Louisiana

SEVERAL long, narrow, sandy ridges run roughly parallel to the coast of southwestern Louisiana. Rising slightly above surrounding marshes, lakes, and watercourses, all essentially at sea level, these low ridges form the most conspicuous topographic features of the region. Sharply localized, well drained, and fertile, they support naturally a luxuriant vegetational cover in which large evergreen oaks form so striking a part that, quite deservedly, the ridges have been called cheniers' by their Creole inhabitants. Many of the cheniers have been cleared. Cotton fields cover large parts of the highest and most accessible; those lower and more distant form bases for grazing, trapping, hunting, and fishing. Where they are served by roads or navigable waters, the population is relatively dense and prosperous. It is not the purpose of this paper, however, to consider cheniers in their cultural aspects. We are here concerned with their origin, a history involving several of the dominant geologic processes affecting the Gulf Coast during Quaternary time. The entire Gulf Coast of the United States is a splendid exhibit of the consequences of active submergence. The mouth of practically every river is estuarine. From the Caloosahatchee, of southern Florida, to Baffins Bay, of southern Texas, the coast is marked by a dozen or more large bays and a much larger number of less conspicuous drowned river mouths. The subsidence causing this condition is so rapid that in the entire distance only two rivers, the Mississippi and the Appalachicola, have been able to build deltas protruding into the Gulf. The Mississippi has done so because of its enormous size and load, the Appalachicola because it drains an anticlinal region undergoing active uplift. The absence of deltas along the Gulf Coast might not be particularly significant were the streams clear and their burdens small, but the opposite is the case. Any comparatively short period of crustal stability would witness not only the rapid filling of their estuarine mouths but the growth of deltas into the Gulf as well.2 The effects of submergence extend well inland. Practically every stream immediately inland from the coastal marsh zone flows down

@article{doi102307209313,
    author = "Russell, Richard and Howe, Henry V.",
    title = "Cheniers of Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1935",
    journal = "Geographical Review",
    abstract = "SEVERAL long, narrow, sandy ridges run roughly parallel to the coast of southwestern Louisiana. Rising slightly above surrounding marshes, lakes, and watercourses, all essentially at sea level, these low ridges form the most conspicuous topographic features of the region. Sharply localized, well drained, and fertile, they support naturally a luxuriant vegetational cover in which large evergreen oaks form so striking a part that, quite deservedly, the ridges have been called cheniers' by their Creole inhabitants. Many of the cheniers have been cleared. Cotton fields cover large parts of the highest and most accessible; those lower and more distant form bases for grazing, trapping, hunting, and fishing. Where they are served by roads or navigable waters, the population is relatively dense and prosperous. It is not the purpose of this paper, however, to consider cheniers in their cultural aspects. We are here concerned with their origin, a history involving several of the dominant geologic processes affecting the Gulf Coast during Quaternary time. The entire Gulf Coast of the United States is a splendid exhibit of the consequences of active submergence. The mouth of practically every river is estuarine. From the Caloosahatchee, of southern Florida, to Baffins Bay, of southern Texas, the coast is marked by a dozen or more large bays and a much larger number of less conspicuous drowned river mouths. The subsidence causing this condition is so rapid that in the entire distance only two rivers, the Mississippi and the Appalachicola, have been able to build deltas protruding into the Gulf. The Mississippi has done so because of its enormous size and load, the Appalachicola because it drains an anticlinal region undergoing active uplift. The absence of deltas along the Gulf Coast might not be particularly significant were the streams clear and their burdens small, but the opposite is the case. Any comparatively short period of crustal stability would witness not only the rapid filling of their estuarine mouths but the growth of deltas into the Gulf as well.2 The effects of submergence extend well inland. Practically every stream immediately inland from the coastal marsh zone flows down",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/209313",
    doi = "10.2307/209313",
    openalex = "W2091315284"
}

@article{doi1013063d93314c16b111d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "Kornfeld, Moses Marion",
    title = "Hackberry Foraminiferal Zonation at Starks Field, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana: GEOLOGICAL NOTES",
    year = "1939",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/3d93314c-16b1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/3d93314c-16b1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W2020317138"
}

@techreport{bornhauser1948possible2,
    author = "Bornhauser, M",
    title = "Possible ancient submarine canyon in southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1948",
    howpublished = "American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 32, p. 2287-2290",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Bornhauser, M., 1948, Possible ancient submarine canyon in southwestern Louisiana: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 32, p. 2287-2290.}"
}

ABSTRACT The Harang and Hackberry are seaward thickening argilliaceous facies in the younger Tertiary of South Louisiana and adjacent areas. The Harang facies is identified by the presence of the Harang foraminiferal fauna and is found near the middle of the South Louisiana Miocene of the eastern coastal parishes. The older Hackberry facies contains the Hackberry foraminiferal assemblage and is found in the Frio formation, which extends across coastal Louisiana and Texas. The Hackberry is best developed, in Louisiana, in the southwestern part of the state. Study subsequent to previous publication on the Harang facies indicates: (1) the lower limit of the facies in fringe areas is the approximate top of the Amphistegina zone rather than the Discorbis zone; (2) the approximate updip limit of the facies trends southeast from New Orleans, generally excluding areas east of the Mississippi river; (3) an area of typical development exists in central Lafourche Parish; and (4) Planulina harangensis Cushman and Ellisor is not necessarily the best marker for this facies. Good possibilities for production of hydrocarbons exist both above and below these facies, although production from within the Harang and the Hackberry in their areas of typical development is negligible.

@article{openalexw1557126528,
    author = "Pope, David E.",
    title = "Comparison of the Harang and Hackberry Facies in South Louisiana (1)",
    year = "1955",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT The Harang and Hackberry are seaward thickening argilliaceous facies in the younger Tertiary of South Louisiana and adjacent areas. The Harang facies is identified by the presence of the Harang foraminiferal fauna and is found near the middle of the South Louisiana Miocene of the eastern coastal parishes. The older Hackberry facies contains the Hackberry foraminiferal assemblage and is found in the Frio formation, which extends across coastal Louisiana and Texas. The Hackberry is best developed, in Louisiana, in the southwestern part of the state. Study subsequent to previous publication on the Harang facies indicates: (1) the lower limit of the facies in fringe areas is the approximate top of the Amphistegina zone rather than the Discorbis zone; (2) the approximate updip limit of the facies trends southeast from New Orleans, generally excluding areas east of the Mississippi river; (3) an area of typical development exists in central Lafourche Parish; and (4) Planulina harangensis Cushman and Ellisor is not necessarily the best marker for this facies. Good possibilities for production of hydrocarbons exist both above and below these facies, although production from within the Harang and the Hackberry in their areas of typical development is negligible.",
    url = "https://openalex.org/W1557126528",
    openalex = "W1557126528"
}

ABSTRACT More than 5 billion barrels of oil have been produced from the Anahuac and Frio formations in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. The Frio, with many excellent blanket sands, accounts for practically all of this total; the Anahuac, which is primarily shale, produces only a small percentage from limited sand development. Oil activity on salt-dome structures in the Frio trend dates from the founding of the present oil industry with the discovery of oil at Spindletop and Jennings in 1901. Since that time, the oil industry has discovered approximately 455 fields in Texas, and 160 fields in Louisiana. A great variety of geologic structures, together with favorable sedimentation conditions, resulted in forming many traps for oil and gas in the Anahuac and Frio formations. The producing belt for these formations ranges from 40 to 60 miles wide, and extends approximately 675 miles from Mexico to the state of Mississippi.

@article{doi1013060bda5c2a16bd11d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "Ray, A. Burke",
    title = "Summary of Oil Occurrence in Anahuac and Frio Formations of Texas and Louisiana",
    year = "1958",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT More than 5 billion barrels of oil have been produced from the Anahuac and Frio formations in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. The Frio, with many excellent blanket sands, accounts for practically all of this total; the Anahuac, which is primarily shale, produces only a small percentage from limited sand development. Oil activity on salt-dome structures in the Frio trend dates from the founding of the present oil industry with the discovery of oil at Spindletop and Jennings in 1901. Since that time, the oil industry has discovered approximately 455 fields in Texas, and 160 fields in Louisiana. A great variety of geologic structures, together with favorable sedimentation conditions, resulted in forming many traps for oil and gas in the Anahuac and Frio formations. The producing belt for these formations ranges from 40 to 60 miles wide, and extends approximately 675 miles from Mexico to the state of Mississippi.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/0bda5c2a-16bd-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/0bda5c2a-16bd-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W2165485216",
    references = "doi1013065ceae27a16bb11d78645000102c1865d, openalexw1565983386, openalexw1845753970"
}

ABSTRACT The low coastal marshland of southwestern Louisiana is characterized by numerous relict beach ridges, or cheniers, which give the region its name. From analyses of cores along a north-south line of section through Creole, Louisiana, it has been possible to identify 4 faunal zones and 7 distinct sedimentary facies in the post-Pleistocene deposits which underlie the plain. The faunal zones, named after the dominant foraminifers, are: the Streblus, Streblus-Elphidium, Quinqueloculina and Trochammina zones. The sedimentary facies consist of varying proportions of sand, silt, and clay which, together with their contained faunas, clearly reflect the environments of deposition, including marsh, bay, mudflat, open gulf, and beach. The relict beaches or cheniers are lenticular sand and shell bodies similar to certain shoestring sands which commonly serve as oil reservoirs in older rocks; thus, they hold special interest for the petroleum geologist. The cheniers, which extend as uninterrupted coastwise ridges up to 30 miles in length, are biconvex in cross section and average about 600 feet across and about 7 feet in thickness. They rise from a few inches to more than 10 feet above the marsh. They are characterized by a smooth, generally arcuate seaward front and an irregular landward margin. These deposits rest on shallow gulf bottom sand and silty clay and are overlapped by organic marsh silt and clay. Should the ridges eventually be buried by such marsh deposits, they will form potential stratigraphic traps. A knowledge of the characteristic shape, trend, and dimensions of the chenier sands, and of their distinctive sedimentary and faunal properties should aid materially in identifying similar potential reservoirs in the subsurface.

