MIOCENE DEPOSITION AND

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO
BOTTOM LINE
Exploration geoscientists working in the northern Gulf of Mexico and adjacent areas must
develop insights into relationships between hydrocarbon occurrences and regional/global
events such as growth-fault/allochthonous salt evolution and sea-level/climatic cycles.

PROBLEM ADDRESSED
KEY WORDS:
In the Gulf of Mexico, numerous hydrocarbon plays have been spawned by Miocene-
Deep Water Play
age high frequency cycles of fluvial/incised valley fill, deltaic/neritic, and deep water Eastern Gulf Turbidite
slope/submarine fans deposits. Many of these have been complicated by structural Flex Trend Play
movements including salt diapirism. Over past decades, technological advancement Gulf of Mexico
has fueled development of exploration trends to greater depths and into deeper water. Miocene
These areas include the Deep Water play, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Unconfined Reflection Seismic
Turbidite play, the Flex Trend, the Onshore South Louisiana play, and a "sub-weld" Submarine Fan
play in South Louisiana beneath the horizontal detachment surface.

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
The Miocene is a pivotal interval in the history of the
Cenozoic. Within its nearly 19 million years, profound
oceanographic and climatic changes occurred. These
include the transition from globally more uniform envi-
ronments of the Paleogene, to the modern world where
extreme climatic and oceanographic contrasts are the
norm. Important Miocene climatic changes are reflected
by the increasing importance of higher frequency cycles
of deposition in the Gulf of Mexico.
Miocene Exploration History in the Gulf of Mexico.
Historically in the Gulf of Mexico, exploration plays
have been categorized into geographic areas such as
onshore, flex trend, eastern Gulf of Mexico, and deep
water. Technical modifiers such as amplitude, non-
amplitude, and sub-salt have also been added.
Geophysical, geologic, paleontologic and drilling tech-
nologies have all played an important role at one time or
another.
In the onshore Miocene fluvial and deltaic trends of
south Louisiana, gravity and sub-surface geological map-
Based on a workshop sponsored by PTTC's Eastern Gulf
Region, November 10, 1999 in Jackson, Mississippi.
SPEAKERS:
Miocene--A Global Perspective; Lower & Middle Miocene
Sequences and Depocenters in the Gulf of Mexico
Richard Fillon, Earth Studies Associates
Upper Miocene Sequences and Depocenters; Reservoir and
Exploration Strategies in the Miocene of the Gulf of Mexico
Paul Lawless, CNG Producing Co. 203
ping found huge salt dome and faulted anticlinal fields
early in the century. The addition of reflection seismic
data after World War II helped extend deeper plays
onshorepeaking in the 1940s for the upper Miocene, in
the 1950s for the middle Miocene, and in the 1970s for
the lower Miocene deltaic trends.
Deeper drilling technology pushed the search for upper
Miocene deltaic plays onto the continental shelf. A major
change in technology occurred in the early 1970s with
the advancement of true amplitude processing of reflec-
tion seismic data. "Bright Spot" exploration strategy
launched a brief era of "pure" geophysical prospecting.
Amplitude-related plays were chased all over the shelf
and into the uppermost deep-water areas of the northern
Gulf continental slope in the 1980s. 3-D seismic data
became commonplace on the shelf and upper-slope dur-
ing this time. By the 1990s discoveries on the shelf had
slowed, while deep-water discoveries began to take off.
Seismic advancements during the past two decades
include dip moveout, advanced post-stack time migra-
tion algorithms, turning wave migration, 3-D amplitude
versus offset processing, ray-trace analysis, post-stack
depth migration, pre-stack time migration, and pre-stack
depth migration. Also, industry has been willing to
acquire 3-D data sets for production as well as explo-
ration tools.
Introduction of "seismic stratigraphy" in 1977 drove the
development of basin-fill and new submarine fan facies
models. Major differences have been recognized between
submarine fan sections in third- and fourth-order
sequences deposited on a second-order relative fall of sea
level, as opposed to submarine fan sections deposited on
a second-order rise. Advances in biostratigraphy in the
past two decades have greatly improved zonations and
have allowed sequence stratigraphy to develop as an
effective exploration tool. Modern computer technology
