Date of Award

Fall 12-2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Program

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Department

Geology and Geophysics

Major Professor

Dr. A. K. M. Sarwar

Second Advisor

MD Royhan Gani

Third Advisor

Toby Roesler

Abstract

Beneath Keathley Canyon (KC) off the Southern Coast of Louisiana and Texas, allochthonous salt bodies have attained thicknesses of over 7620 m (25000 feet), providing excellent seals and migration pathways for hydrocarbons produced by post-rift sedimentary deposition. This study analyzes a small portion of the KC area, utilizing Petrel Seismic software and well information from the KC102 (Tiber) well.

An intra-Miocene wedge, expressed beneath salt, may provide information about movement of allochthonous salt over Wilcox sands, sediment compaction, and hydrocarbon pathways. Progradational sedimentation is the driving force which leads to faulting in the early Miocene, allowing Jurassic salt to rise, spreading laterally and upwards towards the surface, scarring the sediments beneath it in glacier-like form. This intrusion helped to create the proper conditions for formation of a petroleum play system, maintain reservoir quality sands and temperatures, and create a four way closure in the Eocene for prospective well location.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

Share

COinS