@article{openalexw1542161765,
    author = "Byrne, John V. and LeRoy, Duane O. and Riley, Charles M.",
    title = "The Chenier Plain and Its Stratigraphy, Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1959",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT The low coastal marshland of southwestern Louisiana is characterized by numerous relict beach ridges, or cheniers, which give the region its name. From analyses of cores along a north-south line of section through Creole, Louisiana, it has been possible to identify 4 faunal zones and 7 distinct sedimentary facies in the post-Pleistocene deposits which underlie the plain. The faunal zones, named after the dominant foraminifers, are: the Streblus, Streblus-Elphidium, Quinqueloculina and Trochammina zones. The sedimentary facies consist of varying proportions of sand, silt, and clay which, together with their contained faunas, clearly reflect the environments of deposition, including marsh, bay, mudflat, open gulf, and beach. The relict beaches or cheniers are lenticular sand and shell bodies similar to certain shoestring sands which commonly serve as oil reservoirs in older rocks; thus, they hold special interest for the petroleum geologist. The cheniers, which extend as uninterrupted coastwise ridges up to 30 miles in length, are biconvex in cross section and average about 600 feet across and about 7 feet in thickness. They rise from a few inches to more than 10 feet above the marsh. They are characterized by a smooth, generally arcuate seaward front and an irregular landward margin. These deposits rest on shallow gulf bottom sand and silty clay and are overlapped by organic marsh silt and clay. Should the ridges eventually be buried by such marsh deposits, they will form potential stratigraphic traps. A knowledge of the characteristic shape, trend, and dimensions of the chenier sands, and of their distinctive sedimentary and faunal properties should aid materially in identifying similar potential reservoirs in the subsurface.",
    openalex = "W1542161765"
}

ABSTRACT Studies of the surface features and underlying Recent sediments of the chenier plain of southwestern Louisiana have made it possible to establish the major events in its development. A chronological framework for these events has been determined through radiocarbon dating of more than 100 surface and subsurface samples. The wedge of Recent sediments records the final stage in postglacial rise of sea level and the subsequent stillstand at the present elevation. The basal part of the wedge consists of transgressive brackish-water and marine deposits laid down on the underlying Pleistocene surface as the sea rose from -17 feet 5600 years ago to its present level about 3000 years ago. Coincident with or shortly before reaching this level, the longshore influx of sediment, chiefly from the Mississippi River, brought about a general outbuilding of the coast; in the western part of the area where a number of borings have been made and studied in detail, it has been shown that the nearsurface coastal deposits rest upon a seaward-thickening accumulation of gulf-bottom sediments that form the upper part of the sedimentary wedge. At times of abundant sediment supply, the shore moved rapidly seaward through the accumulation of marsh-capped mudflat deposits; during periods of slight sediment influx, wave attack slowed or halted the advance and locally brought about shore retreat. It was during these latter periods that the beach ridges or cheniers, which now stand as relict islands in the marsh, were developed. Ranging in age from 2800 to less than 300 years, these ridges record progressive changes in the configuration of the shoreline as it advanced seaward more than 10 miles to its present position.

@article{openalexw1595770448,
    author = "Gould, Howard R. and McFarlan, E.",
    title = "Geologic History of the Chenier Plain, Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1959",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT Studies of the surface features and underlying Recent sediments of the chenier plain of southwestern Louisiana have made it possible to establish the major events in its development. A chronological framework for these events has been determined through radiocarbon dating of more than 100 surface and subsurface samples. The wedge of Recent sediments records the final stage in postglacial rise of sea level and the subsequent stillstand at the present elevation. The basal part of the wedge consists of transgressive brackish-water and marine deposits laid down on the underlying Pleistocene surface as the sea rose from -17 feet 5600 years ago to its present level about 3000 years ago. Coincident with or shortly before reaching this level, the longshore influx of sediment, chiefly from the Mississippi River, brought about a general outbuilding of the coast; in the western part of the area where a number of borings have been made and studied in detail, it has been shown that the nearsurface coastal deposits rest upon a seaward-thickening accumulation of gulf-bottom sediments that form the upper part of the sedimentary wedge. At times of abundant sediment supply, the shore moved rapidly seaward through the accumulation of marsh-capped mudflat deposits; during periods of slight sediment influx, wave attack slowed or halted the advance and locally brought about shore retreat. It was during these latter periods that the beach ridges or cheniers, which now stand as relict islands in the marsh, were developed. Ranging in age from 2800 to less than 300 years, these ridges record progressive changes in the configuration of the shoreline as it advanced seaward more than 10 miles to its present position.",
    openalex = "W1595770448"
}

ABSTRACT A detailed summary of the physical characteristics of over 1452 fault cuts representing 312 faults is given. As a preface to the origin of South Louisiana faulting a pre-Cenozoic history of the Gulf Coast is constructed. In this respect it is suggested that the basement rocks of the South Louisiana area were an extension of the continental area of North America and were not oceanic in origin. The area was positive through all of the Paleozoic and was not submerged by marine waters until after salt deposition. The first stages of geosynclinal development, the geology of the domeless area of central Louisiana, the Eocene fault trend and the Oligocene domal trend are discussed. Growth faults are defined as those faults which have a substantial increase in throw with depth and across which, from the upthrown to the downthrown block, there is a great thickening of correlative section. Trend growth faults are regionally sustained growth faults. A theory of origin and development of these trend growth faults is made in which it is maintained that the faults originated as a result of folding and later developed their growth characteristics along an inner to middle shelf area (similar to our present continental shelf) in an environment of rapid, fairly shallow water deposition. Evidence for this concept is given in detail in which it is shown that growth faulting could have developed contemporaneously with sedimentation only in an environment where the sea floor was undergoing vigorous, nearly constant agitation by shallow water disturbing agents. A reference area is shown in which the theoretical concepts are evaluated with respect to known phenomena. The economic implications of the paper with respect to the entrapment of gas and oil are given.

@article{openalexw1483571540,
    author = "Ocamb, Rayburn D.",
    title = "Growth Faults of South Louisiana",
    year = "1961",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT A detailed summary of the physical characteristics of over 1452 fault cuts representing 312 faults is given. As a preface to the origin of South Louisiana faulting a pre-Cenozoic history of the Gulf Coast is constructed. In this respect it is suggested that the basement rocks of the South Louisiana area were an extension of the continental area of North America and were not oceanic in origin. The area was positive through all of the Paleozoic and was not submerged by marine waters until after salt deposition. The first stages of geosynclinal development, the geology of the domeless area of central Louisiana, the Eocene fault trend and the Oligocene domal trend are discussed. Growth faults are defined as those faults which have a substantial increase in throw with depth and across which, from the upthrown to the downthrown block, there is a great thickening of correlative section. Trend growth faults are regionally sustained growth faults. A theory of origin and development of these trend growth faults is made in which it is maintained that the faults originated as a result of folding and later developed their growth characteristics along an inner to middle shelf area (similar to our present continental shelf) in an environment of rapid, fairly shallow water deposition. Evidence for this concept is given in detail in which it is shown that growth faulting could have developed contemporaneously with sedimentation only in an environment where the sea floor was undergoing vigorous, nearly constant agitation by shallow water disturbing agents. A reference area is shown in which the theoretical concepts are evaluated with respect to known phenomena. The economic implications of the paper with respect to the entrapment of gas and oil are given.",
    openalex = "W1483571540"
}

ABSTRACT The times and amounts of expansion of the downthrown sections of growth faults in southeast Louisiana were studied. This provided a means of analysing the time and rate of growth fault movement. The rate of growth fault movement increases from the time of inception of faulting until a maximum rate is reached and then decreases to the time of cessation of fault movement. Superimposed on this cycle are numerous minor irregularities in the rate of movement which are a possible means of fault identification in complexly faulted areas. The age of maximum growth fault movement was determined throughout southeast Louisiana and discrete areas were defined on the basis of similar times of maximum fault activity. Within each area thus defined, the age of maximum growth of the domal uplifts was generally the same as that of the faulting. The geographic location and time of structural activity of these areas clearly show the basinward migration of growth fault movement in time. The general east-west trend of these areas of synchronous structural activity is interrupted in the northern portions of Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes. This region acted as a buttress around which these structural trends were deflected. The superposition of several ages of faulting in southern Terrebonne Parish resulted in an anomalously large amount of subsidence and deposition in this area and formed the Terrebonne Trough. Because of the intimate relationship between structure and stratigraphy in the Miocene of south Louisiana, a knowledge of the time of structural activity is necessary to the understanding of the regional distribution of lithofacies.

@article{openalexw1577053220,
    author = "Thorsen, Carl E.",
    title = "Age of Growth Faulting in Southeast Louisiana",
    year = "1963",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT The times and amounts of expansion of the downthrown sections of growth faults in southeast Louisiana were studied. This provided a means of analysing the time and rate of growth fault movement. The rate of growth fault movement increases from the time of inception of faulting until a maximum rate is reached and then decreases to the time of cessation of fault movement. Superimposed on this cycle are numerous minor irregularities in the rate of movement which are a possible means of fault identification in complexly faulted areas. The age of maximum growth fault movement was determined throughout southeast Louisiana and discrete areas were defined on the basis of similar times of maximum fault activity. Within each area thus defined, the age of maximum growth of the domal uplifts was generally the same as that of the faulting. The geographic location and time of structural activity of these areas clearly show the basinward migration of growth fault movement in time. The general east-west trend of these areas of synchronous structural activity is interrupted in the northern portions of Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes. This region acted as a buttress around which these structural trends were deflected. The superposition of several ages of faulting in southern Terrebonne Parish resulted in an anomalously large amount of subsidence and deposition in this area and formed the Terrebonne Trough. Because of the intimate relationship between structure and stratigraphy in the Miocene of south Louisiana, a knowledge of the time of structural activity is necessary to the understanding of the regional distribution of lithofacies.",
    openalex = "W1577053220"
}

