Search

Fluid systems in inverted rifted margins are challenging to interpret because fractures formed before compression were often reactivated acting as fluid pathways as new ones formed. Deciphering the fracture and fluid flow history in such complex settings has key implications for the prediction of the distribution of mineral resources. As an example, we reconstruct the fluid flow evolution of a portion of the inverted Pyrenean rift, the Upper Pedraforca thrust sheet, from the Mesozoic extension to the Alpine orogeny. We combine structural analysis and petrographic, geochemical and geochronological data obtained from 87 samples of fracture-filling carbonate cements. During the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, low-temperature seawater produced dolomitization of Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous limestones in an extensional setting. During the Early Cretaceous salt-related extension, formation waters, probably evolved seawater or fluids that interacted with Triassic evaporites, at temperatures from 125 to 149°C migrated through fractures. The formation of breccias within post-salt rocks in primary weld zones facilitated the upward migration of formation waters that interacted with pre-salt rocks with high 87Sr/86Sr ratios. Formation waters at temperatures of 80°C migrated during the emplacement of the Upper Pedraforca thrust sheet in the Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene. These fluids interacted with Upper Cretaceous Carbonates and/or Triassic evaporites. In contrast, the influence of meteoric fluids increased in shallower positions due to the exhumation of the SE Pyrenees during the Eocene-Oligocene. Coevally, hot dolomitizing fluids migrated along diapir walls during the formation of secondary welds. Supergene ores documented in diapiric areas worldwide related to meteoric fluids, and the similar meteoric percolation occurred in the Upper Pedraforca thrust sheet, suggest that supergene mineralization could be found in the Pyrenees. Brecciation of rocks in primary weld zones and evaporite detachments, where mineralization accumulate in fractures from basement-derived fluids, also suggests that similar ores could be found in the Pyrenees., This research was performed within the framework of DGICYT Spanish Project PGC2018-093903-B-C22 Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades/Agencia Estatal de Investigación/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Unión Europea, SUBTETIS (PIE-CSIC-201830E039), ALORBE (PIE-CSIC-202030E310) and Grup Consolidat de Recerca ”Geologia Sedimentària” (2017SGR-824) and Generalitat de Catalunya, Grant/Award Number AGAUR 2017SGR-847. The isotopic analyses were carried out at “Centres Científics i Tecnològics” of the Universitat de Barcelona. Strontium analyses were done at the “CAI de Geocronología y Geoquímica Isotópica” of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry analyses were carried out at labGEOTOP of the GEO3BCN-CSIC, a cofounded structure by FEDER-UE (Ref. CSIC08-4E-001). The clumped isotopes analyses were performed in the Qatar Stable Isotope Laboratory of Imperial College of London. E.G.R. acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the “Ramón y Cajal” fellowship RYC2018-026335-I.

Classic models of gravity-driven salt tectonics commonly depict kinematically-linked zones of overburden deformation, characterised by updip extension and downdip contraction, separated by a weakly deformed zone associated with downdip translation above a relatively smooth base-salt surface. We use 2D and 3D seismic reflection and borehole data from the south-central Campos Basin to show that these models fail to adequately capture the complex range of structural styles forming during salt-detached gravity-driven deformation above a rugose base-salt surface. In the Campos Basin the base-salt is defined by broadly NE-trending, margin-parallel, generally seaward-dipping ramps that have up to 2 km of structural relief. We define three domains of overburden deformation: an updip extensional domain, an intermediate multiphase domain, and a downdip contractional domain. The multiphase domain is defined by large, partly fault-bounded, ramp-syncline basins, the stratigraphic record of which suggest c. 28 km of seaward gravity-driven translation of salt and its overburden since the end of the Albian. We also identify three main types of salt structures in the multiphase domain: (i) contractional anticlines that were subjected to later extension and normal faulting; (ii) passive-to-active diapirs that were later extended and widened, and which are bound on their landward margins by landward-dipping, salt-detached normal faults; and (iii) reactive (extensional) diapirs that were subsequently squeezed. We argue that this multiphase deformation occurs because of basinward translation of salt and its overburden over complex base-salt relief, consistent with the predictions of physical models and several other seismic reflection data-based studies. Critically, these complex local strains overprint margin-scale patterns of deformation.

Subsurface salt flow can deform overlying strata and influence contemporaneous sedimentary processes. Studying salt-sediment interactions is challenging in the subsurface due to poor imaging adjacent to salt, and in the field due to the dissolution of halite. Discrete Element Modelling provides an efficient and inexpensive tool to model stratigraphy and deformation around salt structures, which is advantageous over other modelling techniques as it realistically recreates brittle processes such as faulting. Six 2D experiments were run representing 4.6 Myr (46,000 timesteps) to determine the effect of salt growth on syn-kinematic stratigraphy. Halokinetic deformation of stratigraphic architecture was assessed by varying sediment input rates (slow, intermediate, and fast), and increasing and decreasing them through time. Results show the realistic formation and evolution of salt-related faults which define a zone of halokinetic influence, ~3 times the width of the initial diapir. Outside of this, pre- and syn-kinematic stratigraphy are undeformed. Within this zone, syn-kinematic strata are initially isolated into primary salt withdrawal basins, onlapping and thinning towards the salt-cored high. In most models, syn-kinematic strata eventually thin across and cover the diapir roof. Thinning rates are up to six times greater within 350 metres of the diapir, compared to further afield, and typically decrease upwards (with time) and laterally (with distance) from the diapir. Outputs are compared to a subsurface example from the Pierce field, UK North Sea, which highlights the importance of considering local fluctuations in diapir rise rate. These can create stratigraphic architectures that may erroneously be interpreted to represent ‘apparent’ increases/decreases in sedimentation rate. Exposed examples, such as the Bakio diapir, northern Spain, can be used to make inferences of the expected depositional facies, below model resolution. Our models aid prediction of sedimentary unit thickness and thinning rates, and can be used to test interpretations arising from incomplete or low-resolution subsurface and outcrop data when building geological models for subsurface energy.

The interactions between salt diapirs, thrust welds and thrusts in contractional belts are poorly understood due to, first, the inability of seismic data to distinguish between thrusts and welds or resolve associated sub-resolution deformation, and second, the paucity of good field examples. The Warraweena area in the Northern Flinders Ranges of South Australia contains examples of Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian squeezed diapirs linked by steep reverse faults formed during the Delamerian Orogeny. Benefiting from good field exposures, we use geological mapping, cross-section construction and conceptual structural models to assess the three-dimensional geometry and evolution of the structures, the lateral transition from diapirs to linking faults and the variability of associated meso- and small-scale deformation. Three discrete diapirs consist of narrow outcrops of Callanna Group megabreccia (Willouran in age) up to 5-km long. Their diapiric origin is confirmed by local development of caprock, steepening of flanking strata in composite halokinetic sequences and reworked diapir and roof debris in adjacent strata. The surrounding rocks display only background levels of small-scale deformation. In contrast, the linking faults show no evidence of precursor diapirism, have fault-related anticlines up to 100s of m in wavelength in their hanging walls, and an associated increase in small-scale deformation (i.e. millimetre to metre scale folds, fractures and shear fabrics). The transitions from diapirs to faults occur within less than 200 m as short thrust welds at the diapir terminations. The exposed structures are analogous to those found on the subsurface of other salt basins such as the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic conjugate margins. The results of this work can aid geoscientists evaluating three-way traps against squeezed diapirs, welds or faults, and can help them to predict the style and abundance of both halokinetic and small-scale structures that are below seismic resolution.

