Elucidating Linkages in Variations of the First Eccentricity and Rim Rugosity of Gulf of Mexico Minibasin Geometries via Geomorphometric Analysis of Bathymetric Data
Abstract
Minibasins are synkinematic basins which subside into allochthonous or autochthonous salt bodies, and are the product of differential sediment loading atop a ductile salt substrate. Their subsidence is driven via the coevolution of depositional and halokinetic processes. Minibasins have been well studied via the use of seismic imaging since their discovery, however, it is not understood whether subsurface halokinetic processes within minibasins can be derived via their surface expression. Through the employment of a high-resolution bathymetric data set of the northern Gulf of Mexico intraslope, in conjunction with morphometric analysis of 105 minibasins, we show that increases in the planform area of a given minibasin correlate with increases in the rugosity and first eccentricity of the given minibasin. We interpret this as increases in the eccentricity and area of the minibasin being resultant of higher volumes of sediment flowing into the basin, leading to a greater magnitude of subsidence and slope failures, resulting in a more rugose minibasin. An important implication of these findings is that readily available bathymetric data can be used to infer subsurface halokinetic architecture within minibasins, without having to acquire economically costly seismic data.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFMEP45C1539H