has breathed new life into old exploratory field tech-
niques such as gravity. Computer generated second-verti-
cal derivative (SVD) gravity maps can now contrast low
density salt with higher density sediment-filled mini-
basins, providing a high-resolution virtual image of shelf
and slope structures.
Deeper Water Miocene. This play spans Mississippi
Canyon, Ewing Bank, Atwater Valley Lund, and eastern
portions of Green Canyon and Walker ridge where upper,
middle and sometimes lower Miocene sections are eco-
nomically drillable. Although oil is the main objective,
large gas accumulations have also been located. This
play has evolved from drilling to structural highs in the
early 1980s to seeking amplitude-associated pay trapped
in ponded turbidite facies in supra-salt and intra-salt
mini-basins of the uppermost continental shelf in the late
1980s. Larger prospects in this area drilled in the 1990s
have targeted salt overhangs and sub-salt structures. The
recent billion barrel "Crazy Horse" discovery in southern
Mississippi Canyon proved that large amounts of non-
amplitude pay exist.
Basinward of the ponded turbidite mini-basin play, salt-
cored thrust folds have middle and lower Miocene
abyssal plain section draped across them. Two discover-
ies occur in the Mississippi fan thrust and fold belt play,
Neptune and Mad Dog.
Eastern Gulf of Mexico Unconfined Turbidite. This play
targets upper and middle Miocene unconfined subma-
rine fan section deposited basinward of the salt mini-
basin province in Main Pass and Vioska Knoll.
Reservoirs in this trend lie within the channel-levee and
overbank mid-fan depositonal system, and range in size
up to 500 MMBOE.
Flex Trend. This trend is a geographic area encompass-
ing the outermost shelf and uppermost slope where salt
sheets are actively deforming. Discoveries from the 1970s
and 1980s include "Bullwinkle" and "Popeye". In recent
years the more exciting play has been for ponded upper
For information on PTTCs Eastern Gulf Region and its activities contact:
Miocene, and possibly middle Miocene submarine fan
section below deformed allochthonous salt. So far the
play has been for amplitude-associated pay only and has
made several major discoveries, but few economic fields.
Salt sheets in the flex trend are as difficult to image
beneath as the ones in deep water, thus this play has
tended to be uneconomic. Targeting more homogeneous
ponded sheet sands at the base of the sequence may
improve the play's economics.
Onshore South Louisiana. Although the Miocene of
south Louisiana has been heavily explored since the
1920s, it has provided more economic discoveries in the
past ten years than the flex trend sub-salt play. Recent
Miocene discoveries are deep, geopressured and contain
reservoirs that are not amplitude associated. The largest
discoveries in the play have been on faulted anticlines,
found with the aid of detailed regional maps utilizing
well logs, biostratigraphy, and 2-D seismic data. 3-D data
were often acquired only after a discovery, for more effi-
cient development.
Because it is so deeply buried, the exploration target for
the Lentic Jeff submarine fan section is only 18 miles
wide. In southeast Louisiana, a number of lower and
middle Miocene turbidite sands, deposited on a relative
second-order sea level rise have been located downdip of
their respective paleo-shelf edges. Three additional mid-
dle Miocene third-order sequences contain very sand-
rich submarine fan sections. These sequences can be
explored over a 25-50 mile wide swath.
Several large exploration companies have recently shut
down their onshore exploration programs. Additional
3-D seismic (or at least rigorous reworking of the large
amount of 2-D data in that area) may help to identify
more economic stratigraphic traps. Many additional sub-
marine fan prospects remain to be tested in this play. A
"sub-weld" play exists in various parts of South
Louisiana where section below the horizontal detach-
ment surface can be drilled.
CONNECTIONS:
Richard H. Fillon
Earth Studies Associates
3730 Rue Nichole, New Orleans, LA 70131
phone 504-394-0797, fax: 425-955-4725
e-mail fillorh@bellsouth.net

Paul N. Lawless
Ernest A. Mancini, Professor of Geology CNG Producing Co.
University of Alabama 1450 Poydras St., New Orleans, LA 70110
Box 870338, 202 Bevill Bldg., Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 phone 504-593-7000, fax: 504-593-7342
ph 205-348-4319, fax 205-348-0818, e-mail emancini@wgs.geo.ua.edu e-mail paul_n_lawless@cngp.cng.com

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