A Pliocene mixed contourite–turbidite system offshore the Algarve Margin, Gulf of Cadiz: Seismic response, margin evolution and reservoir implications

IODP Expedition 339 in the Gulf of Cadiz and off West Iberia: decoding the environmental significance of the Mediterranean outflow water and its global influence

“…The expedition also verified an enormous quantity and extensive distribution of contourite sands that are clean and well sorted. These represent a completely new and important exploration target for potential oil and gas reservoirs (e.g., Viana and Rebesco, 2007;Viana, 2008;Stow and Fauguères, 2008;Shanmugan, 2006Shanmugan, , 2012Shanmugan, , 2013Brackenridge et al, 2013;Stow et al, 2013a). Preliminary work has shown a remarkable record of orbital-scale variation in bulk sediment properties of contourites at several of the drift sites and a good correlation between all sites.…”

“…The extensive CDS that has been developing within the Gulf of Cádiz and extending around the west Iberian margin over the past 5 My is a direct result of MOW (e.g., Madelain, 1970;Gonthier et al, 1984;Faugères et al, 1985;Nelson et al, 1993Nelson et al, , 1999Llave et al, 2001Llave et al, , 2006Llave et al, , 2007Llave et al, , 2011Stow et al, 2002Stow et al, , 2013aHabgood et al, 2003;Hernández-Molina et al, 2003, 2006, 2011bMulder et al, 2003Mulder et al, , 2006Marchès et al, 2007;Roque et al, 2012;Brackenridge et al, 2013). The high accumulation rates and expanded sedimentary records of drift deposits permit a highresolution examination of past environmental change Voelker et al, 2006).…”

Flow processes and sedimentation in contourite channels on the northwestern South China Sea margin: A joint 3D seismic and oceanographic perspective

“…12 currents (i.e., contourite currents) (e.g., Brackenridge et al, 2013;Stow et al, 2013;Hernández-Molina et al, 2014;Gong et al, 2015).…”

“…Such slow contour current flow speeds are likely amplified as water is deflected around the topographic high or as they flow through the narrow conduit around the topographic obstruction ( Fig. 2; Brackenridge et al, 2013). For example, contour currents resulting from Mediterranean Outflow Water are thought to locally reach velocities in excess of 2.5 m/s when they flow through the narrow gateway of the Strait of Gibraltar (Mulder et al, 2003).…”

Middle Miocene reworked turbidites in the Baiyun Sag of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea margin: Processes, genesis, and implications

“…In addition to sandy mass-transport deposits and turbidites, sandy contourites and reworked turbidites constitute important petroleum reservoirs and are an important part of the spectrum of deep-water deposits (Shanmugam, 2008a(Shanmugam, , 2012(Shanmugam, , 2013aStow et al, 2011Stow et al, , 2013Gong et al, 2013). Sandy contourites and reworked turbidites have been recognized in the Gulf of Cadiz (e.g., Nelson et al, 1993Nelson et al, , 1999Hernández-Molina et al, 2006, 2013Stow et al, 2011Stow et al, , 2013Brackenridge et al, 2013), the Brazilian Marginal basins (Viana et al, 1998;Mutti and Carminatti, 2012), the Gulf of Mexico (Shanmugam et al, 1993a(Shanmugam et al, , 1993b, in the Mozambique Basin (Palermo et al, 2014), and on the northern South China Sea margin (e.g., Zhu et al, 2010;Li et al, 2012;He et al, 2013;Gong et al, 2013;. More than 80% of 2 million barrels of oil (boe) daily production in the Brazilian marginal basins come from the Cretaceous and Tertiary deep-water sandstones, a large proportion of which has been interpreted as reworked turbidite or sandy contourites by Mutti and Carminatti (2012).…”