Many sedimentary basins host thick evaporite (salt) deposits. Some of these basins also host extensive igneous intrusion networks. It thus seems inevitable that, in some locations, magma will interact with salt. Yet how interaction between these materials may influence salt tectonics or magma emplacement, particularly at the basin-scale, remains poorly understood. We use 3D seismic reflection data from the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil to image 38 igneous intrusions spatially related to thick Aptian salt. Based on identified seismic–stratigraphic relationships, we suggest sill emplacement likely occurred during the late Albian-to-Santonian. We show intra-salt sills are geometrically similar to but laterally offset from supra-salt sills. We suggest ascending magma was arrested by the salt in some areas, but not others, perhaps due to differences in evaporite lithology. Our mapping also reveals most sills occur within and above the presalt Merluza Graben, an area characterized by Albian-to-Neogene, salt-detached extension. In adjacent areas, where there are few intrusions, salt deformation was driven by post-Santonian diapir rise. We suggest emplacement of hot magma within evaporites above the Merluza Graben enhanced Albian-to-Santonian salt movement, but that crystallization of the intrusion network restricted post-Santonian diapirism. Our work indicates salt–magma interaction can influence salt tectonics, as well as the distribution of magma plumbing systems, and thus could impact basin evolution.

[Abstract Subsidence analysis study for several Triassic carbonate platforms from the eastern Northern Calcareous Alps shows that salt expulsion allowed for the growth of thick isolated depocentres (>1.5 km) at rates faster than those tectonic subsidence alone can provide. Our results, in addition to independent regional geological evidence, argue against previous models of thick‐skinned extension controlling accommodation space. Differential sedimentary loading and stretching of the salt layer can explain the development of the Triassic isolated carbonate platforms in the Northern Calcareous Alps, with salt expulsion being proportional to the growth potential of the carbonate producers. Aside of topographic loads, early diageneses of carbonates allow for the density inversion between sediment and salt, with differential loading by carbonate aggradation leading to a self‐sustained feedback cycle of density‐driven and gradient load subsidence; stretching of the salt layer and extensional deformation of its overburden, as constrained by cross‐section restoration, also contributed to diapir initiation and salt expulsion. Our model can: (a) explain the occurrence of isolated Middle Triassic carbonate platforms in the eastern Northern Calcareous Alps, and (b) differentiate between accommodation space controlled by (local) salt expulsion and by (regional) tectonic subsidence. The Triassic Neo‐Tethys shelf of the studied area constituted therefore a salt wall and minibasin province. This contribution and methods herein can also be applied to other carbonate platform systems developed on salt basins, especially where the transition from rift to drift remains unclear., Subsidence and growth rates of the Triassic units compared to subsidence mechanisms based on Schlager (1981). The accumulation rate of stratigraphic units is displayed in comparison to the derived total subsidence curve. Two kinds of units can be individuated based on their total subsidence curves: one group for which accommodation space was driven by thermal subsidence, and a second group falling above the thermal subsidence curve, indicating subsidence rates requiring salt expulsion in addition to cooling. ]

Salt tectonics in the Eastern Persian Gulf (Iran) is linked to a unique salt‐bearing system involving two overlapping ‘autochthonous’ mobile source layers, the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian Hormuz Salt and the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene Fars Salt. Interpretations of reflection seismic profiles and sequential cross‐section restorations are presented to decipher the evolution of salt structures from the two source layers and their kinematic interaction on the style of salt flow. Seismic interpretations illustrate that the Hormuz and Fars salts started flowing in the Early Palaeozoic (likely Cambrian) and Early Miocene, respectively, shortly after their deposition. Differential sedimentary loading (downbuilding) and subsalt basement faults initiated and localized the flow of the Hormuz Salt and the related salt structures. The resultant diapirs grew by passive diapirism until Late Cretaceous, whereas the pillows became inactive during the Mesozoic after a progressive decline of growth in the Late Palaeozoic. The diapirs and pillows were then subjected to a Palaeocene–Eocene contractional deformation event, which squeezed the diapirs. The consequence was significant salt extrusion, leading to the development of allochthonous salt sheets and wings. Subsequent rise of the Hormuz Salt occurred in wider salt stocks and secondary salt walls by coeval passive diapirism and tectonic shortening since Late Oligocene. Evacuation and diapirism of the Fars Salt was driven mainly by differential sedimentary loading in annular and elongate minibasins overlying the salt and locally by downslope gliding around pre‐existing stocks of the Hormuz Salt. At earlier stages, the Fars Salt flowed not only towards the pre‐existing Hormuz stocks but also away from them to initiate ring‐like salt walls and anticlines around some of the stocks. Subsequently, once primary welds developed around these stocks, the Fars Salt flowed outwards to source the peripheral salt walls. Our results reveal that evolving pre‐existing salt structures from an older source layer have triggered the flow of a younger salt layer and controlled the resulting salt structures. This interaction complicates the flow direction of the younger salt layer, the geometry and spatial distribution of its structures, as well as minibasin depocentre migration through time. Even though dealing with a unique case of two ‘autochthonous’ mobile salt layers, this work may also provide constraints on our understanding of the kinematics of salt flow and diapirism in other salt basins having significant ‘allochthonous’ salt that is coevally affected by deformation of the deeper autochthonous salt layer and related structures.

The architecture of salt diapir-flank strata (i.e. halokinetic sequences) is controlled by the interplay between volumetric diapiric flux and sediment accumulation rate. Halokinetic sequences consist of unconformity-bounded packages of thinned and folded strata formed by drape-folding around passive diapirs. These sequences are described by two end-members: (i) hooks, which are characterized by narrow zones of folding ( 70°); and (ii) wedges, which are typified by broad zones of folding (300-1000 m) and low-angle truncations (

Mass‐transport complexes (MTCs) dominate the stratigraphic record of many salt‐influenced sedimentary basins. Commonly in such settings, halokinesis is invoked as a primary trigger for MTC emplacement, although the link between specific phases of salt movement, and related minibasin dynamics, remains unclear. Here, we use high‐quality 3D seismic reflection and well data to constrain the composition, geometry and distribution (in time and space) of six MTCs preserved in a salt‐confined, supra‐canopy minibasin in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and to assess how their emplacement relate to regional and local controls. We define three main tectono‐sedimentary phases in the development of the minibasin: (a) initial minibasin subsidence and passive diapirism, during which time deposition was dominated by relatively large‐volume MTCs (c. 25 km3) derived from the shelf‐edge or upper slope; (b) minibasin margin uplift and steepening, during which time small‐volume MTCs (c. 20 km3) derived from the shelf‐edge or upper slope were emplaced; and (c) active diapirism, during which time very small volume MTCs (c. 1 km3) were emplaced, locally derived from the diapir flanks or roofs. We present a generic model that emphasizes the dynamic nature of minibasin evolution, and how MTC emplacement relates to halokinetic sequence development. Although based on a single data‐rich case study, our model may be applicable to other MTC‐rich, salt‐influenced sedimentary basins.

Salt tectonics is an important part of the geological evolution of many continental margins, yet the four‐dimensional evolution of the minibasins, the fundamental building block of these and many other salt basins, remains poorly understood. Using high‐quality 3D seismic data from the Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola we document the long‐term (>70 Myr) dynamics of minibasin subsidence. We show that, during the Albian, a broadly tabular layer of carbonate was deposited prior to substantial salt flow, diapirism, and minibasin formation. We identify four subsequent stages of salt‐tectonics and related minibasin evolution: (i) thin‐skinned extension (Cenomanian to Coniacian) driven by basinward tilting of the salt layer, resulting in the formation of low‐displacement normal faults and related salt rollers. During this stage, local salt welding led to the along‐strike migration of fault‐bound depocentres; (ii) salt welding below the eastern part of the minibasin (Santonian to Paleocene), causing a westward shift in depocentre location; (iii) welding below the minibasin centre (Eocene to Oligocene), resulting in the formation of a turtle and an abrupt shift of depocentres towards the flanks of the bounding salt walls; and (iv) an eastward shift in depocentre location due to regional tilting, contraction, and diapir squeezing (Miocene to Holocene). Our study shows that salt welding and subsequent contraction are key controls on minibasin geometry, subsidence and stratigraphic patterns. In particular, we show how salt welding is a protracted process, spanning > 70 Myr of the salt‐tectonic history of this, and likely other salt‐rich basins. The progressive migration of minibasin depocentres, and the associated stratigraphic architecture, record weld dynamics. Our study has implications for the tectono‐stratigraphic evolution of minibasins. publishedVersion

