Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Investigation Into The Origin, Composition, And Commercial Significance Of A Sedimentary Subsalt Formation: Keathley Canyon, Gulf Of Mexico, David Aaron Brassieur

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Sub-salt oil and gas formations in deep-water northern Gulf of Mexico are high priority targets. Advances in seismic processing allow for high-resolution, below-salt imaging. Understanding the modes of salt emplacement provide insight into sub-salt traps and potential drilling hazards.

A sub-salt sedimentary unit lies in the Keathley Canyon protraction. Autosutures created the transport-parallel lineaments of the upper surface of the unit. In addition, highly variable sediment aggradation rates created ramps, flats, and basal cutoffs along the base of the allochthon as salt and sediment competed for space. Seismic models identify modes of salt emplacement, salt/sediment interactions, and mechanisms responsible for …

Applying Modern Interpretation Techniques To Old Hydrocarbon Fields To Find New Reserves: A Case Study In The Onshore Gulf Of Mexico, U.S.A., Josiah D. Hulsey

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study shows how the use of modern geological investigative techniques can reopen old, “drained” hydrocarbon fields. Specifically, it looks at the White Castle Field in South Louisiana. This field has pay sections ranging from late Oligocene to late Miocene. The late Oligocene package is underexplored and understudied and contains 3 primary reservoirs (Cib Haz (CH), MW, and MR). This study established the depositional history of these reservoirs. During most of the late Oligocene, the White Castle Salt Dome was located in a minibasin on the continental slope. The CH and MW deposited in this minibasin. The CH is an …

Barrier Spit Evolution And Primary Consolidation Of Backbarrier Facies: West Belle Pass Barrier, La, John N. Kramer Iii

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

West Belle Pass Barrier is a barrier spit that formed during the last delta lobe progradation associated with the Lafourche delta complex. Located on the western flank of the Caminada-Moreau Headland, West Belle Pass Barrier and Raccoon Pass are located downdrift of the Belle Pass jetties. Morphological changes stemming from storms, jetty infrastructure, and an expanding tidal inlet are evaluated using historical shoreline data and imagery. Littoral transport around the jetties combined with inlet growth created a framework wherein sediment is transported through Raccoon Pass and sequestered as a flood-tidal delta. These events aided in the landward migration of West …

High-Frequency Tectonic Sequences In The Campanian Castlegate Formation During A Transition From The Sevier To Laramide Orogeny, Utah, U.S.A., David B. Cross

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Though stratigraphic correlations are abundant in the Cordilleran basin-fill, they rarely include along-strike transects providing a spatio-temporal sense of deformation, sediment-supply and subsidence. A new, high-resolution, regional strike-correlation of the Castlegate Formation reveals progressive northward-growth of the San Rafael Swell during two embryonic episodes of Laramide-style deformation in central Utah. The intrabasinal deformation-events produced gentle lithospheric-folding punctuated by erosional-truncation of upwarped regions. The earliest episode occurred at 78 Ma in the southern San Rafael Swell likely causing soft-sediment deformation and stratal-tilting. Following this the alluvial-plain was leveled and rapid, extensive-progradation took place. A second episode, at 75 Ma, where deformation …