Seismic imaging of spur and groove structures in the San Andres Formation, Midland Basin, Texas

The studied section corresponds to a fringing reef back barrier lagoon sequence .Spur and grooves structures form in the windward side of modern reefs (Wood and Oppenheimer, 2000) with their long axes normal to the refracted waves, which can make them good paleohydrodynamic indicators (Sneh and Friedman, 1980). They range from 8 to 65 m in width, up to 10 m in height and can form 45 m below sea level. Two processes are taking place in the formation of these reef structures: organic growth of the reefs and erosion owing to backsurge of refracted waves (Cloud, 1959).