Fluid transport by solitary waves along growing faults: A field example from the South Eugene Island Basin, Gulf of Mexico

The Red Fault system is one of the main growth faults found in the South Eugene Island Basin, a salt withdrawal minibasin located offshore Louisiana, in the Gulf of Mexico. This fault system corresponds to a lateral boundary between fluid overpressured compartments. In addition, there is a set of observations indicating that the Red Fault system exhibits rapid episodic migration of fluids. This fault represents an example of preferential pathway for the upward episodic migration of overpressured hydrocarbons from deep, heavily pressured, compartments on time scales of years. The migrations of fluids into active growing faults could take the form of propagating surges (solitary waves) that propagate upward along the fault planes in a wave-like manner at km/yr. Solitary waves represent a very efficient mechanism for the upward transport of fluids along growth faults in sedimentary basins generating its own permeability. In addition, this mechanism is compatible with the fact that the fault plane is observed to sustain a static pore fluid pressure difference between its two sides. The propagation of solitary waves in active growth faults appears as a fundamental mechanism to understand the nature of upward fast migration of fluids along active growth faults in compartimentalized sedimentary basins.