The Paleogene of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Basins: Processes, Events and Petroleum Systems

This year’s theme for the 27th Annual Bob F. Perkins Research Symposium was to examine a distinctive time period within the greater evolutionary history of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and northern South America; the Paleogene. Within the longer-term Jurassic-Recent histories of these regions, some of the most enigmatic yet crucial aspects of the petroleum systems pertain to the Paleogene. In the Paleogene of the Gulf of Mexico, we have Chicxulub and its “ejecta reservoirs,” the Laramide Orogeny as a proximal source of clastic sediment, strong climate changes and re- initiation of glacio-eustatic sea level changes, deep- water Wilcox sand and its age and correlation issues, deep water structures and their genesis, Paleogene canyons and their causal mechanisms, Paleogene marginal failure and re-grading of the slope, and possible isolation from the world’s seas and water level draw down, to name a few. The talks, papers, and discussions given at this year’s conference provided one of most comprehensive examinations of these issues made to date, thereby helping the exploration community move ahead on Paleogene leads with a shared sense of enthusiasm and risk.