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Fall 2015
Gulf of Mexico Basin Depositional Synthesis Project
Contacts:
John Snedden [email protected]
William Galloway [email protected]
Patricia Ganey-Curry [email protected]
With the fall 2015 semester nearly complete, we are preparing to wrap up another phase of the GBDS project, now in its 20th year. We are preparing our maps for the Phase 10 final atlas and for presentation at our January 2016 meeting here in Austin. Significant progress has been made in Phase 10, particularly in advancing our under-standing of the Mesozoic depositional systems and related source rock facies but also in updating our maps to reflect continuing drilling and success in the Cenozoic plays of the Gulf of Mexico. Two MS students (Caroline Bovay and Jason Sanford) completed their GBDS-supported thesis projects and have graduated to jobs in the petroleum industry. One undergraduate, Keelan Umbarger, completed his senior thesis project on the post-KPg carbonate slope deposits near the Florida Escarpment and is publishing his results before starting graduate school. The GBDS project currently has three graduate students, Luciana de
la Rocha who is studying Mexico Cenozoic deep-water systems, Jie Xu who is working Lower Miocene source-to-sink reconstructions and Enrique Arce who did his undergraduate studies in Geophysical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Enrique will be co-supervised by Dr. John Snedden and Dr. Bill Fisher on his research focused on the Mexican GOM.
Notable progress that will be discussed at our meeting in January includes Smackover and Norphlet paleogeographic maps, restored for both salt rafting and plate tectonic motion, combined
with seismic mapping of thickness and structure. New GBDS Mesozoic paleo-geographic maps will include Haynesville-Buckner (HVB), Austin Chalk (AC), Navarro Taylor (NT), and updates of other Mesozoic key units. The Mesozoic interval also con-tains the bulk of the GOM source rocks and Robert (Bob) Cunningham, consultant for the GBDS project, has made
Mailing Address:
UT Austin Institute for Geophysics PRC Bldg. 196(R2200) 10100 Burnet Road Austin, TX 78758-4445
NEXT GBDS MEETING
January 13-14, 2016
Austin, Pickle Research Campus, ROC 196
GBDSGIS Workshop, Jan 13, 2016, 1-4 pm
GBDS Social, Jan 13, 2016, 4-6 pm
GBDS Meeting, Jan 14, 2016, 9 am-4 pm
RSVP: [email protected]
GBDS Data points in the January 2016 release.
Contents:
Project Update ---- 1
Recent Grads ------ 2
Postdoc Info ------- 2
Awards -------------- 3
Publications -------- 3
Students ------------ 4
Staff Update ------- 5
2016 Perkins ------ 6
GBDS 11 plans --- 7
GBDS Project Update
www.ig.utexas.edu/energy/gbds/
Our Web address has changed. Find our home page and link to our data site at:
http://ig.utexas.edu/energy/gbds/
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The Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project
considerable progress with source rock analysis (deltaLogR) from well logs to build cross-sections in the onshore Eagle Ford and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Plays. In Phase XI, Bob will turn his attention to Wilcox and pre-salt source facies mapping among other objectives.
We have made significant changes and additions to the GBDSGIS with major increase in our digital database of wells, with over 280 new wells added, over 370 references added, and numerous thickness maps developed from seismic and well data. At our January meeting, Craig Fulthorpe and Bill Galloway will discuss the modified Cenozoic maps, including ideas on new discoveries in the inboard Paleogene and subsalt Plio-Miocene plays.
We also include the goals for Phase XI listed later in this document. This list includes plans to investigate the Gulf of Mexico pre-salt stratigraphy, depositional systems, and source rocks. Our new Buffler post-doc, Chris Lowery (U. Mass), started this summer and will lead this effort, as well as mapping the Glenrose (GR), Bexar-Pine Island, Rodessa and Ferry Lake along with John Snedden and students. Mexico continues to be an important objective and we are interacting with Mexican organizations on a regular basis, including multiple trips there in recent months. We would appreciate any feedback on these research plans.
