New Perspectives on Linkage Between Salt Structures, Gulf Coast Source Rocks and Hydrocarbon Generation

Douglas F. Williams, I. Lerche

An original model (model III) considers the effects of sand and shale distributions, trapping mechanisms, and migration efficiencies on estimates of potential hydrocarbon reservoirs in Gulf Coast Tertiary strata. Model III builds upon earlier models (models I and II) in which we described possible physical relationships between salt structures, euxinic intraslope basins, enhanced preservation of marine organic carbon, Gulf Coast source rocks and modification of regional thermal gradients (model I); estimates of the dynamic range of hydrocarbon production from such source rocks using parameters of time, temperature, organic content, and generation efficiencies (model II). Model III unifies the underlying principles of all three models into a new concept for hydrocarbon exp oration in basins underlain and structurally deformed by mobile salt structures. Our overall goal is to provide new perspectives on the genetic linkage, currently under-appreciated, between salt structures, the evolution and distribution of Gulf Coast source rocks, hydrocarbon generation potential, and likely reservoir accumulation sites.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91029©1989 AAPG GCAGS and GC Section of SEPM Meeting, October 25-27, 1989, Corpus Christi, Texas.