Abstract
Samples were collected for foraminiferal studies by the Johnson Sea-Link I and II manned submersibles on the Louisiana continental slope. This paper documents that the mud, extruded onto the sea floor from depth by four mud volcanoes, ranges in age from Miocene to Pleistocene based on studies of the planktonic foraminiferal fauna. The vents are in water depths ranging from 300 to 690 m located in Garden Banks Block 382, Green Canyon Blocks 143 and 272, and Mississippi Canyon Block 929. Two mud volcanoes in GB 382 and MC 929 also have rich fossil foraminiferal microfaunas. We suggest that the extrusion of fossil sediments onto the sea floor during the Quaternary is a reasonable explanation for frequent occurrences of displaced fossil microfaunas encountered at depth in wells drilling on the flanks of salt diapirs in the slope environment. Results of this study have important implications for age dating subsurface sediments in bathyal locations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson HV (1961) Foraminifera of the mudlumps, lower Mississippi River Delta. Part 2, In: Genesis and Paleontology of the Mississippi River Mudlumps. Louisiana Department of Conservation, Geological Survey Bulletin 35, pp 1–208
Anderson RK, Scalan RS, Parker PL and Behrens EW (1983) Seep oil and gas in Gulf of Mexico slope environment. Science 222:619–621
Beard JH, Boellstorff J, Menconi LC, and Stude GR (1978) Fissiontrack age of Pliocene volcanic glass from the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions 26:156–163
Berggren WA, Kent DV, and Van Couvering JA (1985) The Neogene: Part 2, Neogene geochronology and chronostratigraphy. In: Snelling NJ (Ed.), The Chronology of the Geological Record. The Geological Society, Memoir no. 10. London: Blackwell Scientific Publications pp 211–260
Blow WH (1969) Late middle Eocene to Recent planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy. In: Bronnimann P, and Renz HH (Eds.), Proceedings of the First Conference on Planktonic Microfossils, Vol 1. Leiden: EJ Brill pp 199–421
Bouma AH, Roberts HH, and Coleman JM (1990) Acoustical and geological characteristics of near-surface sediments, upper continental slope of northern Gulf of Mexico. Geo-Marine Letters 10(4):200–208
Brooks JM, Kennicutt II MC, Fay RR, McDonald TJ, and Sassen R (1984) Thermogenic gas hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico. Science 225:409–411
Ericson DB and Wollin G (1968) Pleistocene climates and chronology in deep-sea sediments. Science 162:1227–1234
Gupta AK (1993) Biostratigraphic vs. paleoceanographic importance ofStilostomella lepidula (Schwager) in the Indian Ocean. Micropaleontology 39(1):47–51
Kohl B (1986) Late Quaternary planktonic foraminifers from the Pigmy Basin, Gulf of Mexico, Site 619, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 96. In: Bouma AH, Coleman JM, and Meyer AW (Eds.), Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. 96:657–670
Kohl B and DSDP Leg 96 Shipboard Scientists (1985) Biostratigraphy and sedimentation rates of the Mississippi Fan. In: Bouma AH, Barnes NE, and Normark WR (Eds.), Submarine Fans and Related Turbidite Sequences, New York: Springer-Verlag, pp 267–273
Lankford RR (1959) Distribution and ecology of foraminifera from east Mississippi delta margin. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 43(9):2068–2099
Mayall MJ, Yeilding CA, Oldroyd JD, Pulham AJ, and Sakurai S (1992) Facies in a shelf-edge delta—an example from the subsurface of the Gulf of Mexico, middle Pliocene, Mississippi Canyon, Block 109. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 76(4):435–448
Morgan JP (1961) Mudlumps at the mouths of the Mississippi River, Part 1. In: Genesis and Paleontology of the Mississippi River Mudlumps. Louisiana Department of Conservation, Louisiana Geological Survey Bulletin 35:1–116
Neurauter TW and Bryant WR (1990) Seismic expression of sedimentary volcanism on the continental slope, northern Gulf of Mexico. Geo-Marine Letters 10(4):225–231
Neurauter TW and Roberts HH (1993) Mud volcanoes of the Louisiana continental slope. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Convention Program p 157 (abstract)
Roberts HH, Cook DJ, and Sheedlo MK (1992) Hydrocarbon seeps of the Louisiana continental slope: Seismic amplitude signature and sea floor response. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions 42:349–361
Roberts HH, Aharon P, and Walsh MM (1993) Cold-seep carbonates of the Louisiana continental slope-to-basin floor. In: Rezak R and Lavoie DL (Eds.), Carbonate Microfabrics: New York: Springer-Verlag pp 95–104
Sen Gupta BK and Aharon P (1994) Benthic Foraminifera of bathyal hydrocarbon vents of the Gulf of Mexico: Initial report on communities and stable isotopes. Geo-Marine Letters 14:88–96
Shepard FP and Lankford RR (1959) Sedimentary facies from shallow borings in lower Mississippi delta. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 43(9):2051–2067
Shew RD, Gary PS, Pfeiffer DS, and Bilinski PW (1993) Evidence and importance of a Pliocene, carbonate-rich deposit formed in association with a hydrocarbon seep at Auger Field. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Convention Program p 181 (abstract)
Winkler CD and Edwards MB (1983) Unstable progradational clastic shelf margins. In: Stanley DJ and Moore GT (Eds.). The Shelfbreak: Critical Interface on Continental Margins. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Pub. no. 33. pp 139–158
Woodbury HO, Spotts JH and Akers WH (1978) Gulf of Mexico continental-slope sediments and sedimentation. In: Bouma AH, Moore GT, and Coleman JM (Eds.), Framework, Facies and Oil-Trapping Characteristics of the Upper Continental Margin. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Studies in Geology 7:117–137
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kohl, B., Roberts, H.H. Fossil Foraminifera from four active mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico. Geo-Marine Letters 14, 126–134 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01203724
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01203724