Chapter 5 - Salt tectonics in deepwater settings

Abstract

The two biggest influences on salt structural styles in deepwater are the thickness of the salt and the continuity of the salt layer. Basins with the thickest and most continuous salt are those in which salt was deposited during the exhumation phase of continental breakup. These basins feature margin-scale linked kinematic systems and large-volume salt structures. Key structural elements of syn-exhumation deepwater salt systems include compressional folds, salt stocks, salt walls, squeezed diapirs, salt sheets, salt canopies, turtle structures, minibasins, roho systems and counterregional systems. Regional geology exerts a strong influence on how these structures are distributed on any given passive margin. In particular, regional geology influences the formation and propagation of deepwater compressional systems, the timing of shortening, canopy development, the partitioning of translation between detachments and the zonation of deepwater salt structures. Although some aspects of deepwater salt tectonics are still unclear, our current state of knowledge offers invaluable assistance to geologists working in these settings.