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Detailed stratigraphic and facies analyses were conducted and combined with seismic facies and 3D seismic‐derived plan view images to interpret the depositional environments, processes and depositional elements during the Miocene for an area located in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The results showed that deposition during the Miocene mainly occurred in a slope setting, with bathymetric changes associated with highs and mini‐basins related to salt features. From the sedimentological interpretation, 13 sedimentary facies were identified. The abundant lithofacies were structureless (massive) sandstone and massive mudstone. Ripple‐ , parallel and cross‐laminated sandstone and siltstone were found in minor proportions. The main depositional processes were related to turbidity currents, including high‐density and low‐density currents; debris flows (mud flows and grain flows) were of secondary importance, as was deposition from fallout of suspended hemipelagic mud particles. The vertical and lateral distributions of facies revealed seven facies associations linked to depositional environments. These facies associations were the building blocks that were used to characterize the depositional elements recognized on seismic data. The main depositional elements identified were mass‐transport complexes, submarine channels, and frontal splays. Finally, interpretations from different data sets enabled the conclusion that, during the Miocene in this area were submarine fans deposited on an irregular paleotopography, with topographic lows and highs controlled by salt tectonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the southern Gulf of Mexico, deepwater sediments were affected during deposition by contractional and extensional deformation events and halokinesis. The Miocene reservoirs in this area were deposited in slope and basinal settings during the falling-stage systems tracts and the lowstand systems tracts, where channel and frontal splay depositional elements were the most important. The integration of the structural analysis with seismic data, seismic attributes and isochron maps allows us to evaluate how the deformational events (especially the contractional event D3) controlled the distribution of sediments and the external geometry of their deposits. This interplay between deformation and sedimentation mainly occurred in two ways. First, the structural elements modified the paleobathymetry of the basin and created an accommodation space for clastic deposition. Second, the structural features controlled the entry of sediments. During the Oligocene and early Miocene, the depocenters were bounded by diapirs, salt sheets and structural highs formed by older salt anticlines. On the other hand, for the middle Miocene, the depocenters were controlled by the presence of folds in the southern part of the study area and by shortened diapirs and salt sheets in the periphery. The formation of these depocenters provided the accommodation space for sediment deposition; as a result, during the early and middle Miocene, the frontal splays were confined to these depocenters. At the end of the middle Miocene, these depocenters were filled, and channel levee systems and frontal splay complexes predominated. Finally, during the late Miocene, the depocenters formation was controlled by the extensional event, which provided the accommodation space for sediment deposition in half-grabens, where frontal splays complexes and channel levee systems were the most important depositional elements. All of these structural elements had significant implications for the architecture and internal organization of the turbidite systems. Highlights • Reservoirs were deposited in the slope during the falling-stage and lowstand systems tracts. • Structural elements modified the paleotopography of the basin creating accommodation space. • Structural elements controlled the entry of sediments. • Deformation events had implications in the architecture and organization of turbidites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]