@misc{kolb1966depositional4,
    author = "Kolb, C. R. and Van Lopik, J. R",
    title = "Depositional Environments of the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain--Southeastern Louisiana, in Shirley, M. L., and Ragsdale, J. A., eds., Deltas in Their Geologic Framework",
    year = "1966",
    howpublished = "Houston, Texas, Houston Geological Society, p. 18-61",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Kolb, C. R., and Van Lopik, J. R., 1966, Depositional Environments of the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain--Southeastern Louisiana, in Shirley, M. L., and Ragsdale, J. A., eds., Deltas in Their Geologic Framework: Houston, Texas, Houston Geological Society, p. 18-61.}"
}

@article{paine1966stratigraphy,
    author = "Paine, William R.",
    title = "Stratigraphy and Sedimentation of Hackberry Shale (Middle Oligocene) and Associated Beds of Southwestern Louisiana: ABSTRACT",
    year = "1966",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/5d25b749-16c1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/5d25b749-16c1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W1998135407",
    volume = "50"
}

@article{doi101126science1603828609,
    author = "Dickey, Parke A. and Shriram, Calcutta R. and Paine, William R.",
    title = "Abnormal Pressures in Deep Wells of Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1968",
    journal = "Science",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.160.3828.609",
    doi = "10.1126/science.160.3828.609",
    openalex = "W1977776304"
}

The subsurface Hackberry wedge of the middle part of the Oligocene(?) Frio Formation of southwestern Louisiana is one of the four major deeper water shale wedges in the post-Vicksburg Gulf Coast Tertiary section. The Hackberry can be divided into two parts. The upper section ranges in thickness from zero to more than 3,000 ft, and consists predominantly of shale containing an outer-neritic (deep-water) microfaunal assemblage. Some thin, erratically distributed sandstone bodies are present. The lower section ranges in thickness from zero to 700 ft and consists essentially of sandstone. In order to help the reader understand the geologic history of the Hackberry wedge, a discussion of the stratigraphy and structure of the entire Frio section is included. The complicated Frio stratigraphy of northern Jefferson Davis and Calcasieu Parishes is caused in part by a complex tectonic history during the early part of Frio deposition and in part by depositional variation within the Hackberry section. The geologic history of the area can be summarized in a sequence of eight stages. It should be emphasized that these eight stages are a sequence of events that probably overlap one another and may have occurred at slightly different times in different areas. Deposition of Vicksburg and lower Frio Textularia seligi zone. Development of lower unconformity (this may be a local unconformity). Deposition of the lower Frio and Hartburg sequences. Uplift, folding, erosion, and development of “pre-Hackberry unconformity.” Tilting of the unconformity surface and renewed erosion which formed channels. Filling of the channels with basal Hackberry sandstones to form a flat upper surface. Deposition of Hackberry shale sequence with “arenaceous” fauna at its base. Deposition of the remainder of the Frio Formation and the lower part of the Anahuac Formation. The earlier structural movements were accompanied by folds and faults. The structures thus formed were truncated by regional erosion. Large channels (600 ft or deeper) were cut into the pre-Hackberry erosional surface and later filled. The manner in which these channels were cut and filled is uncertain, but turbidity flows may have been the cause. The structural movements, history of erosion, and the complex stratigraphy of the Hackberry make exploration for Hackberry sandstone reservoirs a high-risk economic venture, but one which may pay high dividends.

@article{paine1968stratigraphy,
    author = "Paine, William R.",
    title = "Stratigraphy and Sedimentation of Subsurface Hackberry Wedge and Associated Beds of Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1968",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "The subsurface Hackberry wedge of the middle part of the Oligocene(?) Frio Formation of southwestern Louisiana is one of the four major deeper water shale wedges in the post-Vicksburg Gulf Coast Tertiary section. The Hackberry can be divided into two parts. The upper section ranges in thickness from zero to more than 3,000 ft, and consists predominantly of shale containing an outer-neritic (deep-water) microfaunal assemblage. Some thin, erratically distributed sandstone bodies are present. The lower section ranges in thickness from zero to 700 ft and consists essentially of sandstone. In order to help the reader understand the geologic history of the Hackberry wedge, a discussion of the stratigraphy and structure of the entire Frio section is included. The complicated Frio stratigraphy of northern Jefferson Davis and Calcasieu Parishes is caused in part by a complex tectonic history during the early part of Frio deposition and in part by depositional variation within the Hackberry section. The geologic history of the area can be summarized in a sequence of eight stages. It should be emphasized that these eight stages are a sequence of events that probably overlap one another and may have occurred at slightly different times in different areas. Deposition of Vicksburg and lower Frio Textularia seligi zone. Development of lower unconformity (this may be a local unconformity). Deposition of the lower Frio and Hartburg sequences. Uplift, folding, erosion, and development of “pre-Hackberry unconformity.” Tilting of the unconformity surface and renewed erosion which formed channels. Filling of the channels with basal Hackberry sandstones to form a flat upper surface. Deposition of Hackberry shale sequence with “arenaceous” fauna at its base. Deposition of the remainder of the Frio Formation and the lower part of the Anahuac Formation. The earlier structural movements were accompanied by folds and faults. The structures thus formed were truncated by regional erosion. Large channels (600 ft or deeper) were cut into the pre-Hackberry erosional surface and later filled. The manner in which these channels were cut and filled is uncertain, but turbidity flows may have been the cause. The structural movements, history of erosion, and the complex stratigraphy of the Hackberry make exploration for Hackberry sandstone reservoirs a high-risk economic venture, but one which may pay high dividends.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/5d25c2d3-16c1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/5d25c2d3-16c1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    number = "2",
    openalex = "W1994989199",
    pages = "322-342",
    volume = "52",
    references = "bornhauser1960depositional, doi1013060bda5a8316bd11d78645000102c1865d, doi1013063d93314c16b111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25b72316c111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25b76716c111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25c0f916c111d78645000102c1865d, openalexw1526438593, openalexw1565983386, openalexw2601390057"
}

@techreport{paine1968stratigraphy5,
    author = "Paine, R",
    title = "Stratigraphy and sedimentation of subsurface Hackberry wedge and associated beds of southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1968",
    howpublished = "American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 52, p. 322-342",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Paine, R., 1968, Stratigraphy and sedimentation of subsurface Hackberry wedge and associated beds of southwestern Louisiana: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 52, p. 322-342.}"
}

@article{sabate1968pleistocene6,
    author = "Sabate, R. W",
    title = "Pleistocene oil and gas in central Louisiana",
    year = "1968",
    journal = "Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 18, p. 373-386",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Sabate, R. W., 1968, Pleistocene oil and gas in central Louisiana: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 18, p. 373-386.}"
}

Abstract Most of the easy-to-find petroleum accumulations in the United States have been discovered. As a result, domestic exploratory successes during the past decade have been declining not only in the number of fields found annually, but also in quality or economic worth. This has happened because the petroleum industry is still exploring principally for the obvious types of traps which it knows are becoming scarcer and thus harder to find. Many geologists have made relatively little purposeful effort to search for hidden trends and subtle traps—stratigraphic or paleogeomorphic—because (1) their training has conditioned them to look for structures with present-day tools and ideas and (2) management is more likely to “buy” a prospect if it is an anticline, dome, or fault structure. Hidden trends and subtle traps are present in a variety of situations—structural, stratigraphic, and paleogeomorphic. Many probably can now be found, but only if geologists direct their methods of attack toward them, not around them. Unless exploration now and in the future is designed to find and drill hidden trends and subtle traps, the large domestic reserves required for the future will not be found. Both geologists and management must reorient their thinking toward this end. The Gulf coastal province is an ideal area in which to search for subtle or hidden traps. Among the situations which deserve attention are (1) sandstone pinch-out in the lagoonal environment of the Frio (Oligocene-Miocene) of south Texas, (2) buried structures and sandstone buildups in the Hackberry embayment (Oligocene-Miocene) of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, (3) favorable sandstone distribution patterns in the downdip Wilcox (Eocene) from Mexico to Alabama, (4) undiscovered accumulations of petroleum in relict traps around salt domes, and (5) paleogeomorphologic features which doubtless are present in the entire Gulf coastal province. The time has come for domestic explorationists to look purposefully for the hidden trend and the subtle trap. Because such a change in approach requires management concurrence and support, the geologist and geophysicist must convince management to explore for such features. Moreover, it is management’s responsibility to change with the times and to support necessary changes in exploration techniques. If geologists, geophysicists, and management—together—are willing the United States petroleum industry will be rewarded with a new era of successful exploration.

@article{doi1013065d25c58f16c111d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "Halbouty, Michel T.",
    title = "Hidden Trends and Subtle Traps in Gulf Coast",
    year = "1969",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "Abstract Most of the easy-to-find petroleum accumulations in the United States have been discovered. As a result, domestic exploratory successes during the past decade have been declining not only in the number of fields found annually, but also in quality or economic worth. This has happened because the petroleum industry is still exploring principally for the obvious types of traps which it knows are becoming scarcer and thus harder to find. Many geologists have made relatively little purposeful effort to search for hidden trends and subtle traps—stratigraphic or paleogeomorphic—because (1) their training has conditioned them to look for structures with present-day tools and ideas and (2) management is more likely to “buy” a prospect if it is an anticline, dome, or fault structure. Hidden trends and subtle traps are present in a variety of situations—structural, stratigraphic, and paleogeomorphic. Many probably can now be found, but only if geologists direct their methods of attack toward them, not around them. Unless exploration now and in the future is designed to find and drill hidden trends and subtle traps, the large domestic reserves required for the future will not be found. Both geologists and management must reorient their thinking toward this end. The Gulf coastal province is an ideal area in which to search for subtle or hidden traps. Among the situations which deserve attention are (1) sandstone pinch-out in the lagoonal environment of the Frio (Oligocene-Miocene) of south Texas, (2) buried structures and sandstone buildups in the Hackberry embayment (Oligocene-Miocene) of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, (3) favorable sandstone distribution patterns in the downdip Wilcox (Eocene) from Mexico to Alabama, (4) undiscovered accumulations of petroleum in relict traps around salt domes, and (5) paleogeomorphologic features which doubtless are present in the entire Gulf coastal province. The time has come for domestic explorationists to look purposefully for the hidden trend and the subtle trap. Because such a change in approach requires management concurrence and support, the geologist and geophysicist must convince management to explore for such features. Moreover, it is management’s responsibility to change with the times and to support necessary changes in exploration techniques. If geologists, geophysicists, and management—together—are willing the United States petroleum industry will be rewarded with a new era of successful exploration.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/5d25c58f-16c1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/5d25c58f-16c1-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W2086753346",
    references = "bornhauser1960depositional, doi1013060bda5f3316bd11d78645000102c1865d, doi1013063d932dd616b111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013063d9336ea16b111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013063d933a5e16b111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25b72316c111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25c2d316c111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25c59116c111d78645000102c1865d, doi101306a663389a16c011d78645000102c1865d, openalexw1483726789, openalexw1526438593, openalexw1772514339"
}