Inaugural Richard T. Buffler Post-Doc
The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics Richard T. Buffler Post-Doctoral Fellowship inaugural awardee has been selected and began working with the GBDS project for a 2-year period beginning August 2015. Richard T. Buffler was
one of the founding researchers of the GBDS Project.
Chris Lowery is a micro-paleontologist specializing in planktic and benthic foraminifera. His research interests lean toward paleoceanography, with a focus on the response of the marine biosphere to climatic and oceanographic perturbations like oceanic anoxic events and the end Cretaceous mass extinction. As the Richard T. Buffler Postdoctoral Fellow at GBDS, Chris is working on several projects related to the Mesozoic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, including mapping the distribution and depositional environments of the Aptian Glen Rose carbonate system around the GoM, the pre-salt
paleonvironments of the Gulf Basin. He will also study the recovery of marine microorganisms following the KPg mass extinction through his participation in the upcoming IODP Exp. 364 to drill the Chicxulub impact crater, led by UTIG research professor Sean Gulick. Chris grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and got his BS in Geology from the University of Mary Washington, an hour to the north in Fredericksburg, VA, in 2009. He earned both his MS and PhD, the latter in the spring of this year, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he worked with Mark Leckie on understanding the development of anoxia in the US Cretaceous Western Interior Sea, principally in the Niobrara and Eagle Ford Formations, work he hopes to extend across the Gulf Basin while at GBDS.
The funding for this fellowship comes from monies received from a royalty on the sale of the derivative of reprocessing of Gulf of Mexico multichannel seismic data acquired, processed and owned by the University of Texas at Austin. IONGEO reprocessed from the original field records and marketed the data as the YucatanSPAN dataset. Depth imaged seismic data from the dataset has been provided to the GBDS project for use in our GOM-wide seismic interpretation. The funds received will be endowed to support future Richard T. Buffler Fellowship recipients.
Recent Graduates Caroline Bovay, M.S.
Caroline Bovay completed her M.S. in Geological Sciences from the UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences in May 2015. Her thesis, New Models of Early Cretaceous Source-to-Sink Pathways in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, was supervised by John W. Snedden, Ronald J. Steel and David Mohrig. She began her geoscientist position with Chevron in Covington, LA this summer.
Fall 2015
Revised map from Bovay thesis provided to GBDS sponsors .
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The Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project Fall 2015
Jason C. Sanford, M.S.
Jason Sanford completed his M.S. in Geological Sciences from the UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences in August 2015. The GOM chapter of his 2-part thesis titled, The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary deposit in the Gulf of Mexico: Oceanic basin response to the Chicxulub impact, was supervised by John Snedden and Sean Gulick. Jason has resubmitted his manuscript on the Gulf of Mexico basin's response to the Chicxulub impact to the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. The paper builds off of Jason's regional mapping project of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary deposit in the Gulf of Mexico for the GBDS as a component of his M.S. degree. Jason is working with Chevron in Houston.
2015 Awards: The 2014 AAPG Gulf Coast Section A. I. Levorsen Memorial Award was presented to John Snedden, Ian O. Norton, Gail L. Christeson, and Jason C. Sanford, Interaction of Deepwater Deposition and a Mid-Ocean Spreading Center, Eastern Gulf of Mexico Basin, USA.
The 2014 Thomas A. Philpott Excellence of Presentation Award: 2nd Place: Craig Fulthorpe, William E. Galloway, John W. Snedden Patricia E. Ganey-Curry, and Timothy L. Whiteaker for their paper, New Insights into Cenozoic Depositional Systems of the Gulf of Mexico Basin.