The Dead Sea is an extensional basin developing along a transform fault plate boundary. It is also a terminal salt basin. Without knowledge of precise stratigraphy, it is difficult to differentiate between the role of plate and salt tectonics on sedimentary accumulation and deformation patterns. While the environmental conditions responsible for sediment supply are reasonably constrained by previous studies on the lake margins, the current study focuses on deciphering the detailed stratigraphy across the entire northern Dead Sea basin as well as syn and post‐depositional processes. The sedimentary architecture of the late Quaternary lacustrine succession was examined by integrating 851 km of seismic reflection data from three surveys with gamma ray and velocity logs and the stratigraphic division from an ICDP borehole cored in 2010. This allowed seismic interpretation to be anchored in time across the entire basin. Key surfaces were mapped based on borehole lithology and a newly constructed synthetic seismogram. Average interval velocities were used to calculate isopach maps and spatial and temporal sedimentation rates. Results show that the Amora Formation was deposited in a pre‐existing graben bounded by two N‐S trending longitudinal faults. Both faults remained active during deposition of the late Pleistocene Samra and Lisan Formations—the eastern fault continued to bound the basin while the western fault remained blind. On‐going plate motion introduced a third longitudinal fault, increasing accommodation space westwards from the onset of deposition of the Samra Formation. During accumulation of these two formations, sedimentation rates were uniform over the lake and similar. High lake levels caused an increase in hydrostatic pressure. This led to salt withdrawal, which flowed to the south and southwest causing increased uplift of the Lisan and En Gedi diapirs and the formation of localized salt rim synclines. This induced local seismicity and slumping, resulting in an increased thickness of the Lisan succession within the lake relative to its margins. Sedimentation rates of the Holocene Ze'elim Fm were 4–5 times higher than before. The analysis presented here resolves central questions of spatial extent and timing of lithology, deposition rates and their variability across the basin, timing of faulting at and below the lake floor, and timing and extent of salt and plate tectonic phases and their effect on syn and post‐depositional processes. Plate tectonics dictated the structure of the basin, while salt tectonics and sediment accumulation were primarily responsible for its fill architecture during the timeframe examined here.

Platform carbonates diagenesis in salt basins could be complex due to potential alterations of fluids related and non-related to diapirism. This paper presents the diagenetic history of the Hettangian to Pliensbachian platform carbonates from the Tazoult salt wall area (central High Atlas, Morocco). Low structural relief and outcrop conditions allowed to define the entire diagenetic evolution occurred in the High Atlas diapiric basins since early stages of the diapiric activity up to their tectonic inversion. Precipitation of dolomite and calcite from both warmed marine-derived and meteoric fluids characterised diagenetic stages during Pliensbachian, when the carbonate platforms were exposed and karstified. Burial diagenesis occurred from Toarcian to Middle Jurassic, due to changes of salt-induced dynamic related to increase in siliciclastic input, fast diapir rise and rapid burial of Pliensbachian platforms. During this stage, the diapir acted as a physical barrier for fluid circulation between the core and the flanking sediments. In the carbonates and breccias flanking the structures, dolomite and calcite precipitated from basinal brines, whereas carbonate slivers located in the core of the structure, were affected by the circulation of Mn-rich fluids. The final diagenetic event is characterised by the income of meteoric fluids into the system during uplift caused by Alpine orogeny. These results highlight the relevant influence of diapirism on the diagenetic modifications in salt-related basins in terms of diagenetic events and involved fluids. © 2019 The Authors. Basin Research © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists, This study is funded by Equinor Research Centre, Bergen (Norway), by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) through the process Intramural Especial (CSIC 201330E030), Alpimed (PIE‐CSIC‐201530E082), CSIC‐FSE 2007‐2013 JAE‐Doc postdoctoral research contract (E.S.), as well as the Group of Sedimentary research of the University of Barcelona (UB) (CGL 2015‐66335‐C2‐1‐R and SGR2017‐824).

Base-salt relief influences salt flow, producing three-dimensionally complex strains and multiphase deformation within the salt and its overburden. Understanding how base-salt relief influences salt-related deformation is important to correctly interpret salt basin kinematics and distribution of structural domains, which have important implications to understand the development of key petroleum system elements. The Sao Paulo Plateau, Santos Basin, Brazil is characterized by a >2 km thick, mechanically layered Aptian salt layer deposited above prominent base-salt relief. We use 3D seismic reflection data, and physical and conceptual kinematic models to investigate how gravity-driven translation above thick salt, underlain by complex base-salt relief, generated a complex framework of salt structures and minibasins. We show that ramp-syncline basins developed above and downdip of the main pre-salt highs record c. 30 km of Late Cretaceous-Paleocene basinward translation. As salt and overburden translated downdip, salt flux variations caused by the base-salt relief resulted in non-uniform motion of the cover, and the simultaneous development of extensional and contractional structures. Contraction preferentially occurred where salt flow locally decelerated, above landward-dipping base-salt ramps and downdip of basinward-dipping ramps. Extension occurred at the top of basinward-dipping ramps and base-salt plateaus, where salt flow locally accelerated. Where the base of the salt layer was broadly flat, structures evolved primarily by load-driven passive diapirism. At the edge of or around smaller base-salt highs, salt structures were affected by plan-view rotation, shearing and divergent flow. The magnitude of translation (c. 30 km) and the style of salt-related deformation observed on the Sao Paulo Plateau afford an improved kinematic model for the enigmatic Albian Gap, suggesting this structure formed by a combination of basinward salt expulsion and regional extension. These observations contribute to the long-lived debate regarding the mechanisms of salt tectonics on the Sao Paulo Plateau, ultimately improving our general understanding of the effects of base-salt relief on salt tectonics in other basins.

“Salt” giants are typically halite‐dominated, although they invariably contain other evaporite (e.g. anhydrite, bittern salts) and non‐evaporite (e.g. carbonate, clastic) rocks. Rheological differences between these rocks mean they impact or respond to rift‐related, upper crustal deformation in different ways. Our understanding of basin‐scale lithology variations in ancient salt giants, what controls this and how this impacts later rift‐related deformation, is poor, principally due to a lack of subsurface datasets of sufficiently regional extent. Here we use 2D seismic reflection and borehole data from offshore Norway to map compositional variations within the Zechstein Supergroup (ZSG) (Lopingian), relating this to the structural styles developed during Middle Jurassic‐to‐Early Cretaceous rifting. Based on the proportion of halite, we identify and map four intrasalt depositional zones (sensu Clark et al., Journal of the Geological Society, 1998, 155, 663) offshore Norway. We show that, at the basin margins, the ZSG is carbonate‐dominated, whereas towards the basin centre, it becomes increasingly halite‐dominated, a trend observed in the UK sector of the North Sea Basin and in other ancient salt giants. However, we also document abrupt, large magnitude compositional and thickness variations adjacent to large, intra‐basin normal faults; for example, thin, carbonate‐dominated successions occur on fault‐bounded footwall highs, whereas thick, halite‐dominated successions occur only a few kilometres away in adjacent depocentres. It is presently unclear if this variability reflects variations in syn‐depositional relief related to flooding of an underfilled presalt (Early Permian) rift or syn‐depositional (Lopingian) rift‐related faulting. Irrespective of the underlying controls, variations in salt composition and thickness influenced the Middle Jurassic‐to‐Early Cretaceous rift structural style, with diapirism characterising hangingwall basins where autochthonous salt was thick and halite‐rich and salt‐detached normal faulting occurring on the basin margins and on intra‐basin structural highs where the salt was too thin and/or halite‐poor to undergo diapirism. This variability is currently not captured by existing tectono‐stratigraphic models largely based on observations from salt‐free rifts and, we argue, mapping of suprasalt structural styles may provide insights into salt composition and thickness in areas where boreholes are lacking or seismic imaging is poor.