@article{benson1971geology,
    author = "Benson, Paul H.",
    title = "Geology of Oligocene Hackberry Trend, Gillis English Bayou--Manchester Area, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana: ABSTRACT",
    year = "1971",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/819a3d44-16c5-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/819a3d44-16c5-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    volume = "55"
}

@article{benson1971geology1,
    author = "Benson, P. H",
    title = "Geology of the Oligocene Hackberry trend, Gillis English Bayou - Manchester area, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana",
    year = "1971",
    journal = "Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 21, p. 1-14",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Benson, P. H., 1971, Geology of the Oligocene Hackberry trend, Gillis English Bayou - Manchester area, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 21, p. 1-14.}"
}

ABSTRACT Local Oligocene subsidence during post Nonion struma time created an elongate channel 15 miles long extending north-south from Indian Village to South Manchester and varying in width from 3 to 6 miles. This submarine channel was developed on a slope created by subsidence of the area to the south and subsequently filled with sediments supplied from an updip delta. The channel floor can be divided into two structural areas: an undip segment of slump-block type faulting and a downdip, deeper water segment characterized by folding and faulting. The Hackberry section fills the channel and consists of a thick shale sequence with sands concentrated in the lower part of the channel. Association of the sands with pelagic shales containing deep water fauna, the geometry of the sand bodies, and the sequence of primary sedimentary structures strongly suggest the sands were deposited by turbidity currents in deep water. As Hackberry shale and sand deposition continued the channel was filled and the depositional slope was reduced; thus less sands were carried down slope into the basin in Cibicides hazzardi timem, gradation was achieved and a prograding shallow marine sequence was deposited. Hackberry sands are productive in the study area producing a condensate rich gas from stratigraphic and structural traps.

@article{openalexw1490157941,
    author = "Benson, Paul",
    title = "Geology of the Oligocene Hackberry Trend, Gillis English Bayou -- Manchester Area, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana",
    year = "1971",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT Local Oligocene subsidence during post Nonion struma time created an elongate channel 15 miles long extending north-south from Indian Village to South Manchester and varying in width from 3 to 6 miles. This submarine channel was developed on a slope created by subsidence of the area to the south and subsequently filled with sediments supplied from an updip delta. The channel floor can be divided into two structural areas: an undip segment of slump-block type faulting and a downdip, deeper water segment characterized by folding and faulting. The Hackberry section fills the channel and consists of a thick shale sequence with sands concentrated in the lower part of the channel. Association of the sands with pelagic shales containing deep water fauna, the geometry of the sand bodies, and the sequence of primary sedimentary structures strongly suggest the sands were deposited by turbidity currents in deep water. As Hackberry shale and sand deposition continued the channel was filled and the depositional slope was reduced; thus less sands were carried down slope into the basin in Cibicides hazzardi timem, gradation was achieved and a prograding shallow marine sequence was deposited. Hackberry sands are productive in the study area producing a condensate rich gas from stratigraphic and structural traps.",
    openalex = "W1490157941"
}

ABSTRACT Recent discoveries in the Hackberry of southwest Louisiana have created new interest in the high-risk, deep Hackberry section. Petrographic examination of three conventional cores and hundreds of sidewall cores, together with previously completed isopach studies, has established that the lower Hackberry sandstones are turbidites. Within the area, the lower Hackberry sandstone interval has two depositional patterns: an updip north-south channel pattern, and a downdip blanket-type sandstone pattern. Cores in the lower Hackberry have the following graded sequence from bottom to top: (1) coarse-grained conglomeratic sandstone which grades upward into finer laminated sandstones; (2) cross-bedded and convoluted sandstone; (3) siltstone; and (4) finely laminated shale. The sandstone is bimodal and trimodal, commonly containing 30-50% clay matrix. The microfaunal assemblage within the lower Hackberry cyclic sequence indicate depth ranges of 300 to 3000 feet (Zones 5 and 6). Because of the turbidite nature of the sediments, production within the channels has been small, except where the channels have been deflected around salt domes. In such channels, the turbidity currents lost velocity, and important sandstone bodies were deposited, reworked, and locally winnowed. In the downdip area where the channels spread out into a blanket pattern, production is controlled by the topographic and structural configuration of the unconformity surface on and around which the turbidity currents deposited sediments.

@article{openalexw1849800232,
    author = "Paine, William R.",
    title = "Petrology and Sedimentation of the Hackberry Sequence of Southwest Louisiana",
    year = "1971",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT Recent discoveries in the Hackberry of southwest Louisiana have created new interest in the high-risk, deep Hackberry section. Petrographic examination of three conventional cores and hundreds of sidewall cores, together with previously completed isopach studies, has established that the lower Hackberry sandstones are turbidites. Within the area, the lower Hackberry sandstone interval has two depositional patterns: an updip north-south channel pattern, and a downdip blanket-type sandstone pattern. Cores in the lower Hackberry have the following graded sequence from bottom to top: (1) coarse-grained conglomeratic sandstone which grades upward into finer laminated sandstones; (2) cross-bedded and convoluted sandstone; (3) siltstone; and (4) finely laminated shale. The sandstone is bimodal and trimodal, commonly containing 30-50\% clay matrix. The microfaunal assemblage within the lower Hackberry cyclic sequence indicate depth ranges of 300 to 3000 feet (Zones 5 and 6). Because of the turbidite nature of the sediments, production within the channels has been small, except where the channels have been deflected around salt domes. In such channels, the turbidity currents lost velocity, and important sandstone bodies were deposited, reworked, and locally winnowed. In the downdip area where the channels spread out into a blanket pattern, production is controlled by the topographic and structural configuration of the unconformity surface on and around which the turbidity currents deposited sediments.",
    openalex = "W1849800232"
}

Abstract The Pliocene and Pleistocene, embracing only 5.5 m.y., were times of very rapid sedimentation on the continental shelf and slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico. During this period the center of maximum deposition shifted over 200 mi (320 km) southwestward from just west of the present mouth of the Mississippi River to 100 mi (160 km) south of the present shoreline at the Louisiana-Texas border. This shifting of the center of maximum deposition was accompanied by 50 mi (80 km) of southward progradation of the continental shelf edge to its present position near the 600-ft (200 m) isobath. Hydrocarbon productive trends follow the shifting path of the depocenter. Rapid sedimentation took place upon substrata which included several thousand feet of mobile salt, plus a comparable thickness of mobile prodelta clay. The weight of the accumulating sediments has caused movement of the underlying mobile material, with the result that the structural configuration of the strata in the Plio-Pleistocene depocenters is complicated by large piercement salt and diapiric shale massifs, which are estimated to occupy about 20 percent of the total area at a depth of 12,000 ft (3,657 m) in the Pleistocene depocenter.

@article{doi10130683d9133516c711d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "Woodbury, I. B. Murray H. O. and Murray, I. B. and Pickford, P. J. and Akers, W. H.",
    title = "Pliocene and Pleistocene Depocenters, Outer Continental Shelf, Louisiana and Texas",
    year = "1973",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "Abstract The Pliocene and Pleistocene, embracing only 5.5 m.y., were times of very rapid sedimentation on the continental shelf and slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico. During this period the center of maximum deposition shifted over 200 mi (320 km) southwestward from just west of the present mouth of the Mississippi River to 100 mi (160 km) south of the present shoreline at the Louisiana-Texas border. This shifting of the center of maximum deposition was accompanied by 50 mi (80 km) of southward progradation of the continental shelf edge to its present position near the 600-ft (200 m) isobath. Hydrocarbon productive trends follow the shifting path of the depocenter. Rapid sedimentation took place upon substrata which included several thousand feet of mobile salt, plus a comparable thickness of mobile prodelta clay. The weight of the accumulating sediments has caused movement of the underlying mobile material, with the result that the structural configuration of the strata in the Plio-Pleistocene depocenters is complicated by large piercement salt and diapiric shale massifs, which are estimated to occupy about 20 percent of the total area at a depth of 12,000 ft (3,657 m) in the Pleistocene depocenter.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/83d91335-16c7-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/83d91335-16c7-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W2151312912"
}

@article{christina1979the3,
    author = "Christina, C. C. and Martin, K. G",
    title = "The Lower Tuscaloosa trend of south- central Louisiana",
    year = "1979",
    journal = {You ain't seen nothing till you've seen the Tuscaloosa": Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 29, p. 37-41},
    note = {talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Christina, C. C., and Martin, K. G., 1979, The Lower Tuscaloosa trend of south- central Louisiana: "You ain't seen nothing till you've seen the Tuscaloosa": Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 29, p. 37-41.}}
}

@incollection{caughey1981deltaic,
    author = "Caughey, Charles A.",
    title = "DELTAIC AND SLOPE DEPOSITS IN THE PLANULINA TREND (BASAL MIOCENE), SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA",
    year = "1981",
    booktitle = "Recognition of Shallow-Water versus Deep-Water Sedimentary Facies in Growth-Structure Affected Formations of the Gulf Coast Basin",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.5724/gcs.81.02.0020",
    doi = "10.5724/gcs.81.02.0020",
    openalex = "W2981937176"
}

A 123 square mile area approximately 10 miles east of Lake Charles, Louisiana, has been studied to assess its potential geopressured-geothermal resources. Subsurface information was used to study the structure and stratigraphy of the area as they related to the development of geopressured aquifers. The Middle Frio Hackberry wedge was found to contain the geopressured-geothermal reservoir sand, as well as the shales responsible for the origin and sealing of the geopressured strata. The major reservoir within the wedge is the Hackberry massive A sand.

