Salt stocks as natural analogues of Archaean gneiss diapirs

Abstract

The internal structures of salt stocks in the Hannover region, northwestern Germany, are natural analogues of structures in major Archaean gneiss diapirs of western Ontario. A major lithological interface within, rather than at the stratigraphic top of, the Zechstein evaporites corresponds to the transitional contact between leucocratic gneiss and mantling rocks. The cuspate geometry of the end region of supracrustal synclines (greenstone belts), a feature commonly cited in favour of cross folding, can be readily explained by analogy with comparable evaporite structures.