Salt tectonics at passive margins: Geology versus models

Salt tectonics at passive margins is currently interpreted as a gravity-driven process but according to two different types of models: i) pure spreading only driven by differential sedimentary loading and ii) dominant gliding primarily due to margin tilt (slope instability). A comparative analysis of pure spreading and pure spreading is made using simple mechanics as well as available laboratory experiments and numerical models that consider salt tectonic processes at the whole basin scale. To be effective, pure spreading driven by sedimentary loading requires large differential overburden thicknesses and therefore significant water depths, high sediment density, low frictional angles of the sediments (high fluid pore pressure) and a seaward free boundary of the salt basin (salt not covered by sediments). Dominant gliding does not require any specific condition to be effective apart from the dip on the upper surface of the salt. It can occur for margin tilt angles lower than 1° for basin widths in the range of 200-600 km and initial sedimentary cover thickness up to 1 km, even in the absence of abnormal fluid pressure. In pure spreading, salt resists and sediments drive whereas in dominant gliding both salt and sediments drive. In pure spreading, extension is located inside the prograding sedimentary wedge and contraction at the tip. Both extension and contraction migrate seaward with the sedimentary progradation. Migration of the deformation can create an extensional inversion of previously contractional structures. In pure spreading, extension is located updip and contraction downdip. Extension migrates downdip and contraction updip. Migration of the deformation leads to a contractional inversion of previously extensional structures (e.g. squeezed diapirs). Mechanical analysis and modelling, either analogue or numerical, and comparison with margin-scale examples, such as the south Atlantic margins or northern Gulf of Mexico, indicate that salt tectonics at passive margins is dominated by dominant gliding down the margin dip. On the contrary, salt tectonics driven only by differential sedimentary loading is a process difficult to reconcile with geological evidence.     

Contraction induced by block rotation above salt (Angolan margin)

Gravity spreading above salt at passive margins is the major mode of deformation of post-salt sediments. Whereas this process generally creates a structural zoning, extensional upslope and contractional downslope, discrepancies can however arise. For example, evidence of contractional deformation occurs in the extensional domain of the Angolan margin, to the south of the Congo delta fan. Slope-parallel seismic lines show grabens, rollover and extensional diapirs. Conversely, strike-parallel seismic lines present inversion of early grabens, apparently related to a regional-scale decrease in sedimentary thickness away from the Congo delta. As the spreading rate and the characteristic spacing of structures are direct functions of sedimentary loading, one can expect structural changes along strike due to sedimentary thickness variations. This hypothesis was tested using spreading-type experiments of brittle-ductile models lying on top of an inclined rigid substratum. The experiments simulate the progradation of a synkinematic sedimentary cover above salt, with a lateral variation of sedimentation rate. The models show that the spreading rate was higher in the thicker part. Early grabens initiated perpendicular to the slope direction. Where sedimentation rate was high, they kept their orientation during spreading and formed purely extensional synsedimentary structures: Grabens, rollovers and diapirs. Where sedimentation rate was low, blocks separated by grabens rotated in a domino-type fashion but this domain continued to extend in a slope-parallel direction. Strike slip between blocks was entirely localised within the early grabens, which inverted and formed anticlines. Structures obtained in experiments are directly comparable to those in seismic lines of the Angolan margin. In both the Angolan margin examples and the laboratory experiments, block rotation is interpreted as slope-parallel strike-slip shear zones due to lateral variations in spreading rate.     

Salt tectonics and Pliocene stratigraphic framework at MC-118, Gulf of Mexico: An integrated approach with application to deep-water confined structures in salt basins

