Late Mesozoic sandstone volumes recorded in Gulf of Mexico subsurface depocentres: Deciphering long‐term sediment supply trends and contributions by paleo river systems

• Published in: Basin research Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 1269 - 1291
• Main Authors: Snedden, John W., Hull, Harry L., Whiteaker, Timothy L., Virdell, Jon W., Ross, Catherine H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2022
• Subjects: Aridity; Basins; Cenozoic; Cenozoic Era; Climate effects; Cretaceous; Drilling; Fluvial sediments; grain volume; Gulf of Mexico; Jurassic; Mapping; Mesozoic; Plates; Porosity; River systems; Rivers; Sand; Sandstone; Sea level; Sediment; Sedimentary rocks; Sediments; Seismic data; source‐to‐sink; Subsurface mapping; Terrigenous sediments; Trends; Well logs; Zircon; Gulf of Mexico
• ISSN: 0950-091X; 1365-2117
• DOI: 10.1111/bre.12659

Quantitative assessment of terrigenous sediment flux to the deep basin has mainly been limited to the Cenozoic Era, given challenges with reconstruction of more ancient source to sink systems. Subsurface mapping in the northern Gulf of Mexico basin, where there is a robust database of wells and seismic data, allows estimation of sand‐size grain volumes within 12 chronostratigraphically defined Late Mesozoic supersequences. Five subsurface depocentres with thicknesses of >400 m are identified, revealing a history of sediment routing via major fluvial axes (paleo rivers) southward from a mid‐continent drainage divide. The interpreted paleo‐rivers are further confirmed by compilation and synthesis of published and novel detrital zircon provenance data showing combinations of age peak subsets that vary considerably between depocentres. This study quantifies sediment volumes within each depocentre by inverting porosity over defined gross rock volumes derived from subsurface well logs and 2D seismic mapping. Two temporal trends of progressively increasing grain volume can be related to climatic effects on fluvial discharge and sediment delivery to the depocentres: (1) Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (Oxfordian to early Aptian) and (2) Late Cretaceous (Late Aptian to Coniacian). The first temporal trend probably reflects the local climate becoming less arid with northward drift of the North American Plate into higher latitudes. The second trend mirrors increasing Cretaceous paleotemperatures and rising global sea levels. This second trend is also marked by increased shelf margin bypass of sand indicated by deep basin drilling. Partitioning of Late Mesozoic grain volume by fluvial axes shows that the Paleo‐Apalachicola and Paleo‐Mississippi rivers, sourced from Appalachian basement terranes, generated the largest and longest terrigenous sediment flux into the Gulf of Mexico basin in the Late Mesozoic. Overall, Late Mesozoic siliciclastic grain volumes are estimated to be an order of magnitude less than those previously documented for the Cenozoic Era. Grain volumes of the Late Mesozoic supersequences partitioned by the paleo‐river interpreted as delivering sediment to the various Gulf Basin depocenters. The Paleo‐Apalachicola River, linked to the southern Appalachians through detrital zircon analysis, is the most temporally consistent and volumetrically important fluvial axis during the Mesozoic. Other paleo‐drainages show more episodic sediment delivery.