3-DIMENSIONAL GEOMETRY AND EVOLUTION OF A SALT-RELATED GROWTH-FAULT ARRAY - EUGENE-ISLAND 330-FIELD, OFFSHORE LOUISIANA, GULF-OF-MEXICO

The geometry and evolution of a growth-fault array bounding the Eugene Island 330 Field were studied using 3-D seismic interpretation and an alysis of displacement patterns. The 3-D geometry of the kinematically coherent fault array is complex and characterized by both lateral and vertical branching and linkage of individual fault segments, so that fault patterns and interactions vary considerably between different st ructural levels. Three types of faults are distinguished: growth fault s with throw increasing downward; compensation faults with closed tip lines; and composite faults, which combine elements of both growth and compensation faults. Reconstruction of the fault array's evolution us ing displacement backstripping illustrates the growth and linkage of s ome isolated faults and the upward separation of others into distinct segments. The results may have important implications for understandin g the history of hydrocarbon migration and entrapment in the EI-330 fi eld and other fault-bounded minibasins in the Gulf of Mexico. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.