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Geometric and seismic interpretation of the Perdido fold belt: Northwestern deep-water Gulf of Mexico

¹ Chevron Deepwater Exploration/Projects Business Unit, 1500 Louisiana St., Suite 11000, Houston, Texas 77002; camerrh{at}chevrontexaco.com
² GoMex Energy LLC, 1776 Woodstead Court, Suite 222, The Woodlands, Texas 77380

R. H. Camerlo received his M.Sc. degree in geological sciences from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998. He joined Texaco upon graduation and has worked in exploration, appraisal, and project development in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. Currently, he is with Chevron International Exploration and Production working on deep-water Nigeria exploration. Rion's technical interests are in exploration and structural geology.E. F. "Ted" Benson is a partner of GoMex Energy, an offshore Gulf of Mexico independent. He received his B.S. degree in geophysics from the University of Oklahoma and his M.S. degree in geology from the University of New Orleans. Ted's interests are in three-dimensional seismic interpretation, depth imaging, and reservoir integration.

We interpret the Perdido fold belt to be composed of detachment folds flanked by megascopic-scale kink bands. The two previous principal fold models for the Perdido fold belt incorporated components of large-scale faulting: an imbricate fault-bend fold model and a high-angle, reverse-faulted detachment fold model. We interpret the Perdido fold belt to be fold dominated. The belt consists of detachment folds overlying a ductile decollement layer. The detachment fold crests are bounded by kink bands, which are narrow zones of angularly folded strata. The low-reflectivity, low–signal-to-noise zones seen in seismic profiles across the Perdido fold belt are poorly imaged sections of the folds that result from steeply dipping bedding in the kink bands. The substantial width of these low-reflectivity zones, their subparallel edges in cross section, and their orientation at a high angle to layering, as well as their organized spacing and conjugate geometry, support a kink-band interpretation. Propagating reverse faults are unlikely in the folds because of the absence of backlimbs overlying the locations of hypothetical faults. Improved seismic imaging efforts have illuminated steeply dipping bedding that is not cut by faulting in many of the low-reflectivity zones in the Perdido fold belt.

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