Sigsbee Escarpment

Main bathymetric features of the NW Gulf of Mexico

The Sigsbee Escarpment is a major bathymetric feature of the Gulf of Mexico, extending for about 560 kilometres (350 miles). It separates the lower continental slope of the northern gulf from the abyssal plain of the Sigsbee Deep and has up to 900 m (3,000 ft) of relief across it.^[1] It has formed as a result of salt tectonics, due to the effects of loading of a thick layer of Jurassic halite (Louann Salt) by Upper Jurassic to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks.^[2]

References

1. Jackson M.P.A., Hudec, M.R. & Dooley T.P. (2010). "Some emerging concepts in salt tectonics in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico: intrusive plumes, canopy-margin thrusts, minibasin triggers and allochthonous fragments". In Vining B.A. & Pickering S.C. Petroleum Geology: From Mature Basins to New Frontiers—Proceedings of the 7th Petroleum Geology Conference. Petroleum Geology Conference. 7. London: Geological Society. pp. 899–912. ISBN 9781862392984.
2. Jackson M.P.A. & Hudec M.R. (2004). "A New Mechanism for Advance of Allochthonous Salt Sheets" (PDF). Salt-Sediment Interactions and Hydrocarbon Prospectivity: Concepts, Applications, and Case Studies for the 21st Century. p. 11. Retrieved 16 November 2014.