Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

Expedition 308 Preliminary Report

Gulf of Mexico Hydrogeology

Overpressure and fluid flow processes in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico: slope stability, seeps, and shallow-water flow

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• COVER PAGE
• PUBLISHER'S NOTES
• PARTICIPANTS
  • Shipboard Scientific Party
  • Transocean Officials
  • IODP Shipboard Personnel and Technical Representatives
• ABSTRACT
• INTRODUCTION
  • Geological Overview: The Gulf of Mexico
  • Geological Setting
• SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES
• OPERATIONAL STRATEGY
• SITE RESULTS
  • Site U1319
  • Site U1320
  • Site U1321
  • Site U1322
  • Site U1323
  • Site U1324
• DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
  • Challenges of Drilling in Overpressured Basins
  • Challenges of Measuring Pressure
  • Synthesis of Brazos-Trinity Basin #4 Geology
  • Synthesis of Ursa Basin Geology
  • Physical Properties in Brazos-Trinity and Ursa Basins
  • Geochemical Indicators of Fluid Flow
  • Preliminary Interpretation of Overpressure and Hydrodynamics in Ursa Basin
• OVERVIEW OF EXPEDITION ACHIEVEMENTS AND PRELIMINARY SCIENTIFIC ASSESSMENT
  • Original Objectives
  • Additional Achievements
• OPERATIONS
  • Port Call Activities
  • Brazos-Trinity Basin #4
  • Transit to Ursa Basin
  • Transit to Panama
• REFERENCES
• TABLES
  • Table T1. Heavy mud, Holes U1324A and U1324B.
  • Table T2. Operations summary.
• FIGURES
  • Figure F1. Overpressure.
  • Figure F2. Flow-focusing model.
  • Figure F3. Flow-focusing example.
  • Figure F4. Gulf of Mexico bathymetric image.
  • Figure F5. Brazos-Trinity Basin #4 bathymetric chart.
  • Figure F6. Dip seismic Section 3020.
  • Figure F7. Strike seismic Line 3045.
  • Figure F8. Ursa region bathymetric image.
  • Figure F9. Seisimic cross-section A–A' basemap.
  • Figure F10. Logging data, M.C. 810 Ursa geotechnical well #1.
  • Figure F11. Seismic and interpreted cross-section A–A'.
  • Figure F12. T2P penetrometer and data example.
  • Figure F13. Combination diagram, Site U1319.
  • Figure F14. Combination diagram, Site U1320.
  • Figure F15. Combination diagram, Site U1321.
  • Figure F16. Combination diagram, Site U1322.
  • Figure F17. Combination diagram, Site U1323.
  • Figure F18. Combination diagram, Site U1324.
  • Figure F19. Mud trucks.
  • Figure F20. Pressure versus depth with weighted mud.
  • Figure F21. MWD results.
  • Figure F22. T2P and DVTPP.
  • Figure F23. Characteristic deployments of DVTPP and T2P.
  • Figure F24. Probe deployment success data.
  • Figure F25. Probe deployment illustration.
  • Figure F26. Dip-oriented seismic line across Brazos-Trinity Basin #4.
  • Figure F27. Strike-oriented seismic line across Site U1320.
  • Figure F28. Preliminary age model.
  • Figure F29. Brazos-Trinity Basin #4 stratigraphic cross-section.
  • Figure F30. Core photographs.
  • Figure F31. Correlation between Sites U1322, U1323, and U1324.
  • Figure F32. Age contraints summary.
  • Figure F33. Seismic data and line-drawing interpretation.
  • Figure F34. Ursa Basin mass transport deposits.
  • Figure F35. Porosity versus depth, Sites U1319, U1320, and U1321.
  • Figure F36. Void ratio, Sites U1319 and U1320.
  • Figure F37. Porosity versus depth, Sites U1322, U1323, and U1324.
  • Figure F38. Void ratio and pore pressures, Sites U1322 and U1324.
  • Figure F39. Porosity versus depth, Sites U1319, U1320, and U1324.
  • Figure F40. Pore water geochemical profiles, Sites U1319 and U1320.
  • Figure F41. Pore water geochemical profiles, Sites U1322 and U1324.
  • Figure F42. Porosity versus depth, Sites U1322 and U1324.
  • Figure F43. Porosity-based presure predictions.
  • Figure F44. Penetrometer tools pressure versus depth.
  • Figure F45. Temperature data.
  • Figure F46. Temperature gradients and conceptual model of flow.

Date posted: 8 September 2005

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