Luciana de la Roha was awarded the JSG Duchin
Endowed Presidential Scholarship for 2015-2016
GBDS Presentations: JSG MS Day 2015
Caroline Bovay, New Models of Early Cretaceous Source-to-Sink Pathways in the Eastern Gulf of
Mexico (Poster)
AAPG 2015 Jie Xu, John W. Snedden, Craig S. Fulthorpe, and Daniel F. Stockli, 2015, Provenance of the Lower Miocene Interval in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Basin: Insights From Detrital Zircon U-Pb and (U-Th)/He Double Dating (Poster)
Ian Norton, Harm Van Avendonk, Gail Christeson, John Snedden and Drew Eddy, Formation of the Gulf of Mexico Salt Basin (Presentation).
John W. Snedden, William E. Galloway, Kristy Milliken. and Mike D. Blum, 2015, Validation of empirical source-to-sink scaling relationships in a large hydrocarbon-rich basin: Gulf of Mexico Cenozoic Deepwater Fan Systems (Presentation)
CMP John W. Snedden, William E. Galloway, Kristy Milliken, Mike D. Blum, Patricia Ganey-Curry and Luciana de La Rocha, 2015, Source-to-sink scaling predictions for Cenozoic submarine fan systems in Mexico deepwater (Presentation)
GCAGS 2015 John W. Snedden, William E. Galloway, GBDS Team, Mike Blum, Kristy Milliken, The Geologic History of Submarine Fans in the deep GOM: Mesozoic to Modern (Education Forum)
GSA Keelan F. Umbarger, 2015, Delineation of Post-KPG Carbonate Slope Deposits as a Sedimentary Record of the Paleogene Linkage of De Soto Canyon and Suwannee Strait, Northern Gulf of Mexico (Poster)
AGU 2015 Keelan F. Umbarger, John W. Snedden, 2015, Delineation of Post-KPG Carbonate Slope Deposits as a Sedimentary Record of the Paleogene Linkage of De Soto Canyon and Suwannee Strait, Northern Gulf of Mexico (Poster)
Publications: Dashtgard, S. E., J. W. Snedden, and J. A. MacEachern, 2015, Unbioturbated sediments on a muddy shelf: Hypoxia or simply reduced oxygen saturation?: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology v. 425, p. 128–138.
Damuth, J. E., and H. C. Olson, 2015, Latest Quaternary sedimentation in the northern Gulf of Mexico Intraslope Basin Province: I. Sediment facies and depositional processes: Geosphere, 11, 1–30, doi: 10.1130/GES01090.1.
Olson, H.C., Snedden, J.W., and Cunningham, R., 2015, Development and application of a robust chronostratigraphic framework in Gulf of Mexico Mesozoic exploration: Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2 (May 2015); p. 1–20. doi: 10.1190/INT-2014-0179.1.
In Press: Interpretation, Vol 4 (2016), No 1, John W. Snedden Associate Editor: Special section: The Gulf of Mexico:
Regional studies, play concepts, recent developments.
East Texas Stratigraphy from Olson et. al.
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The Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project Fall 2015
GBDS Related Papers in this Volume: John W. Snedden, Jon Virdell, Timothy L. Whiteaker, and Patricia Ganey-Curry: A basin-scale perspective on Cenomanian-Turonian (Cretaceous) depositional systems, greater Gulf of Mexico (USA).
Keelan F. Umbarger and John W. Snedden: Delineation of Post-KPG Carbonate Slope Deposits as a Sedimentary Record of the Paleogene Linkage of De Soto Canyon and Suwannee Strait, Northern Gulf of Mexico.
Robert Cunningham, John W. Snedden, Ian O. Norton, Hillary Clement Olson, Timothy L. Whitaker, Jonathan W. Virdell: Upper Jurassic Tithonian-centered source mapping in the deep-water, northern Gulf of Mexico.
Hilary Clement Olson, John E. Damuth and C. Hans Nelson: Latest Quaternary sedimentation in the northern Gulf of Mexico Intraslope Basin Province: II. Stratigraphic analysis and relationship to glacio-eustatic climate change.
