• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.4 no.1_2 s.5
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• pp.27-39
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• 1996

In the Cretaceous, the Gulf Coast Basin evolved as a marginal sag basin. Thick clastic and carbonate sequences cover the disturbed and diapirically deformed salt layer. In the Cretaceous the salinities of the Gulf Coast Basin probably matched the Holocene Persian Gulf, as is evidenced by the widespread development of supratidal anhydrite. The major Lower Cretaceous reservoir formations are the Cotton Valley, Hosston, Travis Peak siliciclastics, and Sligo, Trinity (Pine Island, Pearsall, Glen Rose), Edwards, Georgetown/Buda carbonates. Source rocks are down-dip offshore marine shales and marls, and seals are either up-dip shales, dense limestones, or evaporites. During this period, the entire Gulf Basin was a shallow sea which to the end of Cretaceous had been rimmed to the southwest by shallow marine carbonates while fine-grained terrigengus clastics were deposited on the northern and western margins of the basin. The main Upper Cretaceous reservoir groups of the Gulf Coast, which were deposited in the period of a major sea level .rise with the resulting deep water conditions, are Woodbinefruscaloosa sands, Austin chalk and carbonates, Taylor and Navarro sandstones. Source rocks are down-dip offshore shales and seals are up-dip shales. Major trap types of the Lower and Upper Cretaceous include salt-related anticlines from low relief pillows to complex salt diapirs. Growth fault structures with rollover anticlines on downthrown fault blocks are significant Gulf Coast traps. Permeability barriers, up-dip pinch-out sand bodies, and unconformity truncations also play a key role in oil exploration from the Cretaceous Gulf Coast reservoirs. The sedimentary sequences of the major Cretaceous reseuoir rocks are a good match to the regressional phases on the global sea level cuwe, suggesting that the Cretaceous Gulf Coast sedimentary stratigraphy relatively well reflects a response to eustatic sea level change throughout its history. Thus, of the three main factors controlling sedimentation (tectonic subsidence, sediment input, and eustatic sea level change) in the Gulf Coast Basin, sea-level ranks first in the period.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.5 no.1_2 s.6
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• pp.9-15
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• 1997

The study area is located in the Central Bransfield Basin, Antarctica. To analyze the morphology of seafloor, structure of basement, and seismic stratigraphy of the sedimentary layers, we have acquired, processed, and interpreted the multi-channel seismic data. The northwest-southeastern back-arc extension dramatically changes seafloor morphology, volcanic and fault distribution, and basin structure along the spreading ridges. The northern continental shelf shows a narrow, steep topography. In contrast, the continental shelf or slope in the south, which is connected to the Antarctic Peninsula, has a gentle gradient. Volcanic activities resulted in the formation of large volcanos and basement highs near the spreading center, and small-scale volcanic diapirs on the shelf. A very long, continuous normal fault characterizes the northern shelf, whereas several basinward synthetic faults probably detach into the master fault in the south. Four transfer faults, the northwest-southeastern deep-parallel structures, controlled the complex distributions of the volcanos, normal faults, depocenters, and possibly hydrocarbon provinces in the study area. They have also deformed the basement structure and depositional pattern. Even though the Bransfield Basin was believed to be formed in the Late Cenozoic (about 4 Ma), the hydrocarbon potential may be very high due to thick sediment accumulation, high organic contents, high heat flow resulted from the active tectonics, and adequate traps.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.5 no.1_2 s.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 1997

Seismic stratigraphic analysis of the high resolution profiles obtained from the southeastern shelf of Korea divided the deposits into 4 sequences; 1) sequence D, 2) sequence C, 3) sequence B and 4) sequence A (Holocene sediments). Sequence D was deposited in shallow-water environment at west of the Yangsan Fault as the basin subsided. On the other hand, the eastern part was formed at the slope front. Landward part of the slope-front fill sediments were eroded and redeposited nearby slope due to the syndepositional tilting of the basin. This tilting probably resulted from the continuous closing of the Ulleung Basin. Sequence C is made of stacked successions of the lowstand fluvial sediments, transgressive sediments and marine highstand sediments derived from the paleo-river in the western part of the Yangsan Fault. Sequence C in the eastern part of the Yanshan Fault was formed at the shelf break. Progradation of the lowstand sediments resulted in broadening of the shelf. Sequence C in the eastern part was also tilted but the tilting was weaker than in Sequence D. During the formation of sequence B the tilting stopped and the point source instead of the line source started in both sides of the Yangsan Fault. Sequence B was composed of the highstand systems tract partially preserved around the Yokji island, lowstand systems tract mainly preserved in the Korea Trough and transgressive systems tract. After the stop of the tilting, the force of compression due to the closing of the Ulleung Basin may be released by the strike-slip faults instead of tilting.