In this paper, a literature‐based compilation of the timing and history of salt tectonics in the Southern Permian Basin (Central Europe) is presented. The tectono‐stratigraphic evolution of the Southern Permian Basin is influenced by salt movement and the structural development of various types of salt structures. The compilation presented here was used to characterize the following syndepositional growth stages of the salt structures: (a) “phase of initiation”; (b) phase of fastest growth (“main activity”); and (c) phase of burial’. We have also mapped the spatial pattern of potential mechanisms that triggered the initiation of salt structures over the area studied and summarized them for distinct regions (sub‐basins, platforms, etc.). The data base compiled and the set of maps produced from it provide a detailed overview of the spatial and temporal distribution of salt tectonic activity enabling the correlation of tectonic phases between specific regions of the entire Southern Permian Basin. Accordingly, salt movements were initiated in deeply subsided graben structures and fault zones during the Early and Middle Triassic. In these areas, salt structures reached their phase of main activity already during the Late Triassic or the Jurassic and were mostly buried during the Early Cretaceous. Salt structures in less subsided sub‐basins and platform regions of the Southern Permian Basin mostly started to grow during the Late Triassic. The subsequent phase of main activity of these salt structures took place from the Late Cretaceous to the Cenozoic. The analysis of the trigger mechanisms revealed that most salt structures were initiated by large‐offset normal faults in the sub‐salt basement in the large graben structures and minor normal faulting associated with thin‐skinned extension in the less subsided basin parts.

Differentiating compressional growth strata from halokinetic sequences is not straightforward in foreland fold-and-thrust belts where compressional and diapiric processes were coeval. Although there are numerous studies on the role of salt layers in fold-and-thrust belts, very few focus on syntectonic evaporites where they are thick enough to develop diapirism. The tectonic structures of the northern Dezful Embayment, along the footwall of the Zagros Mountain Front Fault, show a complex evolution interpreted in this study by the concurrence of folding, thrusting and pre- and syn-shortening diapirism of the lower Miocene Gachsaran evaporites. We explore this tectonic-diapiric-sedimentary interplay by combining field studies and remote-sensing mapping, detailed stratigraphy and sedimentology, high-quality seismic data, and step-by-step balanced tectono-sedimentary restorations. Initial diapirism occurred soon after the deposition of at least 1.5 km thick Miocene Gachsaran evaporites during the sedimentation of up to 5 km thick Aghajari, Lahbari and Bakhtyari formations, which display syntectonic mixed growth strata and halokinetic sequences. These sedimentary sequences filled salt-related minibasins, from which the Azanak Minibasin is the deepest, limited by growing salt walls and salt anticlines (Azanak thrust-weld and the Saland-Lali anticline). Palaeocurrents and clasts compositions document fluvial diversions and exposure and erosion of Gachsaran evaporites along the active salt walls. Although, by further shortening, the precursor salt walls squeezed and reactivated as thrust-welds structuring a duplex of overriding minibasins. During the deposition of the middle-late Miocene Aghajari Formation, Kazhdumi and Pabdeh source rocks were buried to oil-expulsion depths, and Sarvak and Asmari reservoirs were mildly folded in large and open anticlines. The Gachsaran system in the northern Dezful Embayment is collated with the structures of preshortening Hormuz salt and syn-shortening Fars salt to highlight the important role of these ductile units in the tectonic evolution of the Zagros fold belt that is compared to syn-compressional salt-related Pyrenees, Carpathians, Sivas and Kuga fold belts., This research was funded by a partnership between the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan, Iran, and the Group of Dynamics of the Lithosphere (GDL), Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera, ICTJA-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain, as well as by the ALPIMED (PIE-CSIC-201530E082) project.

Analysis of current temperature data in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago results in the recognition of two major thermal regimes. High temperature regions are observed where salt diapirs and salt cored anticlines are present. Low temperature fields are observed along the western and southern basin margins and around Cornwall-Amund Ringnes islands, where regional Mesozoic aquifers are exposed to surface, connected to basin boundary faults, or regional unconformities. Meteoric and Holocene sub-glacial water recharge are inferred to be responsible for the low geothermal regime and low formation water salinity. Neither exhumation associated with the Eocene “Eurekan” orogeny nor volcanic intrusion associated with opening of Amerasia Basin in late Jurassic-early Cretaceous have been interpreted to be a significant influence on the present day temperature field, although thermal indicators show evidence of elevated thermal alteration of organic matter pointing to earlier, but now dissipated, thermal anomalies.

et. al., The subsidence evolution of the Tethyan Moroccan Atlas Basin, presently inverted as the Central High Atlas, is characterized by an Early Jurassic rifting episode, synchronous with salt diapirism of the Triassic evaporite-bearing rocks. Two contrasting regions of the rift basin – with and without salt diapirism – are examined to assess the effect of salt tectonics in the evolution of subsidence patterns and stratigraphy. The Djebel Bou Dahar platform to basin system, located in the southern margin of the Atlas Basin, shows a Lower Jurassic record of normal faulting and lacks any evidence of salt diapirism. In contrast, the Tazoult ridge and adjacent Amezraï basin, located in the centre of the Atlas Basin, reveals spectacular Early Jurassic diapirism. In addition, we analyse alternative Central High Atlas post-Middle Jurassic geohistories based on new thermal and burial models (GENEX® 4.0.3 software), constrained by new vitrinite reflectance data from the Amezraï basin. The comparison of the new subsidence curves from the studied areas with published subsidence curves from the Moroccan Atlas, the Saharan Atlas (Algeria) and Tunisian Atlas show that fast subsidence peaks were diachronous along the strike, being younger towards the east from Early–Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. This analysis also evidences a close relationship between these high subsidence rate episodes and salt diapirism., This study was part of a collaborative research project funded by Statoil Research Centre, Bergen (Norway) and by the CSIC-FSE 2007-2013 JAE-Doc post-doctoral research contract (E.S.). The Spanish Ministry of Education and Science provided additional funding (MEC) through the projects Intramural Especial (CSIC 201330E030) and MITE (CGL 2014-59516). This research was supported by the Grup Consolidat de Recerca “Geologia Sediment aria” de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2014GSR251)., Preprint

