Abstract
A large buried submarine trough crosses the seaward margin of the continental shelf off the southwest coast of Louisiana. Original length was about 90 km, and width at the shelf edge was 16 km. Maximum eroded depth may have been as much as 305 m. Seismic characteristics of the prograded fill indicate cyclically repeated sequences of retrogressive deltaic and partly slumped sediments overlain by well-layered transgressive deposits. Slumping was increasingly prevalent toward the shelf edge. The cyclic sequences indicate that the trough was a passageway for large volumes of sediment onto the continental slope during several stages of lowered sea level.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bornhauser, M., 1948. Possible submarine canyon in southwestern Louisiana. Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 32, p. 2287–2290.
Hoyt, W. V., 1959. Erosional channel in the Middle Wilcox near Yoakum, Lavaca County, Texas. Gulf Coast Assoc. Geol. Socs. Trans., p. 41–50.
Veatch, A. C., and Smith, P. A., 1939. Atlantic submarine valleys of the United States and the Congo Submarine Valley. Geol. Soc. America Spec. Paper 7, 101 p.
McGregor, B. A., 1981. Ancestral head of Wilmington Canyon. Geology, v. 9, p. 254–257.
Shepard, F. P., and Dill, R. F., 1966. Submarine canyons and other sea valleys. Rand McNally and Co., Chicago, 381 p.
Woodbury, H. O., and others, 1973. Pliocene and Pleistocene depocenters, Outer Continental Shelf, Louisiana and Texas. Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 57, p. 2428–2439.
Berryhill, H. L., Trippet, A. R., and Mihalyi, Dale. Geology of the shelf edge off southwest Louisiana: shallow geologic features. Admin. Rept. to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 1981.
Trippet, A. R., 1981. Interaction between diapirism and sediment loading at the shelf-slope boundary, northwest Gulf of Mexico. Geo-Marine Letters, v. 1, no. 2, p. 111–114.
Sangree, J. B., and Widmier, J. M., 1977. Seismic stratigraphy and global changes of sea level, part nine: seismic interpretation of clastic depositional facies. In: C. E. Payton, (ed.), Seismic Stratigraphy—Applications to Hydrocarbon Exploration. Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26, p. 183.
Curray, J. R., 1960. Sediments and history of Holocence transgression, Continental Shelf, northwest Gulf of Mexico. In: F. P. Shepard, F. B. Pheleger, and T. H. van Andel, (eds.) Recent Sediments, Northwest Gulf of Mexico. Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, Okla., p. 221–266.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Berryhill, H.L. Ancient buried submarine trough, northwest Gulf of Mexico. Geo-Marine Letters 1, 105–110 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02463326
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02463326