Hydrocarbon Production in the Gulf Coast Region from Organic-Rich Source Beds of Ancient Intraslope Basins

Abstract

We have recently presented an empirical model to explain how low oxygen levels in intraslope basins of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico have been a common mechanism for the accumulation of sediments with significantly increased amounts of marine organic carbon. In that model (Model I) progadation of the shelf-slope and regional salt tectonics were invoked to control the occurrence and stratigraphic distribution of source beds throughout the Tertiary of the Gulf of Mexico. In turn, the maturation history of these organic-rich sediments is influenced by the high thermal conductivity of the underlying salt structures. In Model II, the topic of this paper, we use random number theory to suggest that the occurrence of organic-rich black muds in intraslope basins of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico had sufficient capacity to more than account for the known oil and gas reserves in sediments of the Gulf Coast Geosyncline.