough. Textural data from wells here suggests these systems were less effective at larger grain transport and sorting. Local (intrabasinal) variations are also evident within the Zama minibasin, as well data (image logs and cores) indicate that axially oriented sediment gravity flows involved fewer high‐density turbidities, depositing lower net‐to‐gross sandstones and thicker shales than those flowing transverse to the basin axis from a southeastern basin entry point. These interpretations will guide both local exploitation of these economic resources and could also support future exploration for analogous salt‐influenced deepwater reservoir systems in the Sureste basin and globally.

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Age and provenance of the Middle Jurassic Norphlet Formation of south Texas: stratigraphic relationship to the Louann Salt and regional significance

Erlich¹,

Hale-Erlich²,

Pindell³

et al. 2022

JGS

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The age and provenance of the Norphlet Formation in south Texas and its stratigraphic relationship to the Louann Salt are documented for the first time using new detrital zircon U–Pb geochronological data. Nine samples from the Hockley salt diapir and four deep wells (three in south Texas, one offshore México) yielded 1001 zircon ages and eight age populations; the most important of these are Neoproterozoic (900–541 Ma), Cambrian–Middle Mississippian, and arc-related Middle to Late Mississippian–Permian–Triassic and Triassic–Jurassic, the latter two representing the first evidence of Nazas and Guerrero arc extrusive volcanism reaching south Texas. Statistical analyses of these data and published zircon ages support the interpretation that these age populations reflect the dominance of peri-Gondwanan sources, especially the Yucatán/Maya Block and Coahuila terrane, although Laurentian sources probably contribute to specific populations. The maximum depositional age of upper Norphlet Formation sandstones is 165.5 ± 1.5 Ma (Callovian). These upper sandstones are separated from lower Norphlet sandstones by an unconformity spanning 1.5–5 myr; the lower sandstones are interbedded with halite of the Louann Salt, and may be as old as Bathonian. These new data may be of regional significance when applied to future models of the Jurassic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico. Supplementary material : The detrital zircon dataset for this study, DZmix and DZmds model parameters, DZmix statistics and references for figures are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6002060

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Late Mesozoic sandstone volumes recorded in Gulf of Mexico subsurface depocentres: Deciphering long‐term sediment supply trends and contributions by paleo river systems

Cited by 6 publications

References 66 publications

Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Reconstructing the Zama (Mexico) discovery source to sink palaeogeography, Part II: Sediment routing from the Late Miocene shelf‐margin to deepwater basin

Age and provenance of the Middle Jurassic Norphlet Formation of south Texas: stratigraphic relationship to the Louann Salt and regional significance

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