Integrated tectono-stratigraphic interpretation at MC-118 using 3D seismic, well logs and biostratigraphy reveals an area dominated by allochthonous salt and its related structures. OCS-Block MC-118 is located 130 km southeast of New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico middle slope in ∼2600 ft of water.The area is divided into three domains based on their structural styles: (1) a western domain consisting of a basinward-dipping normal fault family and associated strata; (2) a central domain composed of a landward-plunging diapiric salt tongue canopy and associated salt welds, two flanking NE–SW trending salt-withdrawal mini-basins, and a crestal fault family; and (3) an eastern domain comprised of basinward/landward-dipping normal and listric normal fault families with their associated rollovers. These structural domains are genetically-and-kinematically related to the salt structure and extend beyond MC-118 boundaries. The salt structure is postulated to have evolved mostly passive, with punctuated active episodes, and by lateral spreading. This is part of a larger regional structure, eastern Gulf of Mexico, which involves some amalgamation between small-scale salt canopies and salt diapirs although collectively they appear mostly disconnected.A Pliocene (3.13–4.95 Ma) third-order genetic stratigraphic sequence, the focus of this study, is as much as ∼3600 ft thick within the mini-basins and contains: muddy mass transport complexes; sandy slope fans; muddy turbidites and condensed sections; and transitional facies flanking the salt structure that collectively have ponded and wedged external geometries. Mass transport complexes and muddy turbidites and condensed sections make most of the studied genetic sequence in a mud-dominated deltaic setting eastern Gulf of Mexico.Facies kinematic indicators and a matching number of genetic sequences accounted on the sea level chart support a eustatically driven mini-basin sedimentation. Nonetheless salt still plays a role in sedimentation (secondary/minor) by slumping generated during passive/active salt diapiric evolution.     

The evolution of a gravity-driven system accompanied by diapirism under the control of the prograding West Luconia Deltas in the Kangxi Depression,Southern South China Sea

Gravitational collapse structures are commonly observed in shelf-margin deltas underlain by mobile shales. However, these structures are rarely accompanied by mud diapirs. This paper presents an updated study of the gravity-driven system in the West Luconia Deltas, a shelf-margin delta system, in the Kangxi Depression, southern South China Sea. Compared to the classical shale-detachment model, the syn-collapse deformation in the contractional domain in this study is accommodated mainly by thrust faults combined with mud diapirs rather than simply imbricated thrusts. Based on seismic interpretation and structural analysis, this gravity-driven system is divided into three domains, the extensional domain, the contractional domain and the transitional domain. All of these domains are intruded by mud diapirs. The quantitative analysis of the amounts of extension and contraction suggests that these structures mainly resulted from gravitational collapse rather than the tectonic compression. Quantification of the relative contributions of gravity spreading and gliding indicates that the gravitational collapse was mainly driven by gravity spreading. Two episodes of collapse are suggested by the analysis of the progradation of the West Luconia Deltas and the features of the syn-collapse structures. The first episode was minor and not accompanied by diapirism, whereas the second episode was major and accompanied by diapirism. The entire evolution of the GDS is divided into five stages: (1) the first episode of the gravitational collapse, lasted from the earliest Middle Miocene to the earliest Pliocene; (2) the deposition of an interval between the syn-collapse strata and the mobile shale, occurred in the Early Pliocene.; (3) the initiation of the second episode of the gravitational collapse, lasted from the Early Pliocene to the Late Pliocene; (4) the attenuation and basinward migration of the gravity-driven deformation, lasted from the Late Pliocene to the Early Pleistocene; and (5) the ending of the gravitational collapse, lasted from the Early Pleistocene to the present. The last four stages were accompanied by intensive diapirs which pierced the overlying strata and became targets for the hydrocarbon exploration.

     

The impact of syn- and post-extension prograding sedimentation on the development of salt-related rift basins and their inversion: Clues from analogue modelling

Various studies have demonstrated the intrinsic interrelationship between tectonics and sedimentation in salt-related rift basins during extension as well as during their inversion by compression. Here, we present seven brittle–ductile analogue models to show that the longitudinal or transverse progradation of sediment filling an elongate extensional basin has a substantial impact on the growth of diapirs and their lateral geometrical variations. We use five extensional models to reveal how these prograding systems triggered diapir growth variations, from proximal to distal areas, relative to the sedimentary source. In the models, continuous passive diapir walls developed, after a short period of reactive–active diapiric activity, during syn-extensional homogeneous deposition. In contrast, non-rectilinear diapir walls grew during longitudinal prograding sedimentation. Both longitudinal and transverse post-extensional progradation triggered well-developed passive diapirs in the proximal domains, whereas incipient reactive–active diapirs, incipient roller-like diapirs, or poorly developed diapirs were generated in the distal domains, depending on the modelled sedimentary pattern. Two models included final phases of 6% and 10% shortening associated with basin inversion by compression, respectively, to discriminate compressional from purely extensional geometries. With the applied shortening, the outward flanks of existing diapir walls steepened their dips from 8°–17° to 30°–50°. Likewise, 6% of shortening narrowed the diapir walls by 32%–72%, with their fully closing (salt welds) with 10% of shortening. We compare our results with the distribution of salt walls and minibasins of the Central High Atlas diapiric basin in Morocco, which was infilled with a longitudinally prograding mixed siliciclastic and carbonatic depositional sequence during the Early–Middle Jurassic with a minimum thicknesses of 2.5–4.0 km.     