@misc{doi1021726979291,
    author = "Kurth, R.J.",
    title = "Subsurface evaluation of the geopressured-geothermal Chloe Prospect, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana",
    year = "1981",
    abstract = "A 123 square mile area approximately 10 miles east of Lake Charles, Louisiana, has been studied to assess its potential geopressured-geothermal resources. Subsurface information was used to study the structure and stratigraphy of the area as they related to the development of geopressured aquifers. The Middle Frio Hackberry wedge was found to contain the geopressured-geothermal reservoir sand, as well as the shales responsible for the origin and sealing of the geopressured strata. The major reservoir within the wedge is the Hackberry massive A sand.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2172/6979291",
    doi = "10.2172/6979291",
    openalex = "W2000299131",
    references = "bornhauser1960depositional, doi10108011035896209447314, doi101126science1603828609, doi1013060bda5f3316bd11d78645000102c1865d, doi1013063d933e1816b111d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25c59516c111d78645000102c1865d, doi1021725357846, doi1021726934141, openalexw193634149, openalexw2601390057"
}

ABSTRACT The chenier plain coast of southwestern Louisiana has been recognized as the downdrift recipient of fine-grained sediment derived from the Atchafalaya River, to the east. Carried as suspended sediment in the Atchafalaya stream, silts and clays are now accumulating as nearshore deposits of gel-like fluid mud along what has historically been one of the most rapidly retreating shorelines in the United States. The major effect of this sediment is to attenuate incoming wave energy, thus providing conditions favorable for further sedimentation. The initiation of a new cycle of sediment input will provide us with our first opportunity to study the processes that have led to development of the Louisiana chenier plain over the past 5000 years. Computations based on current and sediment concentration measurements reveal that the volume of sediment carried west from the Atchafalaya River is on the order of 50 x 106 m3/year, a value that represents nearly one-half of the sediment that leaves Atchafalaya Bay. Process-oriented field studies initiated in 1980, together with satellite imagery, color infrared photography, and aerial overflights since 1974, indicate that mudflat sedimentation is increasing to the west. A reversal of the overall pattern of coastal retreat now characteristic of the chenier plain is expected when Atchafalaya Bay becomes sediment filled, thus allowing an even greater volume of sediments to enter the dynamic shelf region seaward of the bay.

@article{openalexw2121250423,
    author = "Wells, John T. and Kemp, G. Paul",
    title = "Atchafalaya Mud Stream and Recent Mudflat Progradation: Louisiana Chenier Plain",
    year = "1981",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT The chenier plain coast of southwestern Louisiana has been recognized as the downdrift recipient of fine-grained sediment derived from the Atchafalaya River, to the east. Carried as suspended sediment in the Atchafalaya stream, silts and clays are now accumulating as nearshore deposits of gel-like fluid mud along what has historically been one of the most rapidly retreating shorelines in the United States. The major effect of this sediment is to attenuate incoming wave energy, thus providing conditions favorable for further sedimentation. The initiation of a new cycle of sediment input will provide us with our first opportunity to study the processes that have led to development of the Louisiana chenier plain over the past 5000 years. Computations based on current and sediment concentration measurements reveal that the volume of sediment carried west from the Atchafalaya River is on the order of 50 x 106 m3/year, a value that represents nearly one-half of the sediment that leaves Atchafalaya Bay. Process-oriented field studies initiated in 1980, together with satellite imagery, color infrared photography, and aerial overflights since 1974, indicate that mudflat sedimentation is increasing to the west. A reversal of the overall pattern of coastal retreat now characteristic of the chenier plain is expected when Atchafalaya Bay becomes sediment filled, thus allowing an even greater volume of sediments to enter the dynamic shelf region seaward of the bay.",
    openalex = "W2121250423"
}

ABSTRACT The deep Gulf of Mexico basin is underlain by up to 10 km (33,000 ft) of Jurassic(?) to Holocene layered sedimentary rocks. The multichannel reflection seismic record from the deep Gulf of Mexico was divided into six seismic stratigraphic units for study of the geologic history of this accumulation. The basal Challenger unit (Jurassic(?) to middle Cretaceous) is considered coeval with early basin formation. We interpret it as a deep marine sequence overlying oceanic crust in the central basin and as continental and shallow through deep marine rocks, including thick evaporites, over adjacent transitional crust. The next three units, Campeche, Lower Mexican Ridges and Upper Mexican Ridges, indicate that from the Late Cretaceous through middle Miocene the basin filled progresively from the west and north, most probably with siliceous turbidites interlayered with pelagic deposits. By the late Tertiary, however, salt and shale deformation within thick sedimentary sections along the western and northern margins trapped much of the incoming sediment supply on the shelves and upper slopes. The late Miocene to Pliocene Cinco de Mayo unit, therefore, represents a relatively starved interval. In contrast, the uppermost, or Sigsbee unit, includes the Mississippi Fan, an accumulation up to 3 km (10,000 ft) thick of mainly mass-transported deposits that bypassed the shelf and slope and were deposited directly onto the abyssal plain. In the western and southwestern portions of the deep basin, beyond the fan pinch-out, the Pleistocene section is largely a continuation of the Pliocene suspension deposits.

@article{doi101306ad4619a316f711d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "Shaub, F. Jeanne and Buffler, Richard T. and Parsons, John G.",
    title = "Seismic Stratigraphic Framework of Deep Central Gulf of Mexico Basin",
    year = "1984",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT The deep Gulf of Mexico basin is underlain by up to 10 km (33,000 ft) of Jurassic(?) to Holocene layered sedimentary rocks. The multichannel reflection seismic record from the deep Gulf of Mexico was divided into six seismic stratigraphic units for study of the geologic history of this accumulation. The basal Challenger unit (Jurassic(?) to middle Cretaceous) is considered coeval with early basin formation. We interpret it as a deep marine sequence overlying oceanic crust in the central basin and as continental and shallow through deep marine rocks, including thick evaporites, over adjacent transitional crust. The next three units, Campeche, Lower Mexican Ridges and Upper Mexican Ridges, indicate that from the Late Cretaceous through middle Miocene the basin filled progresively from the west and north, most probably with siliceous turbidites interlayered with pelagic deposits. By the late Tertiary, however, salt and shale deformation within thick sedimentary sections along the western and northern margins trapped much of the incoming sediment supply on the shelves and upper slopes. The late Miocene to Pliocene Cinco de Mayo unit, therefore, represents a relatively starved interval. In contrast, the uppermost, or Sigsbee unit, includes the Mississippi Fan, an accumulation up to 3 km (10,000 ft) thick of mainly mass-transported deposits that bypassed the shelf and slope and were deposited directly onto the abyssal plain. In the western and southwestern portions of the deep basin, beyond the fan pinch-out, the Pleistocene section is largely a continuation of the Pliocene suspension deposits.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/ad4619a3-16f7-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/ad4619a3-16f7-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W1918839100"
}

ABSTRACT This paper reinterprets the stratigraphic position, depositional environments, and depositional systems in the middle Frio (Oligocene) Hackberry, and their relation to hydrocarbon accumulations. This stratigraphic unit is present in the subsurface of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, in an area known as the Hackberry embayment. The unit consists of a lower Hackberry sandstone-shale sequence, overlain by middle and upper Hackberry marine shale (the Hackberry shale “wedge”). The lower Hackberry sandstone sequence overlies a truncated lower Frio section, but in some interdomal areas and in downdip locations, lower Hackberry sediments rest conformably on lower Frio Nonion struma beds. Planktonic foraminifers indicate that the erosional surface between lower and middle Frio coincides with a worldwide relative sea level fall approximately 30 million Ma, in planktonic foraminiferal zone P 21. Dip-oriented submarine channel systems related to this erosional surface contain lower Hackberry reservoir sands in downdip positions. The marine shale wedge that overlies the lower Hackberry sandstones was deposited during a relative sea level rise, when rates of subsidence exceeded rates of deposition. Some strike-oriented discontinuous marine sand reservoirs are present within the shale wedge. Production is found in the updip lower Hackberry in structural traps in reservoirs related to near-shore and fluvio-deltaic deposition (traction-transport systems), and, in downdip locations, in stratigraphic-structural traps in submarine channel systems (gravity-transport systems). Unexplored objectives related to submarine channel-fan systems may be present downdip below thick growth-faulted younger Frio sections.

@incollection{doi105724gcs85040263,
    author = "Curtis, Doris M. and Echols, D J",
    title = "HABITAT OF OIL AND GAS IN THE MIDDLE FRIO (OLIGOCENE) HACKBERRY",
    year = "1985",
    booktitle = "SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) eBooks",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT This paper reinterprets the stratigraphic position, depositional environments, and depositional systems in the middle Frio (Oligocene) Hackberry, and their relation to hydrocarbon accumulations. This stratigraphic unit is present in the subsurface of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, in an area known as the Hackberry embayment. The unit consists of a lower Hackberry sandstone-shale sequence, overlain by middle and upper Hackberry marine shale (the Hackberry shale “wedge”). The lower Hackberry sandstone sequence overlies a truncated lower Frio section, but in some interdomal areas and in downdip locations, lower Hackberry sediments rest conformably on lower Frio Nonion struma beds. Planktonic foraminifers indicate that the erosional surface between lower and middle Frio coincides with a worldwide relative sea level fall approximately 30 million Ma, in planktonic foraminiferal zone P 21. Dip-oriented submarine channel systems related to this erosional surface contain lower Hackberry reservoir sands in downdip positions. The marine shale wedge that overlies the lower Hackberry sandstones was deposited during a relative sea level rise, when rates of subsidence exceeded rates of deposition. Some strike-oriented discontinuous marine sand reservoirs are present within the shale wedge. Production is found in the updip lower Hackberry in structural traps in reservoirs related to near-shore and fluvio-deltaic deposition (traction-transport systems), and, in downdip locations, in stratigraphic-structural traps in submarine channel systems (gravity-transport systems). Unexplored objectives related to submarine channel-fan systems may be present downdip below thick growth-faulted younger Frio sections.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.5724/gcs.85.04.0263",
    doi = "10.5724/gcs.85.04.0263",
    openalex = "W2981063187",
    references = "doi101306m16371c20, doi1023867gc8407d, openalexw1490157941, openalexw1521644843, openalexw1557126528, openalexw1849800232, openalexw2106592328, openalexw2601390057, openalexw3160761443, paine1968stratigraphy"
}

@article{mcculloh1985fluidflow,
    author = "McCulloh, Richard P.",
    title = "Fluid-Flow Patterns in Central Tuscaloosa Trend, Louisiana: ABSTRACT",
    year = "1985",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/ad462d71-16f7-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/ad462d71-16f7-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    volume = "69"
}

ABSTRACT Gas and condensate production at the North Sabine Lake field is from sands of the Hackberry wedge of the Oligocene Frio Formation. These lower Hackberry sands were deposited in a preexisting submarine canyon. Multiple sand bodies are present, and five patterns of sand deposition are recognized from SP logs: (1) incised channel fill, (2) braided fan channel, (3) intermediate suprafan, (4) proximal suprafan, and (5) overbank. Although three faults surround the field, the primary trapping mechanism is stratigraphic. The development and production history of the field indicate that many small sand lenses have coalesced to form a single large reservoir; however, differences in permeability have caused variations in water influx and in the levels of gas-water contacts. Sand lenses that are not connected to the larger reservoir are of limited size and have produced small amounts of hydrocarbon. Development of the field has been complicated by casing damage probably caused by reservoir compaction.

