Prestack depth imaging in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Part 2: Interpretation of the Mid-Cretaceous sequence boundary and underlying geologic events

The DeSoto Canyon and Lloyd Ridge Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease areas (Figure 1) comprise one of the few remaining frontier exploration regions in North America. To date, no wells have been drilled in the deepwater portion of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and only one well has been drilled on the shelf (DeSoto Canyon 512, Shell). In preparation for OCS Lease Sale 181 in December 2001, a large quantity of 2-D seismic data with a total offset range of 7900 m has recently been acquired in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. We have applied prestack depth migration to 3270 miles of seismic data from the DeSoto Canyon and Lloyd Ridge lease areas in order to better image the geology of the region. Water depths in the study area vary from 900 m on the west Florida shelf to 3000 m on the abyssal plain of the west Florida basin. The mid-Cretaceous sequence boundary (MCSB) forms the most prominent feature in the seismic data. Mapping this surface is the key to understanding the structural geology and potential hydrocarbon traps in the region.