Western Louisiana
Highstand Systems Tract



During the late highstand (Stage 3) the western Louisiana fluvial system constructed a sizable delta on the outer shelf, originally mapped by Suter and Berryhill (1985). Sarzalejo (1993 studied this delta in detail using a close grid of high resolution seismic data and platform borings from the area. Her work showed that the delta was a fluvial-dominated one, with a large feeder channel that branched into several distributaries that fed four large sandy mouth bars. Seismic profiles from the area show the main feeder channel (Line 17), distribuary channels with their chaotic seismic facies incising into acoustically layered muddy prodelta deposits (Line 18), and Line 16 shows to offlapping delta lobes. Upon reaching the shelf margin, the delta was forced to prograde to the west behind a nearly continuous salt ridge at the shelf break. When the shoreline reached the shelf break (Stage 2 lowstand), the delta was abandoned and the upper slope experienced massive failure (Line HI-18)



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