@article{doi101306703c803d170711d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "Eubanks, L. G.",
    title = "North Sabine Lake Field: Complex Deposition and Reservoir Morphology of Lower Hackberry (Oligocene), Southwest Louisiana",
    year = "1987",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT Gas and condensate production at the North Sabine Lake field is from sands of the Hackberry wedge of the Oligocene Frio Formation. These lower Hackberry sands were deposited in a preexisting submarine canyon. Multiple sand bodies are present, and five patterns of sand deposition are recognized from SP logs: (1) incised channel fill, (2) braided fan channel, (3) intermediate suprafan, (4) proximal suprafan, and (5) overbank. Although three faults surround the field, the primary trapping mechanism is stratigraphic. The development and production history of the field indicate that many small sand lenses have coalesced to form a single large reservoir; however, differences in permeability have caused variations in water influx and in the levels of gas-water contacts. Sand lenses that are not connected to the larger reservoir are of limited size and have produced small amounts of hydrocarbon. Development of the field has been complicated by casing damage probably caused by reservoir compaction.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/703c803d-1707-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/703c803d-1707-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W1986714408",
    references = "bornhauser1960depositional, doi1013062f9195d516ce11d78645000102c1865d, doi1013065d25c2d316c111d78645000102c1865d, doi101306a66337d416c011d78645000102c1865d, doi101306c1ea4f7c16c911d78645000102c1865d, doi1021183479ms, doi1023867gc8407d, openalexw1490157941, openalexw1526438593, openalexw2601390057"
}

Summary Four reservoirs containing dispersed gas were examined for their coproduction potential. Reservoirs in Port Acres field (Texas) and Ellis field (Louisiana) produce from the Hackberry member of the Oligocene Frio formation, and two reservoirs in Esther field (Louisiana) produced from the lower Miocene Planulina zone. Log-pattern and lithofacies maps, together with stratigraphic position, suggest that the reservoirs are in ancient submarine-fan deposits. Dip-elongate, channel-fill sands are characteristic; reservoir sands pinch out along the strike. Growth faults, common in the submarine slope setting, form updip and downdip boundaries, producing combination traps. In Ellis field, coproduction accounts for 300 Mcf/D [8.5 × 103 m3/d] of gas. Port Acres field contains the largest remaining reserves, but other technical and economic factors limit coproduction potential there. Recent drilling has extended primary production and delayed coproduction in the Esther field. Introduction During conventional production from a water-drive gas reservoir, mobile gas is removed from the gas cap. A considerable amount of dispersed gas remains in the water, however, after the field has watered. out.1 This dispersed gas can be recovered through coproduction (the simultaneous production of gas and water). During coproduction, large amounts of water are pumped to the surface, lowering reservoir pressure and causing dispersed gas to expand; the gas then moves to the coproducing well and is produced with the water.2 If the reservoir has sufficient residual pressure and the pumped water can be disposed of easily, extended production of a field may be economically viable.1 To avoid costly well re-entry or drilling of new wells, coproduction is best initiated in a watered-out reservoir before the wells have been plugged. Four reservoirs with coproduction potential were selected for detailed study. The resrvoirs are in Port Acres, Ellis, and Esther fields (Fig. 1). The lower Hackberry and Nodosaria 3 reservoirs, in Port Acres and Ellis fields, respectively, are productive from the Hackberry member of the Frio formation, and the two Planulina zone reservoirs in Esther field are productive from lower Miocene sands. Several factors that determine the suitability of a reservoir for coproduction - such as porosity, permeability, and reservoir volume3 - relate to the geology of the reservoir. Therefore, for each reservoir selected for study, all available data were used to interpret the depositional setting of the reservoir sand, the trapping mechanisms, and the volume of the reservoir. Original gas in place and remaining reserves were calculated, and the coproduction potential of each field was assessed. Hackberry Trend The Frio formation (Oligocene) is a major progradational wedge of predominantly sandy sediment that extends from Texas to Louisiana. Previous workers divided the Frio into three units by log character. In this interpretation, the Hackberry member is laterally equivalent to middle Frio sediments.4 The upper boundary of the Hackberry sequence is marked by Marginulina texana, and for the purpose of this paper, the lower Hackberry will include the Nodosaria blanpiedi zone, although there is some dispute over the lower boundary of the Hackberry5 (Fig. 2). The Hackberry member was probably deposited as a submarine-fan complex6; it is composed mainly of turbidite, or gravity-flow, deposits. The Hackberry embayment, containing Hackberry submarine fans, extends from southeast Texas eastward to south-central Louisiana4 (Fig. 1). The updip limit of Hackberry sediments is the Hartburg flexure, which is more or less coincident with the oldest growth faults in the Frio.5 The unit thickens basinward to more than 3,000 ft [900 m].7 The lower Hackberry is relatively sand-rich, with nearly continuous sand sequences up to 800 ft [240 m] thick; the upper Hackberry is almost entirely mud. Depositional channel-sand axes of the Hackberry trend northwest/southeast in Texas and north/south in Louisiana.4 Hackberry reservoir sands are highly lenticular and dip-elongate; they are an important producing trend in the gulf coast.5 A model of submarine-fan subenvironments8 linked with spontaneous-potential (SP) log patterns representing the different subenvironments4 (Fig. 3) was used to interpret the environments present in the Port Acres and Ellis Hackberry reservoirs.

@article{doi10211815223pa,
    author = "Jackson, Mary L. W. and Light, M.P.R. and Ayers, Walter B.",
    title = "Geology and Coproduction Potential of Submarine-Fan Deposits Along the Gulf Coast of East Texas and Louisiana",
    year = "1987",
    journal = "Journal of Petroleum Technology",
    abstract = "Summary Four reservoirs containing dispersed gas were examined for their coproduction potential. Reservoirs in Port Acres field (Texas) and Ellis field (Louisiana) produce from the Hackberry member of the Oligocene Frio formation, and two reservoirs in Esther field (Louisiana) produced from the lower Miocene Planulina zone. Log-pattern and lithofacies maps, together with stratigraphic position, suggest that the reservoirs are in ancient submarine-fan deposits. Dip-elongate, channel-fill sands are characteristic; reservoir sands pinch out along the strike. Growth faults, common in the submarine slope setting, form updip and downdip boundaries, producing combination traps. In Ellis field, coproduction accounts for 300 Mcf/D [8.5 × 103 m3/d] of gas. Port Acres field contains the largest remaining reserves, but other technical and economic factors limit coproduction potential there. Recent drilling has extended primary production and delayed coproduction in the Esther field. Introduction During conventional production from a water-drive gas reservoir, mobile gas is removed from the gas cap. A considerable amount of dispersed gas remains in the water, however, after the field has watered. out.1 This dispersed gas can be recovered through coproduction (the simultaneous production of gas and water). During coproduction, large amounts of water are pumped to the surface, lowering reservoir pressure and causing dispersed gas to expand; the gas then moves to the coproducing well and is produced with the water.2 If the reservoir has sufficient residual pressure and the pumped water can be disposed of easily, extended production of a field may be economically viable.1 To avoid costly well re-entry or drilling of new wells, coproduction is best initiated in a watered-out reservoir before the wells have been plugged. Four reservoirs with coproduction potential were selected for detailed study. The resrvoirs are in Port Acres, Ellis, and Esther fields (Fig. 1). The lower Hackberry and Nodosaria 3 reservoirs, in Port Acres and Ellis fields, respectively, are productive from the Hackberry member of the Frio formation, and the two Planulina zone reservoirs in Esther field are productive from lower Miocene sands. Several factors that determine the suitability of a reservoir for coproduction - such as porosity, permeability, and reservoir volume3 - relate to the geology of the reservoir. Therefore, for each reservoir selected for study, all available data were used to interpret the depositional setting of the reservoir sand, the trapping mechanisms, and the volume of the reservoir. Original gas in place and remaining reserves were calculated, and the coproduction potential of each field was assessed. Hackberry Trend The Frio formation (Oligocene) is a major progradational wedge of predominantly sandy sediment that extends from Texas to Louisiana. Previous workers divided the Frio into three units by log character. In this interpretation, the Hackberry member is laterally equivalent to middle Frio sediments.4 The upper boundary of the Hackberry sequence is marked by Marginulina texana, and for the purpose of this paper, the lower Hackberry will include the Nodosaria blanpiedi zone, although there is some dispute over the lower boundary of the Hackberry5 (Fig. 2). The Hackberry member was probably deposited as a submarine-fan complex6; it is composed mainly of turbidite, or gravity-flow, deposits. The Hackberry embayment, containing Hackberry submarine fans, extends from southeast Texas eastward to south-central Louisiana4 (Fig. 1). The updip limit of Hackberry sediments is the Hartburg flexure, which is more or less coincident with the oldest growth faults in the Frio.5 The unit thickens basinward to more than 3,000 ft [900 m].7 The lower Hackberry is relatively sand-rich, with nearly continuous sand sequences up to 800 ft [240 m] thick; the upper Hackberry is almost entirely mud. Depositional channel-sand axes of the Hackberry trend northwest/southeast in Texas and north/south in Louisiana.4 Hackberry reservoir sands are highly lenticular and dip-elongate; they are an important producing trend in the gulf coast.5 A model of submarine-fan subenvironments8 linked with spontaneous-potential (SP) log patterns representing the different subenvironments4 (Fig. 3) was used to interpret the environments present in the Port Acres and Ellis Hackberry reservoirs.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2118/15223-pa",
    doi = "10.2118/15223-pa",
    openalex = "W2056299874"
}

