Southern Gulf of Mexico Wilcox source to sink: Investigating and predicting Paleogene Wilcox reservoirs in eastern Mexico deep-water areas

Snedden, John W.; Tinker, Luciana D.; Virdell, Jon W.

doi:10.1306/03291817263

Cited by 34 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…As such, researchers used these observed differences to develop a set of stratigraphic nomenclatures tied to lithostratigraphic packages, seismic sequences, and sediment flux rates (e.g., Lower/Middle/Upper; Galloway et al, 2000) that are useful for source-to-sink system analysis (Snedden et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2018). Chronostratigraphic frameworks were first developed with inclusion of data from deep-water environs (Zarra et al, 2003; and subsequent refinements to biostratigraphic zonation and correlation to absolute age constraints from numerous onshore and offshore well data has led to a generally 130 accepted age range for Wilcox Group deposition of 61.5-51.1 Ma, spanning nannofossil biozones NP5 to NP12 with the PETM located near the NP9-NP10 boundary (Zarra et al, 2019).…”

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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“…The large volume of eroded material spilled over the partially A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T eroded Tamaulipas Arch into the Salina del Bravo and Tampico-Misantla Basin in the late Eocene to Miocene.Eocene to Oligocene Gravity Tectonics along the East Mexican marginTectonic elevation of the Laramide (US) and Mexican orogens during the Palaeocene initiated a major increase in sedimentation rate after ca. 65 Ma(Galloway 2008, Snedden et al 2018. The catchment area of the Rio Bravo and Colorado rivers extended to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado(Snedden et al 2018) and these rivers transported coarse clastic material from across the North American continent into the Burgos Basin and the Salina del Bravo where it was deposited as the Wilcox Formation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…65 Ma(Galloway 2008, Snedden et al 2018. The catchment area of the Rio Bravo and Colorado rivers extended to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado(Snedden et al 2018) and these rivers transported coarse clastic material from across the North American continent into the Burgos Basin and the Salina del Bravo where it was deposited as the Wilcox Formation. In the US sector the Wilcox Formation has been dated from 61.5-51.1 Ma(Zarra et al 2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The basins, orogens and evolution of the southern Gulf of Mexico and Northern Caribbean

Davison¹,

Pindell

Hull³

2020

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The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting and correction before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the book series pertain. Although reasonable efforts have been made to obtain all necessary permissions from third parties to include their copyrighted content within this article, their full citation and copyright line may not be present in this Accepted Manuscript version. Before using any content from this article, please refer to the Version of Record once published for full citation and copyright details, as permissions may be required.

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“…Like the modern setting of the Sureste Basin, we infer that the shelf was relatively narrow, less than 30 km in a shore‐normal distance, reflecting a steep gradient at this tectonically active margin. Other studies of the Miocene in this and adjacent areas have hypothesized steep and narrow shelf and slope areas (Ambrose et al., 2005; Snedden & Galloway, 2019; Snedden, Tinker, et al., 2018). We hypothesize that Upper Miocene sediments episodically bypassed the narrow shelf at the Cibix‐1 shelf edge delta and continued down slope to sites further basinward at Zama and points north.…”

Section: Regional Palaeogeographic Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 70%

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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Southern Gulf of Mexico Wilcox source to sink: Investigating and predicting Paleogene Wilcox reservoirs in eastern Mexico deep-water areas

Cited by 34 publications

References 38 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.)

The basins, orogens and evolution of the southern Gulf of Mexico and Northern Caribbean

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

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