Studies of salt-influenced rift basins have focused on individual or basin-scale fault system and/or salt-related structure. In contrast, the large-scale rift structure, namely rift segments and rift accommodation zones and the role of pre-rift tectonics in controlling structural style and syn-rift basin evolution has received less attention. The Norwegian Central Graben, comprises a complex network of sub-salt normal faults and pre-rift salt-related structures that together influenced the structural style and evolution of the Late Jurassic rift. Beneath the halite-rich, Permian Zechstein Supergroup, the rift can be divided into two major rift segments, each comprising rift margin and rift axis domains, separated by a rift-wide accommodation zone - the Steinbit Accommodation Zone. Sub-salt normal faults in the rift segments are generally larger, in terms of fault throw, length and spacing, than those in the accommodation zone. The pre-rift structure varies laterally from sheet-like units, with limited salt tectonics, through domains characterised by isolated salt diapirs, to a network of elongate salt walls with intervening minibasins. Analysis of the interactions between the sub-salt normal fault network and the pre-rift salt-related structures reveals six types of syn-rift depocentres. Increasing the throw and spacing of sub-salt normal faults from rift segment to rift accommodation zone generally leads to simpler half-graben geometries and an increase in the size and thickness of syn-rift depocentres. In contrast, more complex pre-rift salt tectonics increases the mechanical heterogeneity of the pre-rift, leading to increased complexity of structural style. Along the rift margin, syn-rift depocentres occur as interpods above salt walls and are generally unrelated to the relatively minor sub-salt normal faults in this structural domain. Along the rift axis, deformation associated with large sub-salt normal faults created coupled and decoupled supra-salt faults. Tilting of the hanging wall associated with growth of the large normal fauls along the rift axis also promoted thin-skinned gravity driven deformation leading to a range of extensional and compressional structures affecting the syn-rift interval. The Steinbit Accommodation Zone contains rift-related structural styles that encompass elements seen along both the rift margin and axis. The wide variability in structural style and evolution of syn-rift depocentres recognized in this study has implications for the geomorphological evolution of rifts, sediment routing systems and stratigraphic evolution in rifts that contain pre-rift salt units. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Salt canopies are present in many of the worldwide large salt basins and are key players in the basins’ structural evolution as well as in the development of associated hydrocarbon systems. This study employs 2D finite-element models which incorporate the dynamical interaction of viscous salt and frictional-plastic sediments in a gravity-spreading system. We investigate the general emplacement of salt canopies that form in the centre of a large, autochthonous salt basin. This is motivated by the potential application to a mid-basin canopy in the NW Gulf of Mexico (GoM) that developed in the late Eocene. Three different salt expulsion and canopy formation concepts that have been proposed in the salt-tectonic literature for the GoM are tested. Two of these mechanisms require pre-existing diapirs as precursory structures. We include their evolution in the models to assure a continuous, smooth evolution of the salt-sediment system. The most efficient canopy formation takes place under the squeezed diapir mechanism. Here, shortening of a region containing pre-existing diapirs is absorbed by the salt (the weakest part of the system), which is then expelled onto the seafloor. The expulsion rollover mechanism, which evacuates salt from beneath evolving rollover structures and expels it both laterally and to the surface, was not successfully captured by the numerical models. No rollover structures developed and only minor amounts of allochthonous salt emerged to the seafloor. The breached anticline mechanism requires substantial shortening of salt-cored, pre-weakened folds such that the salt breaches the anticlines and is expelled to the seafloor. The amount of shortening may be too large to occur in the central part of a salt basin, but may explain canopy evolution closer to the distal end of the allochthonous salt. When applying the different concepts to the northwestern GoM, none of the models adequately describes the entire system, yet the squeezed diapir mechanism captures most structural features of the Eocene paleocanopy. It is nevertheless possible that different mechanisms have acted in combination or sequentially in the northwestern GoM.

This integrated study (field observations, micropalaeontology, magnetostratigraphy, geochemistry, borehole data and seismic profiles) of the Messinian–Zanclean deposits on Zakynthos Island (Ionian Sea) focuses on the sedimentary succession recording the pre‐evaporitic phase of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) through the re‐establishment of the marine conditions in a transitional area between the eastern and the western Mediterranean. Two intervals are distinguished through the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the pre‐evaporitic Messinian in Kalamaki: (a) 6.45–6.122 Ma and (b) 6.122–5.97 Ma. Both the planktonic foraminifer and the fish assemblages indicate a cooling phase punctuated by hypersalinity episodes at around 6.05 Ma. Two evaporite units are recognized and associated with the tectonic evolution of the Kalamaki–Argassi area. The Primary Lower Gypsum (PLG) unit was deposited during the first MSC stage (5.971–5.60 Ma) in late‐Messinian marginal basins within the pre‐Apulian foreland basin and in the wedge‐top (

Loading of subsurface salt during accumulation of fluvial strata can result in halokinesis and the growth of salt pillows, walls and diapirs. Such movement may eventually result in the formation of salt-walled mini-basins, whose style of architectural infill may be used to infer both the relative rates of salt-wall growth and sedimentation and the nature of the fluvial-system response to salt movement. The Salt Anticline Region of the Paradox Basin of SE Utah comprises a series of elongate saltwalled mini-basins, arranged in a NW-trending array. The bulk of salt movement occurred during deposition of the Permian Cutler Group, a wedge of predominantly quartzo-feldspathic clastic strata comprising sediment derived from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the NE. The sedimentary architecture of selected mini-basin fills has been determined at high resolution through outcrop study. Minibasin centres are characterized by multi-storey fluvial channel elements arranged into stacked channel complexes, with only limited preservation of overbank elements. At mini-basin margins, thick successions of fluvial overbank and sheet-like elements dominate in rim-syncline depocentres adjacent to salt walls; many such accumulations are unconformably overlain by single-storey fluvial channel elements that accumulated during episodes of salt-wall breaching. The absence of gypsum clasts suggests that sediment influx was high, preventing syn-sedimentary surface exposure of salt. Instead, fluvial breaching of salt-generated topography reworked previously deposited sediments of the Cutler Group atop growing salt walls. Palaeocurrent data indicate that fluvial palaeoflow to the SW early in the history of basin infill was subsequently diverted to theWand ultimately to the NW as the salt walls grew to form topographic barriers. Late-stage retreat of the Cutler fluvial system coincided with construction and accumulation of an aeolian system, recording a period of heightened climatic aridity. Aeolian sediments are preserved in the lees of some salt walls, demonstrating that halokinesis played a complex role in the differential trapping of sediment.

However salt has a viscous rheology, overburden rocks adjacent to salt diapirs have a brittle rheology. Evidence of deformation within the overburden has been described from diapirs worldwide. Gravity-driven deposits are also present along the flanks of several diapirs. The well-known example from the La Popa Basin in northern Mexico shows that such deposits may be organized into halokinetic sequences. This leads to several questions: (i) How does diapir growth contribute to overburden deformation? (ii) Are halokinetic sequence models valid for other areas beyond the La Popa Basin. The Bakio diapir and its well-exposed overburden in Basque Country, Spain provides key elements to address these questions. The Bakio diapir consists of Triassic red clays and gypsum and is flanked by synkinematic middle to upper Albian units that thin towards the diapir. The elongate diapir parallels the Gaztelugatxe normal fault to the NE: both strike NE-SW and probably formed together during the middle Albian, as synkinematic units onlap the fault scarp. The diapir is interpreted as a reactive diapir in response to middle Albian motion on the Gaztelugatxe fault. The rate of salt rise is estimated to be about 500mMyr(-1) during this passive stage. During Late Albian, the diapir evolved passively as the Gaztelugatxe fault became inactive. Synkinematic units thinning towards the diapir, major unconformities, slumps and other gravity-driven deposits demonstrate that most deformation related to diapir growth occurred at the sea floor. Halokinetic sequences composed of alternating breccias and fine-grained turbidites recorded cyclic episodes of diapir flank destabilization. This work provides insights into drape fold and halokinetic sequence models and offers a new simple method for estimating rates of diapir growth. This method may be useful for outcrop studies where biostratigraphical data are available and for other passive diapirs worldwide.

Allochthonous salt structures and associated primary and secondary minibasins are exposed in Neoproterozoic strata of the eastern Willouran Ranges, South Australia. Detailed geologic mapping using high-quality airborne hyperspectral remote-sensing data and satellite imagery, combined with a qualitative structural restoration, are used to elucidate the evolution of this complex, long-lived (>250 Myr) salt system. Field observations and interpretations at a resolution unobtainable from seismic or well data provide a means to test published models of allochthonous salt emplacement and associated salt-sediment interaction derived from subsurface data in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Salt diapirs and sheets are represented by megabreccias of nonevaporite lithologies that were originally interbedded with evaporites that have been dissolved and/or altered. Passive diapirism began shortly after deposition of the Callanna Group layered evaporite sequence. A primary basin containing an expulsion-rollover structure and megaflap is flanked by two vertical diapirs. Salt flowed laterally from the diapirs to form a complex, multi-level canopy, now partly welded, containing an encapsulated minibasin and capped by suprasalt basins. Salt and minibasin geometries were modified during the Late Cambrian–Ordovician Delamerian Orogeny (ca. 500 Ma). Small-scale structures such as subsalt shear zones, fractured or mixed ‘rubble zones’ and thrust imbricates are absent beneath allochthonous salt and welds in the eastern Willouran Ranges. Instead, either undeformed strata or halokinetic drape folds that include preserved diapir roof strata are found directly below the transition from steep diapirs to salt sheets. Allochthonous salt first broke through the diapir roofs and then flowed laterally, resulting in variable preservation of the subsalt drape folds. Lateral salt emplacement was presumably on roof-edge thrusts or, because of the shallow depositional environment, via open-toed advance or extrusive advance, but without associated subsalt deformation.

