Gravity survey over a Gulf Coast Continental Shelf mound

Abstract

Abstract A gravity survey of 50 stations over one of the mounds near the edge of the Continental Shelf developed a strong, roughly circular negative anomaly. The gravity minimum is similar in magnitude and lateral extent to those over large salt domes in the on-shore and explored offshore areas of the Gulf Coast. An approximate quantitative evaluation shows that the minimum can be accounted for quite completely by a large shallow salt dome. The shallow part of the dome is approximately coextensive with the topographic feature and it seems quite certain that this particular mound is genetically related to a salt dome. If other similar mounds also are salt domes, the area of domes off the Louisiana coast is approximately doubled over that presently known from commercial geophysical exploration.