Hydrodynamic fractionation of minerals and textures in submarine fans: Quantitative analysis from outcrop, experimental, and subsurface studies

Submarine fans are common on all of Earth's siliciclastic margins and are among the largest hydrocarbon reservoirs around the globe. They contain compensationally-stacked channels and lobes that form a radially dispersive map pattern. Turbidity currents, a type of sediment gravity flow, are one of the main processes by which sediment is transported from the shelf to intra-slope- and basin-floor submarine fans.;Turbidity currents hydrodynamically sort and deposit grains based on grain size, which is the primary control of settling velocity. Grain density and grain shape also contribute to particle settling velocity, yet only a few studies have focused on the effects of these variables on the behavior and deposits of turbidity currents. This dissertation analyzes how flow processes in turbidity currents relate to the spatial distribution of minerals and texture in turbidite lobes, and, in turn, how this affects reservoir quality. This dissertation uses three different methods of research: 1) physical experimentation of turbidity currents and their resulting deposits using the Deepwater Basin at Tulane University (Chapters 2 and 3); 2) outcrop analysis of a turbidite lobe from the Point Loma Formation, San Diego, California (Chapter 4); and 3) analysis of subsurface core data from Upper Miocene turbidites in Aspen Field, northern Gulf of Mexico (Chapter 5).;Results of the physical experiments (Chapters 2 and 3) document that turbidity currents are effective are fractionating minerals on the basis of grain density and grain shape alone, resulting in large-scale spatial variations in the composition and textures of their deposits. Proximal and axial locations of turbidite lobes are relatively enriched in high density and/or round grains, whereas the lateral and distal margins of the deposits are relatively enriched in low density and/or angular grains. Outcrop analysis of a natural turbidite lobe (Chapter 4) documents similar results whereby the proportion of angular minerals, such as biotite, increases toward the lobe margins, whereas the proportion of dense minerals, such as hornblende, decreases toward the lobe margins. The subsurface study (Chapter 5) documents how spatial variations in the composition of turbidites due to mineral fractionation results in spatial variations in reservoir quality (porosity and permeability).