Depositional and structural evolution of the Middle Miocene depositional episode, east-central Gulf of Mexico

Two widespread, transgressive deposits associated with the faunal top Amphistegina B (15.5 Ma) and Textularia W (12.1 Ma) define the Middle Miocene depositional episode. An extensive stratigraphic correlation framework established in this study allowed tracing of the middle Miocene sediment dispersal system from the shelf through the slope to the basin floor in the complex paleogeography of the east-central Gulf of Mexico. The Middle Miocene depositional episode is recorded in four genetic cycles (∼1 to 2 Ma), bounded by regional maximum flooding surfaces in the shelf and shelf margin setting, and three equivalent seismic sequences punctuated by condensed sections in the slope and basin floor.; Two principal, long-lived extrabasinal fluvial/delta axes, the ancestral Mississippi and the Tennessee systems, provided the bulk of sediments that infilled the middle Miocene depocenters. Salt-related structural provinces controlled the configuration of the depocenters. Structural linked systems, dominated by gravity spreading, and a minibasin province, driven by differential subsidence, were established during the Middle Miocene depositional episode. Sediment supply coupled with wave energy flux, high-frequency sea-level changes, and salt tectonism determined the time and space distribution of progradation, aggradation, and retrogradation of system tracts.; Middle Miocene shelf margins have prograded 20 to 40 miles from the relict lower Miocene shelf margin. Two depositional systems tracts characterize the constructional shelf margin: (1) a mixed-load fluvial-dominated platform delta/shelf-margin delta/delta-fed apron systems tract; and (2) a strandplain/shelf/muddy slope systems tract. However, the constructional, offlapping shelf margin systems were locally punctuated by a large-scale phase of retreat and erosion, named the Harang collapse system, in which a large volume of sediments bypassed the shelf margin to be deposited on the slope and basin floor. The Harang collapse system is a type of large-scale slope failure produced by massive salt-withdrawal, retreat of major delta systems, and high-frequency sea-level fluctuations.; A large volume of sediment bypassed the confined minibasin province and the unconfined Florida slope at the flank of active deltaic depocenters, forming the long-lived MCAVLU submarine fan system (named for its location beneath the Mississippi Canyon, Atwater Valley, and Lund continental shelf (OCS areas) in the linked, primary minibasin corridor of the lower slope and basin floor. The MCAVLU submarine fan system evolved from a structurally-controlled, elongate sand-rich to mixed sand/mud fan to a large radial, mixed sand/mud fan. Significant untapped middle Miocene hydrocarbon resources remain in the confined channel fills and lobes of the Harang collapse system and sand-rich ponded facies assemblages of the MCAVLU submarine fan system.