Megaregional Project Progress Report

BERTAGNE, ALLEN J., CGG American Services, Inc., Houston, TX

The Megaregional Project is a cooperative effort between CGG American Services, 23 oil companies, and several other service companies. The goal of the project is to compile and interpret continuous regional seismic lines crossing major North American basins.

When completed, the first data segment will extend from the Arkoma basin of Arkansas to the east Cameron area, offshore Louisiana, and will be approximately 500 mi long. The line will cross the Arkoma basin, the Ouachita thrust belt, the State Line Graben trend, the North Louisiana Salt basin, the Lower Cretaceous shelf edge, and complex faults of southwest Louisiana. Additional Megaregional dip and strike lines are planned for the Gulf of Mexico basin as the project advances.

Megaregional seismic lines provide insight into (1) what is and is not basement, (2) maturation history and migration pathways, (3) regional structural geology, and (4) regional stratigraphy. They can, thereby, lead to an improved understanding of known plays and to the development of new exploration plays in apparently mature areas.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91006 © 1991 GCAGS and GC-SEPM Meeting, Houston, Texas, October 16-18, 1991 (2009)