Eagle
and Wishbone turbidite fan targets are modeled geologically after
other giant offshore turbidite fans
The North Sea from the late 1970s
The Gulf of Mexico and especially Brazil in the 1980s
and 1990s
Angola in the 1990s
Turbidite or “sand pile” Formation
Coastal sands are deposited on the shelf by small rivers
during periods of high-water levels
During low-water levels, large rivers cut upper slope
canyons and deposited sands on the lower slope at the canyon mouth
The canyons finish abruptly on the lower slope, where
layers of turbiditic sandstones are formed, generally with good trapping
upstream since most of the upper slope canyons have subsequently been
filled with limestone
Guyana Basin Turbidites
The Horseshoe #1 drill-hole identified >5,000
feet (1,500 m) of on-shelf sand
The adjacent paleo-Berbice Canyon, the source of sand
for the off-shelf turbidites, has been severely eroded
The
Abary #1 well (only 10 km from Eagle) has a thin, 23-foot section
of turbidite quality sand at 13,000 feet
The Abary #1 well has >6,000 feet (1,800
m) of Miocene and Lower Tertiary shales and marls, which are anticipated
to provide
an excellent seal
The onshelf sand has been redistributed episodically
downshelf
