Three-dimensional seismic stratigraphic interpretation of the upper miocene to lower pleistocene deep-water sediments of the Thunder Horse-Mensa area, southern Mississippi Canyon, northern deep Gulf of Mexico

This thesis documents a detailed 3-D seismic stratigraphic analysis of the Mensa - Thunder Horse minibasins in the south-central Mississippi Canyon protraction area, northern deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The stratigraphic interval of interest is between the 9.0 to 1.3 Ma (upper Miocene to lower Pliocene). The analysis is based on the integration of a 378 square mile 3-D seismic data set and wireline logs.; Eleven sequences/intervals were identified and correlated. Depositional elements include channels (depositional and erosional), levee overbanks, depositional lobes, and mass transport deposits. The mud overbank deposits constitute about 90% of the sediments in the interval of study. Seismic attribute analyses and wireline logs indicate that the channel-fill sediments can be of variable grain size along the path of the channel. Levees usually had well developed bathymetric relief. They are dominantly mud with sands proximal to the main channel. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...