Carbonate Slope Architecture and Mechanical Stratigraphy: Tierra Blanca Member, Mississippian Lake Valley Formation, Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico

Carbonate slope-to-basin deposits are more complex than their siliciclastic counterparts and have highly variable depositional-element dimensions, geometries, and sediment distribution. However, despite their economic and academic importance, carbonate slope depositional environments remain understudied, particularly the linkages between depositional processes, stratigraphic architecture, and associated mechanical stratigraphy. Outcrop-based studies are needed to acquire complete mechanical stratigraphy datasets, and this study focuses on outcropping carbonate slope deposits of the Mississippian-aged Tierra Blanca Member, Lake Valley Formation, Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico. While spectacular Waulsortian mounds have been a focus of research in the Tierra Blanca, the depositional processes and submarine fan architecture have only recently been described in detail. This study quantifies relationships between mechanical properties and sedimentological attributes of carbonate slope-to-basin sediment-gravity flow deposits, specifically focusing on the influence of facies architecture and stacking patterns on fracture distributions. Additionally, we constrain the influence of Waulsortian mounds in the steering of sediment-gravity flows, and the lateral and downstream effects of mounds on submarine fan architecture. These data will help to generate new conceptual models for sediment-gravity flow processes and facies distribution in ramp-hosted, mound-influenced carbonate submarine-fan deposits. Lastly, the quantitative integration of stratigraphic architecture and mechanical stratigraphy datasets will ultimately aid in the construction of more realistic geological and discrete fracture network (DFN) models for hydrocarbon reservoirs that occur in similar deposits.