Physiographic and bathymetric characteristics of the continental slope,northwest Gulf of Mexico

Bathymetric charts of the continental slope of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico reveal the presence of over 90 intraslope basins with relief in excess of 150 m. The evolution and the general configuration of the basins are a function of halokinesis of allochthonous salt. Intraslope-interlobal and intraslope-superlobal basins occupy the upper and lower continental slope, respectively. Other structures on the slope associated with salt tectonics are the Sigsbee Escarpment, the seaward edge of the Sigsbee salt nappe, and the Alaminos and Keathley canyons. Major erosional features are the Mississippi Canyon and portions of a submarine canyon on the southern extreme of the Sigsbee Escarpment.     

北黄海盆地褶皱分布与成因类型

北黄海盆地为叠置在华北地台上的中新生代断陷盆地,在地史上经受了多期区域构造运动的改造,地层变形强烈,褶皱构造相当发育,分为伸展型、压缩型、重力型和热力型4大成因类型。其中,与张性正断层相关的伸展型褶皱分布范围最广,可进一步划分为牵引褶皱、逆牵引褶皱、滚动褶皱、翘倾褶皱、补偿性挤压背斜和断层-位移褶皱;形成于区域挤压应力场的压缩型褶皱包括非反转挤压褶皱和反转褶皱,在东部和中部坳陷表现明显;重力型褶皱以发育于古潜山之上的披覆背斜比较常见;由岩浆活动引起的热力型褶皱不甚发育,目前仅见于东部坳陷。     

Cenozoic folding in the Cumuruxatiba basin,Brazil: An approach to the deformation trigger by the Abrolhos magmatism

The Cumuruxatiba basin is located in the central portion of the eastern Brazilian margin surrounded by Cenozoic magmatic highs that belong to the Abrolhos Magmatic Complex. This basin was formed by rifting, in the Neocomian followed by thermal subsidence during late Cretaceous like other basins along the Eastern Brazilian margin. In the Cenozoic, the Abrolhos magmatism took place as sills and dykes intruded the sedimentary section, primarily during the Paleogene. In that time, there was a strong NS contractional deformation in the basin represented by folds related to reverse faults coeval with Abrolhos magmatism activity. The structural restorations of regional 2D seismic sections revealed that most of the contractional deformation was concentrated at the beginning of the Cenozoic with maximum peak at the Eocene (up to 33% of total shortening and rate of 6 km/Ma). The Post-Eocene period was marked by a decrease in the strain rate that continues to the present day (around 4 km/Ma to less than 1). 3D structural modelling exhibited a major, well-developed E–W to NE–SW fold belt that accommodated most of the contractional Cenozoic deformation between Royal Charlotte and Sulphur Minerva magmatic highs. Volcanic eruptions and magmatic flows from the Abrolhos complex resulted in differential overburden on edge of the basin, acting as a trigger for halokinesis and the subsequent formation of fault-related folds. In general, such structures were developed close to adjacent magmatic highs, commonly exhibiting vergence towards the centre of the basin. Some magmatic features formed coeval with Cenozoic syn-deformation sediments clearly indicate that Abrolhos magmatism activity and contractional deformation development were associated. The study of the thickness variation of the syn-deformation section in relation to fault-related folds on deformation maps and maximum strain diagrams revealed that most folds were activated and re-activated several times during the Cenozoic without a systematic kinematic pattern. This lack of systematic deformation might be related to the variation of the magmatic pulse activity of adjacent magmatic highs resulting in a complex interference pattern of Cenozoic folds. These structural interpretations of the timing of fault-related folds that are potential Cenozoic traps in the Cumuruxatiba basin play a fundamental role in petroleum systems and exploration of low-risk hydrocarbon prospects.     