ABSTRACT Well logs from the Bayou Hebert area in southwestern Louisiana show that most of the differential sedimentation associated with one zone of contemporaneous faults cannot be attributed to simple expansion. Rather, the lower Miocene sequence on the downthrown side of the fault zone has grown principally by the episodic deposition of sedimentary units that have no correlative counterparts on the upthrown side. Such units range up to about 2,000 ft (600 m) thick near faults, and most are laterally discontinuous over distances of several kilometers. The isolated downthrown intervals lie in different parts of the sequence at various places along the strike of the fault zone, indicating lateral and temporal variation in subsidence rates in the downthrown block. The intervals may represent times of erosion or sediment bypass updip of faults. Isolation of thick intervals on the downthrown block adds potential for unexpected reservoir units and may enhance the development of combination traps associated with the contemporaneous faulting and deposition characteristic of growth faults. Overlapping of the tapered edges of multiple laterally adjacent intervals may also create potential for small flexural structures in the areas of overlap.

@article{doi101306703c8ebb170711d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "McCulloh, Richard P.",
    title = "Differential Fault-Related Early Miocene Sedimentation, Bayou Hebert Area, Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1988",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT Well logs from the Bayou Hebert area in southwestern Louisiana show that most of the differential sedimentation associated with one zone of contemporaneous faults cannot be attributed to simple expansion. Rather, the lower Miocene sequence on the downthrown side of the fault zone has grown principally by the episodic deposition of sedimentary units that have no correlative counterparts on the upthrown side. Such units range up to about 2,000 ft (600 m) thick near faults, and most are laterally discontinuous over distances of several kilometers. The isolated downthrown intervals lie in different parts of the sequence at various places along the strike of the fault zone, indicating lateral and temporal variation in subsidence rates in the downthrown block. The intervals may represent times of erosion or sediment bypass updip of faults. Isolation of thick intervals on the downthrown block adds potential for unexpected reservoir units and may enhance the development of combination traps associated with the contemporaneous faulting and deposition characteristic of growth faults. Overlapping of the tapered edges of multiple laterally adjacent intervals may also create potential for small flexural structures in the areas of overlap.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/703c8ebb-1707-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/703c8ebb-1707-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W2045054830",
    references = "bornhauser1960depositional, caughey1981deltaic, doi10100797814613336233, doi101111j174754571980tb00707x, doi101126science1603828609, doi10130683d90d6816c711d78645000102c1865d, doi10130683d9133516c711d78645000102c1865d, doi101306ad46142616f711d78645000102c1865d, openalexw1483571540, openalexw1577053220, openalexw1599441881, openalexw596100700"
}

@inproceedings{hoopes1989integrated,
    author = "Hoopes, Russell and Aber, W. M.",
    title = "Integrated multianalysis procedure that qualifies DHIs: A case history in the Louisiana Hackberry trend",
    year = "1989",
    booktitle = "SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 1989",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1190/1.1889790",
    doi = "10.1190/1.1889790",
    openalex = "W2159090484",
    pages = "843-847",
    references = "doi101029jz067i013p05279"
}

ABSTRACT Stormy conditions associated with periodic winter cold front passages are closely related to transport of suspended sediment to the continental shelf, coastal erosion, and coastal progradation along shoreline sectors where abundant fine-grained sediments are stored on the inner shelf. Cold front passages occur between October and April on three- to five-day cycles. Their typical NW to SE direction of approach, large spatial scales, and numerous yearly occurrences (20 - 30 events/year) drive physical processes that cause significant coastal change. Both remotely sensed multispectral and high quality photographic data have been collected from altitudes of 0.9 mi (1500 m), 5.6 mi (9000 m), and 13 mi (21,000 m) before and after cold front passages to form a data base for evaluating coastal change and suspended sediment transport pathways. Satellite imagery provide a longer-term perspective on coastal change. Remotely sensed data sets are augmented with ground truth measurements of coastal configuration, sedimentology, and water quality. Physical processes active in the prefrontal phases of a winter cold front passage are considerably different from those of the post frontal phase. Along the Chenier Plain coast prefrontal stages are characterized by prolonged periods (on the order of several days) of high wave action from the southerly quadrants, water level setup along the coast, and strong alongshore as well as onshore sediment transport. At these times mud from the Atchafalaya River, stored on the nearshore shelf, is transported onshore and alongshore to slightly prograde the Chenier coast. Post-frontal conditions bring dry, cold winds from the northerly quadrants causing water-level setdown along the coast, a significant reduction in nearshore wave energy, and drying of the newly deposited mudflats fronting the Chenier Plain. Rapid drying causes an important increase in sediment strength, mud crack formation, and effective armoring of the mud flats by dried mud clasts that resist erosion in subsequent cycles.

@article{openalexw2106140657,
    author = "Roberts, Harry H. and Huh, Oscar K. and Hsu, S. A. and Rouse, Lawrence J. and Rickman, Douglas L.",
    title = "Winter Storm Impacts on the Chenier Plain Coast of Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1989",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT Stormy conditions associated with periodic winter cold front passages are closely related to transport of suspended sediment to the continental shelf, coastal erosion, and coastal progradation along shoreline sectors where abundant fine-grained sediments are stored on the inner shelf. Cold front passages occur between October and April on three- to five-day cycles. Their typical NW to SE direction of approach, large spatial scales, and numerous yearly occurrences (20 - 30 events/year) drive physical processes that cause significant coastal change. Both remotely sensed multispectral and high quality photographic data have been collected from altitudes of 0.9 mi (1500 m), 5.6 mi (9000 m), and 13 mi (21,000 m) before and after cold front passages to form a data base for evaluating coastal change and suspended sediment transport pathways. Satellite imagery provide a longer-term perspective on coastal change. Remotely sensed data sets are augmented with ground truth measurements of coastal configuration, sedimentology, and water quality. Physical processes active in the prefrontal phases of a winter cold front passage are considerably different from those of the post frontal phase. Along the Chenier Plain coast prefrontal stages are characterized by prolonged periods (on the order of several days) of high wave action from the southerly quadrants, water level setup along the coast, and strong alongshore as well as onshore sediment transport. At these times mud from the Atchafalaya River, stored on the nearshore shelf, is transported onshore and alongshore to slightly prograde the Chenier coast. Post-frontal conditions bring dry, cold winds from the northerly quadrants causing water-level setdown along the coast, a significant reduction in nearshore wave energy, and drying of the newly deposited mudflats fronting the Chenier Plain. Rapid drying causes an important increase in sediment strength, mud crack formation, and effective armoring of the mud flats by dried mud clasts that resist erosion in subsequent cycles.",
    openalex = "W2106140657"
}

Variations of pore fluid properties as well as lithologies in central Louisiana were investigated using more than 300 conventional well logs in order to understand processes and patterns of fluid flow in the Wilcox Group in the region. A statistical evaluation of log parameters was done to provide information required for interpreting older logs in the region. Most of the study area is located between the northern and southern Louisiana salt dome basins, and there is a general lack of significant structural deformation. The two discrete sand dominated zones in the study area are the Wilcox and the post-Vicksburg groups. These are stratigraphically separated by the predominantly shaly Claiborne through Vicksburg groups, which are thickest and shaliest in the southern portion of the study area. SP-derived salinity profiles on regional cross sections suggest two sources of dissolved salt in the pore fluids: the northern and the southern salt domes. Dissolved salt may have been transported laterally distances exceeding 100 km. In the northern part of the study area, pore water salinity progressively increases with depth through the entire Miocene-Wilcox sequence, implying efficient vertical communication throughout this 12,000-foot stratigraphic sequence. Where the Claiborne-Vicksburg shale sequence thickens to the south, however, there is a marked discontinuity in salinity with depth reflecting vertical hydrologic compartmentalization. Calculated pore water densities vary a little vertically within the post-Wilcox. The occurrence of hydrocarbons in the Wilcox of central Louisiana may have been controlled by the presence of structural highs, La Salle arch, sand distribution in the Holly Spring Delta of the lower Wilcox, the major impermeable stratigraphic barrier of the Claiborne-Vicksburg shale interval, the areal limitation of the Big Shale as a stratigraphic barrier, and the progressive decrease in oil viscosity updip to the north.

