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Structural and Igneous Geology |
1 Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College, , London SW7 2AZ, UK (Current address: Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA; (e-mail: btrudgil{at}mines.edu)
2 Rowan Consulting Inc., , 850 8th St., Boulder, CO 80302, USA
3 Formerly at the Energy & Minerals Applied Research Center (EMARC), University of Colorado, , Boulder, CO 80309, USA
By integrating 3D and 2D seismic interpretation with structural restorations we have reconstructed the evolution of a complex, composite stepped counter-regional salt system in the West Delta/South Pass (WDSP) area of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Biostratigraphically calibrated well data allow the last 10 Ma of the evolution of the salt system to be divided into six stages: (1) sea-floor extrusion of isolated salt tongues fed from the Jurassic Louann salt through northward dipping feeders prior to 7.5 Ma; (2) amalgamation of the salt tongues to form a salt-tongue canopy between 7.5 and 6.4 Ma; (3) counter-regional evacuation of the salt-tongue canopy as a result of enhanced sediment loading due to progradation of the shelf margin between 6.4 and 5.0Ma; (4) evacuation of salt into a series of salt walls linking salt domes between 5.00 and 2.55 Ma; (5) evacuation of the salt walls to form counter-regional fault welds between 1.95 and 0.5 Ma; and (6) final evacuation of most of the salt from deeper levels leaving a series of isolated salt domes connected by counter-regional fault welds. The counter-regional evacuation of the WDSP salt systems illustrates the value and limitations of published 2D models for allochthonous salt, and the reconstructed evolution yields insights into the complex interactions between salt deformation and sedimentation. The results also suggest that the WDSP salt systems significantly affected sediment transport pathways, trap geometries and possibly late stage petroleum migration across evacuating salt welds.
