Mesozoic of the Gulf Rim and Beyond: New Progress in Science and Exploration of the Gulf of Mexico Basin

Abstract

Thirty-two years ago, the Gulf Coast Section of SEPM convened its 3rd Annual Research Conference on the Jurassic of the Gulf Rim (Ventress et al., 1984). At that time, the Mesozoic was being explored onshore as conventional carbonate and sandstone reservoirs, the Cantarell Field (Mexico) was in its early stages of production, and offshore areas of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico were primarily Cenozoic reservoir targets. Today, the Mesozoic is known to contain large discovered volumes in unconventional shale reservoirs onshore, Cantarell is in decline, and Mesozoic discoveries are being made in the ultradeep water of the Desoto and Mississippi canyons. Mexico has opened for international exploration, and political events in Cuba may eventually cause it to follow suit. This increased economic interest in the Mesozoic of the Gulf of Mexico has in turn spurred a huge volume of scientific research and increased investment in research and access to samples from wells in previously undrillable regions. New seismic refraction surveys are revealing the deep crustal structure of the basin and its early Mesozoic history. In particular, attention is beginning to focus on the presalt rift basins. State of the art seismic reflection surveys are illuminating the subsalt domain of both the U.S. and Mexico deep water. New techniques, such as detrital zircon geochronology, are reconstructing the continental scale drainage systems that feed into the basin, while new exploration in the deep water has identified sand fairways farther offshore than anyone expected. Advances and new concepts in economically important disciplines such as salt tectonics, depositional systems, source rock development, migration, and charge have proved equally important scientifically and have yielded new insights into the formation and evolution of the Gulf of Mexico Basin.

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

“…northern limit of the Gondwanan province as defined by Weislogel et al (2015). Detrital zircon recovered from an onshore well (Perpetual Forest #1; Snedden, Bovay, et al, 2016) yield age spectra remarkably similar to that of arkosic Lower Cretaceous sandstones in offshore wells south of the Florida Transfer Zone (Erlich & Pindell, 2020), implying a Pan African (Suwannee) terrane was exposed and provided terrigenous siliciclastics throughout this southern area (Figure 2b). Basement rocks from both areas generally match the sandstone zircon signatures in these areas (Erlich & Pindell, 2020;Lisi, 2013).…”

“…Siliciclastics continued to accumulate in depocentres as basin opening ended in the Early Cretaceous with sea floor spreading shifting to the Caribbean. The presence of a prominent unconformity at the base of the Sligo-Hosston succession in the area of the Peninsular Arch and areas to the west points to tectonic reorganisation and possible uplift and erosion at the end of sea floor spreading (Ewing & Lopez, 1991;McFarlan & Menes, 1991;Rose, 2021;Snedden, Bovay, et al, 2016;Snedden & Galloway, 2019). This was followed a long phase of localised crustal heating, volcanism and regional tectonics terminating at the end of the Mesozoic with the Chicxulub impact event (Snedden, Cunningham, et al, 2020).…”

“…We conducted an extensive survey of publicly available detrital zircon provenance information for Gulf of Mexico Late Mesozoic sandstones (Blum et al, 2017;Blum & Pecha, 2014;Bovay, 2015;Erlich & Pindell, 2020;Essex et al, 2016;Kennedy, 2013;Lawton et al, 2009;Lisi, 2013;Lovell, 2010;Snedden, Bovay, et al, 2016;Weislogel et al, 2015). This compilation and synthesis of five geographically distributed sample locations and 792 individual zircon grain ages provides important insights into the various source terranes contributing to the 12 supersequences of the Late Mesozoic GoM section.…”

“…The sandstonerich Hosston fluvio-deltaic interval is penetrated by multiple updip wells in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (Bovay, 2015;Snedden, Bovay, et al, 2016), a notable difference with the carbonate-dominated platforms to the south and west (Corso et al, 1989). Localised bypass of the carbonate margins is suggested in at least two narrow corridors from coastal plain to basin (Snedden, Bovay, et al, 2016).…”

“…This in turn suggests a decoupling of sediment supply and eustacy in the Gulf of Mexico in the Cretaceous. In fact, recent deep basin drilling has revealed the presence of large basin floor submarine fans, indicating major shelf margin bypass in the Late Cretaceous (Snedden, Bovay, et al, 2016;Snedden, Virdell, et al, 2016;Sweet et al, 2021) in spite of globally high sea level.…”