We used seven scaled physical models to explore the near-surface structural evolution of shallowly buried, actively rising salt stocks. The models consisted of dry sand, ceramic microspheres and silicone. Previously dormant stocks rose because of lateral squeezing or pumping of salt from below. The pressure of rising salt created a dynamic bulge in the crest of the diapir, which arched the overlying roof sediments. Eventually this dynamic bulge collapsed and its overlying roof broke into rafts along subradial grabens. The rafts were dispersed outwards by shear traction of spreading salt, surmounting an upturned collar of country rock and eventually grounding at the front of the extrusive flow. Flow of salt around these stranded fragments created a lobate extrusion front, common in submarine salt sheets in the Gulf of Mexico and subaerial salt glaciers in Iran. Stock geometry, regional dip and roof density affected extrusion rates and spreading directions. Stocks leaning seaward extruded salt faster and farther than did upright stocks. Dense roofs foundered and plugged the vent, limiting surface extrusion. In tilted models, broad salt sheets spread asymmetrically downslope. Stock contents were inverted within the extruded salt sheet: successively deeper parts of the stock’s core rose to the surface and overran salt extruded from the shallower parts of the diapir. As shortening continued, salt from the source layer reached the surface after being driven out by thrusting. A central thrust block, or primary indenter, moved ahead of surrounding thrust blocks, impinging against and squeezing the stock into an elliptical planform. After high shortening, secondary indenters converged obliquely into the salt stock, expelling salt from the periphery of the diapir. The models shed light on (1) the origin and fate of large rafts or carapace blocks atop allochthonous salt, (2) cuspate margins of salt sheets and (3) interaction of thrusting, diapir pinch-off and emplacement of allochthonous salt sheets.

Axel Heiberg Island (Arctic Archipelago, northern Nunavut, Canada) contains the thickest Mesozoic section in Sverdrup Basin (11 km). The ca. 370‐km‐long island is second only to Iran in its concentration of exposed evaporite diapirs. Forty‐six diapirs of Carboniferous evaporites and associated minibasins are excellently exposed on the island. Regional anticlines, which formed during Paleogene Eurekan orogeny, trend roughly north on a regular ca. 20‐km wavelength and probably detach on autochthonous Carboniferous Otto Fiord Formation evaporites comprising halite overlain by thick anhydrite. In contrast, a 60‐km‐wide area, known as the wall‐and‐basin structure (WABS) province, has bimodal fold trends and irregular (

Regionally extensive 3D seismic data from the Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola, have been used to investigate the influence of salt-related structures on the location, geometry and evolution of Miocene deep-water depositional systems. Isochron variations and cross-sectional lap-out relationships have then been used to qualitatively reconstruct the syn-depositional morphology of salt-cored structures. Coherence and Red-green-blue-blended spectral decomposition volumes, tied to cross-sectional seismic facies, allow imaging of the main sediment transport pathways and the distribution of their component seismic facies. Major sediment transport pathways developed in an area of complex salt-related structures comprising normal faults, isolated diapirs and elongate salt walls with intervening intraslope basins. Key structural controls on the location of the main sediment transport pathways and the local interaction between lobe-channel-levee systems and individual structures were the length and height of structures, the location and geometry of segment boundaries, the growth and linkage of individual structures, and the incidence angle between structural strike and flow direction. Where the regional flow direction was at a high angle to structural strike, transport pathways passed progressively through multiple intraslope basins in a fill and spill manner. Segment boundaries and structural lows between diapirs acted as spill points, focusing sediment transport between intraslope basins. Channel–lobe transitions are commonly associated with these spill points, where flows expanded and entered depocentres. Deflection of channel-levee complexes around individual structures was mainly controlled by the length of structures and incidence angle. Where regional flow direction was at a low angle to structural strike, sediment transport pathways ran parallel to structure and were confined to individual intraslope basins for many tens of kilometres. Spill between intraslope basins was rare. The relative position of structures and their segment boundaries was fixed during the Miocene, which effectively pinned the locations where sediment spilled from one intraslope basin to the next. As a result, major sediment transport pathways were used repeatedly, giving rise to vertically stacked lobe-channel-levee complexes along the pathways. Shadow zones devoid of coarse clastics developed in areas that were either structurally isolated from the sediment transport pathways or bypassed as a result of channel diversion.

The Helmstedt-Stasfurt salt wall is 70 km long, 6–8 km wide and one of the most important diapiric structures in northern Germany, based on the economically significant lignite-bearing rim synclines. The analysed Scho¨ningen rim syncline, located on the southwestern side of the Helmstedt- Stasfurt structure, is 8 km long and 3 km wide. The basin-fill is up to 366 m thick and characterized by 13 major lignite seams with thicknesses between 0.1 and 30 m. The key objectives of this article were to expand on the classical cross-section based rim syncline analysis by the use of 3D models and basin simulations. Cross-sections perpendicular to the basin axis indicate that the basin-fill has a pronounced lenticular shape. This shape varies from more symmetric in the NW to clearly asymmetric in the SE. Isopach maps imply a two-fold depocentre evolution. The depocentre migrated over time towards the salt wall and also showed some distinct shifts parallel to the salt wall. The basin modelling part of the study was carried out with the software PetroMod®, which focused on the burial history of the rim syncline. Modelling results also show the progressive migration of the rim syncline depocentre towards the salt wall. The present-day asymmetry of the basin-fill was already developed in the early phases of rim syncline evolution. The extracted geohistory curve shows initial rapid subsidence between 57 and 50 Ma and more moderate subsidence from 50 to 34 Ma. This pattern is interpreted to reflect salt evacuation from the source layer into the salt wall. The initial salt-withdrawal rate was rapid, but later decreased probably due to depletion of the source layer.

The synkinematic strata of the Kuqa foreland basin record a rich history of Cenozoic reactivation of the Palaeozoic Tian Shan mountain belt. Here, we present new constraints on the history of deformation in the southern Tian Shan, based on an analysis of interactions between tectonics and sedimentation in the western Kuqa basin. We constructed six balanced cross‐sections of the basin, integrating surface geology, well data and a grid of seismic reflection profiles. These profiles show that the Qiulitage fold belt on the southern edge of the Kuqa basin developed by thin‐skinned compression salt tectonics. The structural styles have been influenced by two major factors: the nature of early‐formed diapirs and the basinward depositional limit of the Kumugeliemu salt. Several early diapirs developed in the western Kuqa basin, soon after salt deposition, which acted to localize the subsequent shortening. Where diapirs had low relief and a thick overburden they tended to tighten into salt domes 3000–7000 m in height. Conversely, where the original diapirs had higher relief and a thinner overburden they tended to evolve into salt nappes, with the northern flanks of the diapirs thrusting over their southern flanks. Salt was expelled forward, up dip along the mother salt layer, tended to accumulate at the distal pinch‐out of Kumugeliemu salt located at the Qiulitage fold belt. Furthermore, the synkinematic strata (6–8 km thick) of the Kuqa basin indicate that during the Cenozoic reactivation of the Tian Shan, shortening of the western Kuqa basin was mainly in the hinterland until the early Miocene. Then, compression spread simultaneously southwards to the Dawanqi anticline, the Qiulitage fold belt and the southernmost blind detachment fold at the end of Miocene. The western Kuqa basin has a shortening of ca. 23 km. We consider that ca. 9 km was consumed from the end of the Miocene (5.2/5.8 Ma) to the early Pleistocene (2.58 Ma) and another ca. 14 km have been absorbed since then. Thus, we obtain a ca. 3.4/2.8 mm year−1 average shortening from 5.2/5.8 to 2.58 Ma, followed by a 60–90% increase in average shortening rate to ca. 5.4 mm year−1 since 2.58 Ma. This suggests that the reactivation of the modern Tian Shan has been accelerating up to the present day.

