The Gulf of Mexico Sedimentary Basin Depositional Evolution and Petroleum Applications

The Gulf of Mexico Basin is one of the most prolific hydrocarbon-producing basins in the world, with an estimated endowment of 200 billion barrels of oil equivalent. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the basin, spanning the US, Mexico and Cuba. Topics covered include conventional and unconventional reservoirs, source rocks and associated tectonics, basin evolution from the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Era, and different regions of the basin from mature onshore fields to deep-water subsalt plays. Cores, well logs and seismic lines are all discussed providing local, regional and basin-scale insights. The scientific implications of seminal events in the basin's history are also covered, including sedimentary effects of the Chicxulub Impact. Containing over 200 color illustrations and 50 stratigraphic cross-sections and paleogeographic maps, this is an invaluable resource for petroleum industry professionals, as well as graduate students and researchers interested in basin analysis, sedimentology, stratigraphy, tectonics and petroleum geology.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction: tectonic and stratigraphic framework; Part II. Mesozoic Depositional Evolution: 2. Post-orogenic successor basin-fill and rifting phase; 3. Middle Mesozoic drift and cooling phase; 4. Late Mesozoic local tectonic and crustal heating phase; Part III. Cenozoic Depositional Evolution: 5. Cenozoic depositional history 1: Paleogene laramide phase; 6. Cenozoic depositional history 2: Middle Cenozoic geothermal phase; 7. Cenozoic depositional history 3: Neogene tectono-climatic phase; 8. Cenozoic depositional synthesis; Part IV. Petroleum Habitat: 9. Gulf of Mexico petroleum habitat; Glossary; References; Index.

John W. Snedden is a senior research scientist at the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas, Austin. He directs the Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis project, an industry research consortium investigating the depositional history of the Gulf of Mexico. Previously, he worked in the oil industry for over twenty-five years.
William E. Galloway is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geological Sciences and a research professor at the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas, Austin. He co-authored the reference book, Terrigenous Clastic Depositional Systems (1983) and founded the Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis project.