Date of Award

Winter 11-19-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science - Geology

Department

Geology

First Advisor

Dr. Wesley Brown

Second Advisor

Mr. Jim Ferry

Third Advisor

Dr. R. Larell Nielson

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Joseph Musser

Abstract

The Mississippi Canyon is in the northeastern part of the Gulf of Mexico, south of the state of Mississippi. In this area, there are many different salt structures present including salt canopies, diapirs, and salt pillows. The Callovian aged Louann Salt covers this area and is the cause of many of the salt structures and structures of the overlying formations seen in Gulf of Mexico today. Salt is mobile when subjected to stress from overlying sediment and gravity. Stress will force the salt to not only move upward, but to also move down slope deeper into adjacent basins through the process of halokenesis. Salt movement may commence as early as when deposition has been completed and may trigger the formation of structural features such as faults, rafts, and displacement of the overlying formations.

By careful analysis of 3-D seismic data in combination with available sea floor imaging, these subsurface structures were mapped and interpreted. This study involves the mapping of salt structures and surrounding features affected by salt movement to detail the tops of the Louann Salt using structure maps created within the study area. These maps were used along with other structural data to reconstruct the salt canopy through time. A detailed reconstruction of the study area has produced a model that demonstrated salt migration over time and showed how gravity and the overlying formations were affected by it over time. As the salt moved downslope into adjacent basins, the formations on top of the salt faulted and moved due to the additional stress. The salt movement also caused nearby formations to separate and attach to the salt moving down dip into the basin, thus separating it from the rest of the formation. These faults also caused some rotation of the layers along the fault.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Share

COinS

Tell us how this article helped you.

 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.