We have developed an iterative least-squares method for palinspastic restoration of regions of normal faulting. The method closes the gaps (cut-off lenses) across normal faults on a structure-contour map of a given stratigraphie horizon. Such data are often available for sedimentary basins covered by seismic surveys. Before restoration, we first produce a fault-block map, where each block is completely surrounded by faults, whether real or artificial. We then apply an algorithm to minimize D, the sum of the squares of the distances across cut-off lenses, with respect to unknown rigid block translations and rotations. Minimization results in non-linear equations, which we solve by an iterative method. We deem the solution to have converged when D falls below a given critical level. In general, restoration not only closes the original gaps, but also results in strike-slip displacements between blocks. Thus the deformation need not be a plane strain and displacement vectors need not be parallel. We have applied the method to an area of the Campos basin, on the Atlantic margin of Brazil, where the stratigraphy and structure are well-known from seismic surveys and from wells. Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments have glided downslope on a lubricating layer of Aptian evaporites, producing an uppermost domain of normal faulting. The normal faults occupy a strip, lying between undisturbed continental crust to the west and relatively unstructured sediments to the east. Assuming the western boundary to be stationary, we have restored an Upper Oligocene stratigraphie level, the Marco Azul. Convergence was achieved rapidly and the degree of fit is good. According to our restoration, the eastern boundary of the area has bowed out seawards since the Oligocene. Block displacement vectors form a fan-like pattern, with an element of mirror symmetry about a line trending NW-SE. Maximum displacements occur in an apical domain, bounded by a horseshoe pattern of faults. There is a general pattern of block rotations, counterclockwise in the northeast, clockwise in the southwest. Some notable exceptions to this general pattern are due to local domino motions. We attribute the overall displacement field to divergent gravitational gliding off a local salient in the sea-bottom topography. Because of the three-dimensional nature of the displacement field, restoration of vertical cross-sections alone would yield gross errors. This demonstrates the value of palinspastic methods such as ours.