Recently Submitted Paper: Jason C. Sanford, Sean P. S. Gulick and John W. Snedden, 2015, The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary deposit, Gulf of Mexico: Large-scale oceanic basin response to the Chicxulub impact, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Current Graduate Students
Enrique Arce, M.S. Candidate
Enrique Arce grew up in Puebla, a Mexican city founded in 1531 just at the foot of Popocatepetl and Iztacihuatl volcanoes. He attended National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City where he worked on his BS in Geophysics. He participated in the AAPG IBA and his team won
first place in the Latin-American region. Enrique began his studies at the Jackson School this fall and will be working with the GBDS project on the southern Gulf of Mexico stratigraphy and depositional systems. He will be using the GBDSGIS database, seismic data and After finishing in spring, 2017. Enrique plans to work in the oil and gas industry.
Luciana de la Rocha, M.S. Candidate
Luciana de la Rocha grew up at fourteen thousand feet above sea level in La Paz, Bolivia, surrounded by the Andes Mountains. She attended Trinity University in San Antonio where she received her BS in Geosciences. After graduation she spent a year working as a Research Assistant at the Bureau of Economic Geology. Luciana began her studies her at the Jackson School in 2014 and is working with the GBDS project on the southern Gulf of Mexico Paleogene stratigraphy and depositional systems. She is using recently reprocessed seismic data and other available geological and geophysical information to evaluate the extent of deep water Paleogene Wilcox strata. After finishing in spring, 2016, Luciana plans to work in the oil and gas industry.
Jie Xu, Ph.D. Candidate
Jie is working on provenance analysis for the Lower Miocene interval of Gulf of Mexico basin by using detrital zircon U-Pb and U-Th/He double dating on sediments collected along Gulf coast outcrops and offshore core samples. Samples from different major fluvial channel axes onshore and deltaic depocenters offshore yield a distinct combination of U-Pb ages, which is a useful provenance indicator for deep water sediments source analysis. He will present our understanding
of sediments input pathways for the Lower Miocene interval of Gulf of Mexico Basin and its implication for deepwater reservoir exploration at our January meeting. After finishing in December, 2016, Jie plans to be an academic researcher.
Locations of samples collected for detrital zircon analysis
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The Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project Fall 2015
GBDS Core Research Staff:
John Snedden, Director and Principal Investigator, Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 1985. His expertise lies in sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology. Past publications include papers on reservoir connectivity, exploration play analysis, unconventional reservoirs, chronostratigraphic designation of sequences, and modern depositional systems. He has over 25 years of industry experience from Mobil and ExxonMobil. [email protected]
William Galloway, Research Scientist and Professor Emeritus, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin, 1971. His interests are sedimentary and mineral resource geology especially that of the geology of theGulf of Mexico Cenozoic basin. [email protected]
Craig Fulthorpe, Senior Research Scientist, Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1988. He is interested in the sedimentary geology of continental margins. Much of his work has been in association with the Integrated Ocean Drilling program. Craig is working on the Cenozoic of the GOM basin. [email protected]
Patricia Ganey-Curry, Project Manager, B.S., Texas A&M University, 1978, has been the project manager for this project since its 1995 inception and the Project Coordinator/Data Manager for the Institute for Geophysics since 1980. She has been active in all phases of the data used in the project from acquisition, processing and interpretation. [email protected]
Tim Whiteaker, Research Scientist, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin, 2004. Research interests: GIS in water resources engineering, data modeling and analysis of subsurface systems in both hydrological and geophysical applications. [email protected]
Jon Virdell, Research Engineer/Scientist Associate II, B.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 2014. Supports the management and development of the GBDS database. Experience working with GIS, geophysical well logs, seismic data, and published literature. Interests include micropaleontology and Ichnology. [email protected]
Associated Research Staff:
Dallas Dunlap, P.G., Research Scientist Associate at the Bureau of Economic Geology, M.S., The University of Texas at Austin, 2013. His research interests include marine geomorphology, specifically mass wasting processes, sediment waves, and seismic imaging of depositional features. [email protected]
Ian Norton, Senior Research Fellow at UTIG and BEG, Ph.D., The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, 1978. His interests are structure and tectonics, especially in extensional domains like the Basin and Range and passive margins of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic. [email protected]
Hilary Clement Olson, Research Associate, Ph.D., Stanford University, 1988. Her current research interests involve integrating biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy and seismic stratigraphy to better understand the Cenozoic and Mesozoic geologic history of Gulf Coast sediments. Hilary directs a national program to train oil and gas regulators at UT as a partnership with CSM and PSU. She teaches in the Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department and is the sponsor liaison for the Gulf Coast Carbon Center at the Bureau of Economic Geology. [email protected]
Post Doctoral Fellows: Chris Lowery, Post Doctoral Fellow, Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, 2015, during his 2-year Post-Doc appointment he will work on investigating the Gulf of Mexico pre-salt stratigraphy, depositional systems, and source rocks. [email protected]
Maggie Ellis, Post Doctoral Fellow, Applied Geo-dynamics Laboratory; Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2015. Maggie’s research focuses on extensional fault systems, salt tectonics, and the coevolution of tectonics, landscapes, and basins. She is working on mega-regional structural restorations of the Gulf of Mexico with Mike Hudec at the BEG while using the GBDS seismic database. [email protected].
Bruce Frederick, Post Doctoral Fellow, University of
Kansas, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin, 2015. Bruce’s research focuses on sedimentary basin analysis processes including assessment of source-to-sink dynamics and geodynamic evolution of landscapes with emphasis on glacial-interglacial and eustatic forcing mechanisms. He is currently working on projects spanning from a detailed assessment of the Gulf Coast mid-Holocene sea level record, to a quantification of subsidence rates in the Mississippi River delta basin, to the constraint of the pre- to postglacial stratigraphic record extending from the subglacial interior basins to the marine geologic record on the continental shelf of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. Bruce will be co-supervised and supported by Mike Blum and John Snedden. [email protected]
Consultants and Collaborators: Mike Blum, Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas; B.S., M.S., Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Blum’s research focuses on fluvial and coastal sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy of continental and shallow-marine successions, global to regional sea-level change, geologic responses to global change, and source-to-sink sediment dispersal in the stratigraphic record. For the GBDS project he is helping students with Mid-Cretaceous through Paleogene North
American drainage reorganization and Gulf of Mexico drainage integration from extensive detrital zircon analysis.
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The Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project Fall 2015
Bob Cunningham, Consultant, ChargeSearch, LLC; Ph.D., The University of Texas at Dallas, 1980. He has global experience in applying basin modeling and petroleum geochemical technologies in evaluating charge risk. Bob retired from ExxonMobil in 2011 after 31 years in research and exploration. [email protected]
Kristy T. Milliken, Consultant, Emerald Mountain Geoscience, LLC; Ph.D., Rice University, 2008. She has 10 years of experience in the energy industry specializing in Clastic Stratigraphy/Sedimentology petro-leum systems analysis. For the GBDS project she will do well log analysis for validation of empirical source-to-sink fluvial scaling relationships in the Gulf of Mexico Cenozoic Deepwater Fan Systems. [email protected]
FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Mesozoic of the Gulf Rim and Beyond: New Progress in Science and Exploration of the Gulf of Mexico Basin
35th
Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Perkins-Rosen Research Conference
The 2016 Perkins-Rosen Research Conference will focus upon the Mesozoic of the Gulf Basin, from mountain source terrain to deep-water abyssal plain. A significant portion of the program will be devoted to the Mesozoic of Mexico and its potential for international ex-ploration. A highlight will be a special SEPM-sponsored research symposium on Mesozoic source to sink: provenance and process led by Mike Blum (U. Kansas).