The Permo-Carboniferous to Eocene Sverdrup Basin in Canada's Arctic Archipelago is strongly influenced by evaporite diapirism. However, salt structures within the basin have not been extensively investigated recently due to their remote location. This study includes the interpretation of legacy seismic reflection and borehole data to characterize the geometry of selected evaporite domes, and 1D backstripping of wells to investigate tectonic and sedimentary influences on diapirism. Extensional rift-structures appear to have played a significant role in the formation of evaporite domes by triggering and directing salt movement. Diapirism was initiated by at least the Middle Triassic and continued to develop during the Mesozoic. Differential loading of salt on opposing east–west dome margins led to their present day asymmetric geometries. Diapir growth rates in the Mesozoic were closely linked to the rate of sedimentation and influenced by regional tectonism.

The Astrakhan Arch (ASAR) region contains one of the largest sub-salt carbonate structures of the Pricaspian salt basin (located to the northwest of the Caspian Sea), where prospects for hydrocarbon generation and accumulation in the Devonian to Carboniferous deposits are considered to be high. We evaluate the regional vertical temperature gradient within stratigraphic units based on the analysis of 34 boreholes drilled in the region. To show that the thermal gradient is altered in the vicinity of salt diapirs, we study measured temperatures in six deep boreholes. We develop a three-dimensional geothermal model of the ASAR region constrained by temperature measurements, seismic stratigraphic and lithological data. The temperatures of the sub-salt sediments predicted by the geothermal model range from about 100 °C to 200 °C and are consistent with the temperatures obtained from the analysis of vitrinite reflectivity and from previous two-dimensional geothermal models. Temperature anomalies are positive in the uppermost portions of salt diapirs as well as within the salt-withdrawal basins at the depth of 3.5 km depth and are negative beneath the diapirs. Two areas of positive temperature anomalies in the sub-salt sediments are likely to be associated with the deep withdrawal basins above and with the general uplift of salt/sub-salt interface in the southern part of the study region. This implies an enhancement of thermal maturity of any organically rich source rocks within these areas. The surface heat flux in the model varies laterally from about 40 to 55 mW m−2. These variations in the heat flux are likely to be associated with structural heterogeneities of the sedimentary rocks and with the presence of salt diapirs. The results of our modelling support the hypothesis of oil and gas condensate generation in the Upper Carboniferous to Middle Devonian sediments of the ASAR region.

The Selandien [58Ma (PP3c-d)] Tyr sand in the Nini area, Siri Fairway, Danish North Sea, is severely influenced by the syn-depositional movement of the Nini Salt Diapir. The sand is faulted and remobilized into a degree where no original depositional signature can be recognized. The Tyr sand is drilled (and cored) by a number of wells, and the sand is never found in the same stratigraphic position. In some wells, the Tyr sand is injected down into the chalk of the Danian Ekofisk Formation, whereas other wells show the Tyr sand embedded in the Selandien Vile Member claystone, with varying degree of remobilization. The Tyr sand is thin (2-7 m) and is therefore below seismic resolution and close to seismic detection. Standard reflection seismic data has proven problematic in determining the actual thickness and spatial distribution of the thin Tyr sand located within or immediately above the chalk. A simultaneous AVO (amplitude vs. offset) inversion using time-aligned angle stack seismic data, has improved resolution of the thin and complex reservoir, allowing a better understanding of the remobilization processes occurring above the rising salt diapir, and thereby an improved understanding of the reservoir and its performance. Three different remobilization features are described: injection into the chalk, injection up along fault planes and compactional driven injection. The force for the remobilization spans in orders of magnitude from metre scale phenomena, to injections of 100s of metres, moving millions of tons of material and fluids.

In the northern Calabrian margin offshore, the Paola Ridge, seaward from the 700 m deep Paola intraslope basin, tops at a depth of around 600 m. Multibeam bathymetry, seafloor reflectivity and seismic data are available. The Paola Ridge consists of circular or elongated ridges cored by a transparent seismic facies that are interpreted as mud diapirs. The diapirs have radius in the order of 5 km and elevate on average 200 m from the adjacent seafloor. The elongated shape of the diapirs is an evidence of a tectonic influence on the pathways exploited by the rising structures. The most recent seismic unit drapes the topographic relief associated with the diapirs showing that diapir rise is at present mainly quiescent. Pockmarks fields and evidence of gas charged sediments are due to degassing from the inactive diapirs. Two mud volcanoes, shown by high backscatter mud flows fed from circular high backscatter areas centred by a collapse feature, are also present on top of one of the dormant diapirs. The only diapir that is actively rising and deforming the seafloor is not associated with pockmarks. Thus, a relationship between fluid expulsion from the diapiric mass and the arrest of the diapir rise is apparent. The increased seafloor steepness due to diapir rise and the presence of gas within the sedimentary succession promotes sediment instability as shown by a thick slump deposit and numerous mass-wasting scars. Sometimes, the diapirs rise in coincidence with extensional faults that offset the Messinian evaporites. The mud remobilization structures are located along a NW-SE trending belt characterized by active extensional faulting. Hence, genetic processes similar to many of the mud diapir and volcano provinces of the Mediterranean, consisting of pre-Messinian source rocks mobilized along discrete belts of active tectonic deformation, is advanced as controlling the setting of the study area.

Subsurface sediment remobilization and fluid flow processes and their products are increasingly being recognized as significant dynamic components of sedimentary basins. The geological structures formed by these processes have traditionally been grouped into mudvolcano systems, fluid flow pipes and sandstone intrusion complexes. But the boundaries between these groups are not always distinct because there can be similarities in their geometries and the causal geological processes. For instance, the process model for both mud and sand remobilization and injection involves a source of fluid that can be separate from the source of sediment, and diapirism is now largely discarded as a deformation mechanism for both lithologies. Both mud and sand form dykes and sills in the subsurface and extrusive edifices when intersecting the sediment surface, although the relative proportions of intrusive and extrusive components are very different, with mud volcano systems being largely extrusive and sand injectite systems being mainly intrusive. Focused fluid flow pipes may transfer fluids over hundreds of metres of vertical section for millions of years and may develop into mud volcano feeder systems under conditions of sufficiently voluminous and rapid fluid ascent associated with deeper focus points and overpressured aquifers. Both mud and sand remobilization is facilitated by overpressure and generally will be activated by an external trigger such as an earthquake, although some mud volcano systems may be driven by the recharge dynamics of their fluid source. Future research should aim to provide spatio-temporal \\\\\\\'injectite\\\\\\\' stratigraphies to help constrain sediment remobilization processes in their basinal context and identify and study outcrop analogues of mud volcano feeders and pipes, which are virtually unknown at present. Further data-driven research would be significantly boosted by numerical and analogue process modelling to constrain the mechanics of deep subsurface sediment remobilization as these processes can not be readily observed, unlike many conventional sediment transport phenomena.

This paper discusses the origin and the dynamics of subsurface sediment mobilization processes in tectonically mobile regions and shale-rich environment. This is illustrated by the example of Trinidad and the south of the Barbados prism. In this area of the southeast Caribbean, geophysical acquisitions have spectacularly shown the widespread development of sediment mobilization features in the interference area between the southern part of the Barbados prism and the active turbidite system of the Orinoco. Numerous mud volcanoes are especially developed along ramp anticline crests through hydraulic fracture systems. The area also exhibits trends of structures that correspond to massive uplifts of well-preserved turbidite and hemipelagic sediments that cut up the surrounding sediments. Some of these structures are complicated by the development of collapse structures, calderas and superimposed mud volcanoes. The mobilized sediments expelled by the mud volcanoes are not only liquefied argillaceous but also fine sandy material from deep horizons, and various shallower formations pierced by the mud conduits. Both in the Barbados prism and inTrinidad, the expelled mud is rich in thin, angular and mechanically damaged quartz grains, which are probably cataclastic flows issued from sheared and collapsed deep sandy reservoirs. The exotic clasts and breccias result mostly from hydraulic fracturing. In Trinidad, the gas phase is mainly deep thermogenic methane associated with hydrocarbon generation at depth. Subsurface sediment mobilization notably differs from salt mobilization by the role taken by the fluid dynamics that control overpressured shale mobilization and induce sediment liquefaction. A reaction chain of several deformation processes develops around the conduits. Massive sedimentary uplift corresponds to large movements of stratified solid levels, possibly due to the tectonic inversion of pre-existing mud volcano systems. All these phenomena are controlled by the development of overpressure at depth. No evidence for piercing shale diapirs has been observed in the area studied.

