The Gulf of Mexico holds huge untapped offshore oil deposits that could help power the U.S. for decades.
The Gulf of Mexico holds huge untapped offshore oil deposits that could help power the U.S. for decades.
The energy super basin’s longevity, whose giant offshore fields have reliably supplied consumers with oil and gas since the 1960s, is the result of a remarkable geologic past – a story that began 200 million years ago among the fragments of Pangea, when a narrow, shallow seaway grew into an ocean basin, while around it mountains rose then eroded away.
The processes that shaped the basin also deposited and preserved vast reserves of oil and gas, of which only a fraction has been extracted. Much of the remaining oil lies buried beneath ancient salt layers, just recently illuminated by modern seismic imaging. That’s the assessment of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, who reviewed decades of geological research and current production figures in an effort to understand the secret behind the basin’s success.
Read more at: University of Texas at Austin
The Sun lights up the Texas and Louisiana coast. According to researchers at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, the unique geology of the Gulf of Mexico has helped contribute to its success as an oil and gas producing 'super basin'. (Photo Credit: NASA)