@phdthesis{doi1031390gradschooldisstheses8379,
    author = "Funayama, Masaaki",
    title = "Distribution and Migration Patterns of Subsurface Fluids in the Wilcox Group in Central Louisiana",
    year = "1990",
    abstract = "Variations of pore fluid properties as well as lithologies in central Louisiana were investigated using more than 300 conventional well logs in order to understand processes and patterns of fluid flow in the Wilcox Group in the region. A statistical evaluation of log parameters was done to provide information required for interpreting older logs in the region. Most of the study area is located between the northern and southern Louisiana salt dome basins, and there is a general lack of significant structural deformation. The two discrete sand dominated zones in the study area are the Wilcox and the post-Vicksburg groups. These are stratigraphically separated by the predominantly shaly Claiborne through Vicksburg groups, which are thickest and shaliest in the southern portion of the study area. SP-derived salinity profiles on regional cross sections suggest two sources of dissolved salt in the pore fluids: the northern and the southern salt domes. Dissolved salt may have been transported laterally distances exceeding 100 km. In the northern part of the study area, pore water salinity progressively increases with depth through the entire Miocene-Wilcox sequence, implying efficient vertical communication throughout this 12,000-foot stratigraphic sequence. Where the Claiborne-Vicksburg shale sequence thickens to the south, however, there is a marked discontinuity in salinity with depth reflecting vertical hydrologic compartmentalization. Calculated pore water densities vary a little vertically within the post-Wilcox. The occurrence of hydrocarbons in the Wilcox of central Louisiana may have been controlled by the presence of structural highs, La Salle arch, sand distribution in the Holly Spring Delta of the lower Wilcox, the major impermeable stratigraphic barrier of the Claiborne-Vicksburg shale interval, the areal limitation of the Big Shale as a stratigraphic barrier, and the progressive decrease in oil viscosity updip to the north.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.31390/gradschool\_disstheses.8379",
    doi = "10.31390/gradschool\_disstheses.8379",
    openalex = "W4379377568",
    references = "doi101144gslsp19900500111"
}

ABSTRACT The Oligocene Hackberry sequence was deposited in a slope environment consisting of an irregular, updip slide scar, a rotational slide zone up to 4 mi (6.5 km) wide, and a downdip region more than 20 mi (32 km) wide where meandering submarine channels deposited thick turbiditic sands. The shelf margin slides probably began during the late stage of a relative fall in sea level and prior to a maximum flood event in the middle Oligocene. The slides probably were caused by a combination of salt withdrawal and an unstable shelf edge. The play has produced more than 374 million bbl of oil equivalent (BOE) up to December 1988. The first fields were discovered in structural/stratigraphic traps on the updip flanks of the salt domes, where channels were forced to meander around paleobathymetric highs. Other fields are located in the paleobathymetric lows many miles downdip of the salt domes. Statistical analysis of field data shows that 41 fields with more than 1 million BOE each and with a total estimated ultimate recovery of 117 million BOE remain to be discovered in the play. Interpretation in southwestern Louisiana has shown that new reserves could be discovered in three potential reservoir sands: (1) lower Frio shelf-edge sands preserved in large slide blocks, (2) onlapping, sandy “fill sequences” restricted to the lows between slide blocks, and (3) meandering, dip-oriented, sandy channel complexes less than 4500 ft (1400 m) wide. These three sandstones cannot be distinguished unless dipmeter, seismic, and paleontologic data are used in combination.

@article{doi101306bdff8876171811d78645000102c1865d,
    author = "Cossey, Stephen P. J. and Jacobs, Richard E.",
    title = "Oligocene Hackberry Formation of Southwest Louisiana: Sequence Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Hydrocarbon Potential",
    year = "1992",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT The Oligocene Hackberry sequence was deposited in a slope environment consisting of an irregular, updip slide scar, a rotational slide zone up to 4 mi (6.5 km) wide, and a downdip region more than 20 mi (32 km) wide where meandering submarine channels deposited thick turbiditic sands. The shelf margin slides probably began during the late stage of a relative fall in sea level and prior to a maximum flood event in the middle Oligocene. The slides probably were caused by a combination of salt withdrawal and an unstable shelf edge. The play has produced more than 374 million bbl of oil equivalent (BOE) up to December 1988. The first fields were discovered in structural/stratigraphic traps on the updip flanks of the salt domes, where channels were forced to meander around paleobathymetric highs. Other fields are located in the paleobathymetric lows many miles downdip of the salt domes. Statistical analysis of field data shows that 41 fields with more than 1 million BOE each and with a total estimated ultimate recovery of 117 million BOE remain to be discovered in the play. Interpretation in southwestern Louisiana has shown that new reserves could be discovered in three potential reservoir sands: (1) lower Frio shelf-edge sands preserved in large slide blocks, (2) onlapping, sandy “fill sequences” restricted to the lows between slide blocks, and (3) meandering, dip-oriented, sandy channel complexes less than 4500 ft (1400 m) wide. These three sandstones cannot be distinguished unless dipmeter, seismic, and paleontologic data are used in combination.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/bdff8876-1718-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/bdff8876-1718-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W1910609001",
    references = "doi101111j136530911983tb00702x, doi1013065d25c2d316c111d78645000102c1865d, doi101306mth7510, doi10211815223pa, doi1023867gc8407d, doi105724gcs85040263, doi105724gcs90110151, openalexw1849800232, paine1968stratigraphy"
}

ABSTRACT A computer-based shoreline mapping methodology, within a framework of a geographic information system, was used to compile and analyze changes in historical shoreline position between Sabine and Southwest Passes in southwestern Louisiana for the period 1883 to 1994. Regional patterns of change depict systematic shifts between shore retreat and advance in relation to sediment supply from the westward-directed Atchafalaya River mudstream and erosion of marsh/chenier deposits, as well as shoreline orientation relative to storm and normal wave conditions. Net shoreline position change for the period 1883 to 1994 illustrates seven cells of accretion and erosion and one cell showing no net change. The western 17 km of coast (5 km east of Sabine Pass to west Ocean View Beach) illustrates net advance of 3.5 m/yr. Moving east, the next 15 km of coast (Ocean View Beach to the eastern end of the revetment along Highway 82) shows net retreat at 1.2 m/yr. A 2-km segment of coast bracketing Holly Beach shows no net change, but an 8.5-km length of coast east of this area has been retreating at a rate of 1.4 m/yr since 1883. Shoreline change from 0.7 km west of the Calcasieu Pass jetties east to the old Mermentau River mouth has averaged +2.7 m/yr; however, the 63-km segment of coast east of this area shows net retreat at a rate of 8.7 m/yr. From western Mulberry Island to Cheniere au Tigre, shoreline advance has been dominant at 2.8 m/yr, whereas east of this zone to Southwest Pass average shore erosion at 2.9 m/yr is illustrated. Although shoreline retreat is dominant over much of the chenier plain (average change rate for the period of record is -2.6 m/yr), long-term trends indicate net shoreline advance between Sabine and Calcasieu Passes (0.7 m/yr) and average shoreline retreat between Calcasieu and Southwest Passes (3.8 m/yr) since 1883.

@article{openalexw1535568554,
    author = "Byrnes, Mark R. and McBride, Randolph A. and Tao, Qiang and Duvic, Lisa",
    title = "Historical Shoreline Dynamics Along the Chenier Plain of Southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "1995",
    abstract = "ABSTRACT A computer-based shoreline mapping methodology, within a framework of a geographic information system, was used to compile and analyze changes in historical shoreline position between Sabine and Southwest Passes in southwestern Louisiana for the period 1883 to 1994. Regional patterns of change depict systematic shifts between shore retreat and advance in relation to sediment supply from the westward-directed Atchafalaya River mudstream and erosion of marsh/chenier deposits, as well as shoreline orientation relative to storm and normal wave conditions. Net shoreline position change for the period 1883 to 1994 illustrates seven cells of accretion and erosion and one cell showing no net change. The western 17 km of coast (5 km east of Sabine Pass to west Ocean View Beach) illustrates net advance of 3.5 m/yr. Moving east, the next 15 km of coast (Ocean View Beach to the eastern end of the revetment along Highway 82) shows net retreat at 1.2 m/yr. A 2-km segment of coast bracketing Holly Beach shows no net change, but an 8.5-km length of coast east of this area has been retreating at a rate of 1.4 m/yr since 1883. Shoreline change from 0.7 km west of the Calcasieu Pass jetties east to the old Mermentau River mouth has averaged +2.7 m/yr; however, the 63-km segment of coast east of this area shows net retreat at a rate of 8.7 m/yr. From western Mulberry Island to Cheniere au Tigre, shoreline advance has been dominant at 2.8 m/yr, whereas east of this zone to Southwest Pass average shore erosion at 2.9 m/yr is illustrated. Although shoreline retreat is dominant over much of the chenier plain (average change rate for the period of record is -2.6 m/yr), long-term trends indicate net shoreline advance between Sabine and Calcasieu Passes (0.7 m/yr) and average shoreline retreat between Calcasieu and Southwest Passes (3.8 m/yr) since 1883.",
    openalex = "W1535568554",
    references = "doi1010160025322795000646, doi101093ajcp1072206, doi101136jnnp2004041202, doi1013065d25c60d16c111d78645000102c1865d, openalexw1927292367, openalexw2729349386"
}

@article{breard1999abstract,
    author = "BREARD, SYLVESTER Q., ARDEN D. CALL",
    title = "Abstract: Foraminiferal Biofacies, Local Zonation and Paleobathymetry of the Hackberry Sequence (Middle Oligocene Frio) of Southwestern Louisiana\ ",
    year = "1999",
    journal = "AAPG Bulletin",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/e4fd3d47-1732-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    doi = "10.1306/e4fd3d47-1732-11d7-8645000102c1865d",
    openalex = "W2127300361",
    volume = "83"
}

@article{doi101016jgeomorph200611013,
    author = "McBride, Randolph A. and Taylor, Matthew and Byrnes, Mark R.",
    title = "Coastal morphodynamics and Chenier-Plain evolution in southwestern Louisiana, USA: A geomorphic model",
    year = "2007",
    journal = "Geomorphology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.11.013",
    doi = "10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.11.013",
    openalex = "W2080999506",
    references = "doi1010160025322789901278, openalexw1535568554"
}

@misc{faulkner2007sediment,
    author = "Faulkner, Stephen and Barrow, Wylie and Doyle, Thomas and Baldwin, Michael and Michot, Thomas and Wells, Christopher and Jeske, Clint",
    title = "Sediment deposition from Hurricane Rita on Hackberry Beach chenier in southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "2007",
    booktitle = "Circular",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.3133/cir13066e",
    doi = "10.3133/cir13066e",
    openalex = "W1044715327",
    pages = "157-162",
    references = "doi101006ecss19950045, doi1010160025322789901278, doi1010160272771488900911, doi101016s0967065397885973, openalexw127902514, openalexw1535568554, openalexw1846023905, openalexw2106140657, openalexw2971039300"
}

@article{doi101016jmargeo201212005,
    author = "Williams, Harry",
    title = "600-year sedimentary archive of hurricane strikes in a prograding beach ridge plain, southwestern Louisiana",
    year = "2013",
    journal = "Marine Geology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2012.12.005",
    doi = "10.1016/j.margeo.2012.12.005",
    openalex = "W2003902654",
    references = "openalexw1535568554"
}