We present results from interpretation of a 3D seismic data set, located within the NW German sedimentary basin, as part of the Southern Permian Basin. We focused on the development of faults, the timing of deformation, the amount of displacement during multiphase deformation, strain partitioning, and the interaction between salt movements and faulting. We recognised the central fault zone of the study area to be the Aller-lineament, an important NW-trending fault zone within the superimposed Central European Basin System. From structural and sedimentological interpretations we derived the following evolution: (1) E–W extension during Permian rifting, (2) N–S extension within cover sediments, and E–W transtension affecting both basement and cover, contemporaneously during Late Triassic and Jurassic, (3) regional subsidence of the Lower Saxony Basin during Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous, (4) N–S compression within cover sediments, and E–W transpression affecting both basement and cover, contemporaneously during Late Cretaceous/Early Tertiary inversion and (5) major subsidence and salt diapir rise during the Cenozoic. We suggest that the heterogeneity in distribution and timing of deformation in the working area was controlled by pre-existing faults and variations in salt thickness, which led to stress perturbations and therefore local strain partitioning. We observed coupling and decoupling between pre- and post-Zechstein salt units: in decoupled areas deformation occurred only within post-salt units, whereas in coupled areas deformation occurred in both post- and pre-salt units, and is characterised by strike-slip faulting.

We investigate the evolution of passive continental margin sedimentary basins that contain salt through two-dimensional (2D) analytical failure analysis and plane-strain finite-element modelling. We expand an earlier analytical failure analysis of a sedimentary basin/salt system at a passive continental margin to include the effects of submarine water loading and pore fluid pressure. Seaward thinning sediments above a weak salt layer produce a pressure gradient that induces Poiseuille flow in the viscous salt. We determine the circumstances under which failure at the head and toe of the frictional–plastic sediment wedge occurs, resulting in translation of the wedge, landward extension and seaward contraction, accompanied by Couette flow in the underlying salt. The effects of water: (i) increase solid and fluid pressures in the sediments; (ii) reduce the head to toe differential pressure in the salt and (iii) act as a buttress to oppose failure and translation of the sediment wedge. The magnitude of the translation velocity upon failure is reduced by the effects of water. The subsequent deformation is investigated using a 2D finite-element model that includes the effects of the submarine setting and hydrostatic pore pressures. The model quantitatively simulates a 2D approximation of the evolution of natural sedimentary basins on continental margins that are formed above salt. Sediment progradation above a viscous salt layer results in formation of landward extensional basins and listric normal growth faults as well as seaward contraction. At a later stage, an allochthonous salt nappe overthrusts the autochthonous limit of the salt. The nature and distribution of major structures depends on the sediment properties and the sedimentation pattern. Strain weakening of sediment favours landward listric growth faults with formation of asymmetric extensional depocentres. Episodes of low sediment influx, with partial infill of depocentres, produce local pressure gradients in the salt that result in diapirism. Diapirs grow passively during sediment aggradation.

Data acquired from petroleum exploration well 164/7-1 drilled in the UK sector of the Rockall Trough have yielded fresh insights into the igneous and thermal history of this frontier region. The well targeted a large four-way dip closed structure of presumed Mesozoic age named ‘The Dome Prospect’. The structure is now known to have a magmatic, rather than a purely structural origin, which was the preferred pre-well interpretation. The well encountered 1.2 km of Palaeocene age basaltic lavas, overlying Late Cretaceous mudstones which were intruded by over 70 dolerite sills ranging from

At many continental margins, diierential sediment loading on an underlying salt layer drives salt deformation and has a signi¢cant impact on the structural evolution of the basin.We use 2-D ¢niteelement modelling to investigate systems in which a linear viscous salt layer underlies a frictionalplastic overburden of laterally varying thickness. In these systems, diierential pressure induces the £ow of viscous salt, and the overburden experiences updip deviatoric tension and downdip compression. A thin- sheet analytical stability criterion for the system is derived and is used to predict conditions under which the sedimentary overburden will be unstable and fail, and to estimate the initial velocities of the system.The analytical predictions are in acceptable agreement with initial velocity patterns of the numerical models. In addition to initial stability analyses, the numerical model is used to investigate the subsequent ¢nite deformation. As the systems evolve, overburden extension and salt diapirism occur in the landward section and contractional structures develop in the seaward section.The system evolution depends on the relative widths of the salt basin and the length scale of the overburden thickness variation. In narrow salt basins, overburden deformation is localised and characterised by high strain rates, which cause the system to reach a gravitational equilibrium and salt movement to cease earlier than for wide salt basins. Sedimentation enhances salt evacuation by maintaining a diierential pressure in the salt. Continued sedimentary ¢lling of landward extensional basins suppresses landward salt diapirism. Sediment progradation leads to seaward propagation of the landward extensional structures and depocentres. At slow sediment progradation rates, the viscous £ow can be faster than the sediment progradation, leading to e⁄cient salt evacuation and salt weld formation beneath the landward section. Fast sediment progradation suppresses the viscous £ow, leaving salt pillows beneath the prograding wedge.

Pliocene‐Quaternary basins of the Ionian islands evolved in a complex tectonic setting that evolved from a mid to late Cenozoic compressional zone of the northern external Hellenides to the rapidly extending Pliocene‐Quaternary basins of the Peloponnese. The northern limit of the Hellenic Trench marks the junction of these two tectonic regimes. A foreland-propagating fold and thrust system in the northern external Hellenides segmented the former Miocene continental margin basin in Zakynthos and permitted diapiric intrusion of Triassic gypsum along thrust ramps. Further inboard, coeval extensional basins developed, with increasing rates of subsidence from the Pliocene to Quaternary, resulting in four principal types of sedimentation: (1) condensed shelf-sedimentation on the flanks of rising anticlines; (2) coarsegrained sedimentation in restricted basins adjacent to evaporitic diapirs rising along thrust ramps; (3) larger basins between fold zones were filled by extrabasinal, prodeltaic mud and sand from the proto-Acheloos river; (4) margins of subsiding Quaternary basins were supplied at sea-level highstands by distal deltaic muds and at lowstands by locally derived coarse clastic sediment.

Rifted margin architecture along part of the southern Gabonese margin is interpreted from four deep-penetration, multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) profiles. A series of synthetically faulted crustal blocks are identified, separated by dominantly seaward-dipping fault zones formed during Cretaceous rifting between Africa and South America. Extensional strain ratios are ≅ 1.5. These faults appear either to transect the entire crustal section or are interrupted by discontinuous zones of midcrustal reflections which may represent detachments. Outer acoustic basement highs are situated just seaward of the continental slope. On the combined basis of seismic geometry, an associated positive magnetic anomaly and an increase in free-air gravity, these outer highs are interpreted to mark faulted transitions from rifted continental crust to ‘proto-oceanic crust’, presumably composed of mafic volcanic rocks and possibly slivers of attenuated continental crustal blocks. The outer edge of Aptian salt lies °165 km south-west of the edge of the continental shelf. The salt forms an° 1.5-km-thick horizon overlying the outer highs, and it may be autochthonous there, suggesting salt was deposited contemporaneously with emplacement of proto-oceanic crust. Differential subsidence and tilting between continental rift-blocks during post-rift margin subsidence has resulted in a sympathetic terrace-ramp geometry in overlying Aptian salt. Salt terraces form above tops of crustal blocks, where salt tends to rise vertically, creating pillows and diapirs. Ramps connecting terraces tend to form above seaward-facing fault zones; salt flowage there has been both lateral and vertical, creating triangular diapirs along the footwalls of growth faults. Most of these growth-faults sole within the salt base, but a few continue into the interpreted synrift succession.