Rapid Sedimentation, Overpressure, and Focused Fluid Flow, Gulf of Mexico Continental Margin

Abstract

Expedition 308 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) was the fi rst phase of a two-component project dedicated to studying overpressure and fl uid fl ow on the continental slope of the Gulf of Mexico. We examined how sedimentation, overpressure, fl uid fl ow, and deformation are coupled in a passive margin setting and investigated how extremely rapid deposition of fi ne-grained mud might lead to a rapid build-up of pore pressure in excess of hydrostatic (overpressure), underconsolidation, and sedimentary masswasting. Our tests within the Ursa region, where sediment accumulated rapidly in the late Pleistocene, included the first-ever in situ measurements of how physical properties, pressure, temperature,and pore fluid compositions vary within low-permeability mudstones that overlie a permeable, overpressured aquifer, and we documented severe overpressure in the mudstones overlying the aquifer. We also drilled and logged three references sites in the Brazos-Trinity Basin IV and documented hydrostatic pressure conditions and normalconsolidation. Post-expedition studies will address how the generation and timing of overpressure control slope stability, seafl oor seeps, and large-scale crustal fluid fl ow. The operations ofExpedition 308 provide a foundation for future long-term in situ monitoring experiments in the aquifer and bounding mudstones.

Keywords

• IODP Expedition 308