Late Pleistocene Bryant Canyon Turbidite Facies: Implications for Gulf of Mexico Mini-Basin Petroleum Systems, #11202 (2019)

The Western Ancestral Mississippi shelf-margin delta fed the Bryant Canyon/Fan Turbidite System in the intraslope basin province of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during the Penultimate Glacial (MIS 6) lowstand of sea level. The Bryant Submarine Canyon links a chain of 15 fill-and-spill mini-basins on the continental slope. On the upper and lower continental slope, these mini-basins are narrow (1-3 km), elongate (3-6 km), and follow salt ridges. On the middle slope, the mini-basins are larger (8-15 km), semi-circular basins. Interpretation of seismic facies displayed by the mini-basin deposits reveal three main depositional facies: (1) ponded turbidites (T), (2) mass transport-deposits (MTD), and (3) bypass channelized turbidites (C). These deposits are capped at many locations by thick deposits of intrabasinal, muddy MTD wedges sourced from the high-relief walls of the mini-basins. These intrabasinal MTD wedges are interbedded with the externally derived basin deposits. Extrabasinal MTD deposits were derived from shelf-margin delta or canyon-wall failures and then transported through bypass channels to the mini-basin depocenters.