Turbidite systems

Deep marine clastics systems are inherently complicated. a series of simplified models have been developed to explain many of the observation seen in the rock record. By nature these are limited by the two dimensional nature of the outcrops. Compare the two figures below. The first is a simplified diagram of a mixed sand-mud system from the work of Reading and Richards (1994).

The second is a Gloria side-scan image of part of the modern Mississippi fan from the eastern GOM. It shows fern-like depositional lobes developed at the mouth of several channel systems. How might the application of the simplified model in figure one effect appraisal and development given a reality closer to Figure 2.

Figure 1 :  Depositional model for a point sourced mud-rich submarine fan from Reading and Richards (1994)

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Figure 2: Gloria side-scan image from the western GOM

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