Other Topical sessions Mesozoic depositional models, onshore to offshore
Pre-salt basin paleogeographic reconstruction
Emerging Mesozoic Plays in USA and Mexico
The KPg impact event and sedimentary effects
Mexico’s Mesozoic reservoirs and future potential
Field Trip to the Eagle Ford Outcrops of West Texas Friday Dec. 2 – Sunday Dec. 4
Optional Core Workshop, December 7th
, 2016
Technical Program Committee Leaders: John W. Snedden, UT-Austin Mike Blum, U. Kansas Chris Lowery, UT-Austin
2000-character abstract due January 15, 2016 Full papers and extended abstracts due May 15, 2016
Send to [email protected]
DECEMBER 4-6, 2016 OMNI HOUSTON WESTSIDE HOUSTON, TEXAS
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The Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project Fall 2015
GBDS Phase XI Proposed Tasks (January 1, 2016 - December 31, 2017)
Student Research Projects Support of three graduate student research projects:
Provenance and depositional system reconstruction in the Lower Miocene of the GOM (Jie Xu, Ph.D. candi-
date)
Paleogene Stratigraphy and Depositional Systems Mexico Deepwater (Luciana de la Roche, M.S. candidate)
Miocene submarine-current affected fans, Southern Gulf of Mexico (prelim) (Enrique Arce, M.S. candidate)
Support of 1- 2 undergraduate student senior research projects
Applied Science Goals
Delineation and mapping of pre-salt basins in the northern Gulf of Mexico using existing well control (50+
wells identified including cored sections). Approach seismic vendors about gaining access to additional on-shore data across key areas identified from pre-salt well penetrations. Relate to offshore pre-salt basins (via
SuperCache GoM seismic dataset provided by Dynamic Data Services).
Identify/map regions of likely petroleum charge mixing based on overlap of thermally mature liquid-prone
source lithofacies from the post-salt sources Oxfordian-, Tithonian-, Ceno-Turonian-, and Paleogene-centeredand pre-salt source. Calibrate with mixed reservoir oils and oil seeps. Relate to post-salt and pre-salt structur-al trends and well penetrations. May include 1D thermal modeling.
Continue analysis of source-to-sink scaling relationships and detrital zircon provenance analysis through
collaboration with M. Blum and Bruce Frederick (UKansas)
Expand Wilcox source facies mapping from deepwater to onshore and integrate with supersequence frame-
work and paleoenvironmental maps.
Establish practical chronostratigraphic system, Mid-Jurassic to Base Triassic.
Reevaluation/recalibration of onshore to deep-water sequences and facies for Cenozoic units using new
loaned proprietary seismic data sets.
Construction of additional digital well log cross sections, both stratigraphic strike & dip sections, in order to
illustrate key depositional transitions (e.g., Mexico to USA Paleogene Miocene, KPg breccia, Cuba to FloridaMesozoic, onshore canyons).
Investigate temporal/spatial evolution of shelf/slope incisions based on regional seismic interpretations, with
initial focus on the Wilcox and Miocene. Integrate mapped sediment dispersal with new provenance data.
Update and reinterpret sand composition syntheses incorporating several new published data suites for
LW, MW, UW, LM1—LM2, MM, UM.
Update all Phase 10 maps for Cenozoic units with new well control, including Mexico offshore and onshore
data as becomes available.
Update map suites for all 10 Mesozoic unit suites completed in Phase 10. New maps on GR-FL, RD, BP
GBDS Database, GIS and Tools
Add to GBDS GOM well control as new well logs and biostratigraphy are released
Add to GBDS reference set as new references are released
Maintain current GBDSGIS database and provide interim updates to sponsors
Continue to update and refine GBDSTools as science requires
Add LAS files to the list of available file types when querying the well in ArcMap using the GBDS Tools
We Appreciate Your Continued Participation and Support of GBDS
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The Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project Fall 2015
Thank you to our GBDS
Sponsors
And to our Data and Software
Partners
The GBDS project information and data is available online from our password protected site accessible from the member link on our web page:
www.ig.utexas.edu/energy/gbds/
We greatly benefit from the loan of seismic data sets from seismic vendors for use in our
GOM wide mapping. We continue to add to the database when possible.