The structural styles and formation mechanism of salt structures in the Southern Precaspian Basin: Insights from seismic data and analog modeling

Using the seismic profiles and analog modeling, this paper addresses the salt structures in the M and B blocks in the Southern Precaspian Basin. The salt structural features, the formation mechanism and the controlling factors of structural deformation are investigated and discussed systematically. The interpretation of the seismic profiles shows that typical salt-related structures include salt wall, (flip-flop) salt diapir, salt roller, salt pillow (dome), salt weld, salt withdrawal minibasin and drag structure (or drape fold). In addition, model results demonstrate that the gravity spreading driven by progradation and aggradation is probably the primary factor in controlling the formation of the salt structures in the research area. Due to the differential loading driven by progradation, passive salt diapir developed near the progradational front followed by the formation of intrasalt withdrawal minibasin bounded by two salt diapirs, and secondary reactive triangle salt diapir or salt pillow might form within the intrasalt withdrawal minibasin. Model results also indicate that the pattern of the subsalt basement has important influence on the formation and evolution of salt structures. Salt diapirs primarily developed along the margin of the subsalt uplift basement, where high shear deformation was induced by differential sedimentary loading between the uplift area and the slope area.     

Structural features and hydrocarbon-bearing potential of gulf of Mexico continental slopes adjacent to the United States

With respect of its structure, the Gulf of Mexico basin is heterogeneous. The following individual basins and subbasins can be distinguished; (1) Mississippi-Louisiana; (2) Gulf Coast within the boundaries of Texas and New Mexico; (3) Mexican Gulf Coast and adjacent system of foredeeps; (4) Yucatan subbasin; (5) Cuba-Bahamas system of foredeeps. Regional seismic studies reveal a close relationship between salt movements and sedimentation. Salt bodies represent excellent cap rocks for hydrocarbon fluids. Anticline folds termed “turtle” structures forming a system of belts appear in the deep parts of the gulf. These structures host large reserves of hydrocarbons, which are concentrated in the Paleogene-Miocene turbidite reservoirs with a porosity approximately 30% overlain by excellent cap rocks (salt, clay) with permeability exceeding 3 darcy. Three productive zones are defined: (1) the folds of the Mississippi River fan; (2) the Perdido belt of anticline folds; (3) Florida. The Paleogene and Miocene-Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments developed on the continental slopes of the Gulf of Mexico basin are the areas most promising with respect to hydrocarbon deposits. On January 1, 2006, the offshore oil production was 53 million tons and the gas production 40 billion cubic meters. Total prospective oil and gas reserves are estimated to be 5.5 billion tons and 4.7 trillion cubic meters, of which over 50% of oil and 1/3 of gas are expected to be discovered on the continental slope.     

An incomplete correlation between pre-salt topography,top reservoir erosion,and salt deformation in deep-water Santos Basin (SE Brazil)

In deep-water Santos Basin, SE Brazil, hypersaline conditions during the Aptian resulted in the accumulation of halite and carnallite over which stratified evaporites, carbonates and shales were folded, translated downslope and thrusted above syn-rift structures. As a result, high-quality 3D seismic data reveal an incomplete relationship between pre-salt topography and the development of folds and thrusts in Aptian salt and younger units. In the study area, three characteristics contrast with known postulates on passive margins’ fold-and-thrust belts: a) the largest thrusts do not necessarily occur where the salt is thicker, b) synthetic-to-antithetic fault ratios are atypically high on the distal margin, and c) regions of intense folding do not necessarily coincide with the position of the larger syn-rift horsts and ramps below the salt. Regions marked by important erosion and truncation of pre-salt strata, uplifted and exposed sub-aerially before the deposition of Aptian salt, can form structural lows at present or be part of horsts uplifted after the Aptian. This is an observation that suggests significant intra-salt shear drag above pre-salt structural highs during Aptian-Late Cretaceous gravitational gliding, but not on younger horsts and ramps reactivated after the main phase of salt movement. Either formed by drag or sub-aerial erosion, strata truncation below the Aptian salt does not correlate with the present-day pre-salt structure in terms of its magnitude and distribution. In addition, there is a marked increase in deformation towards the distal margin, where low-angle thrusts are ubiquitous on seismic data. The geometry and large synthetic-to-antithetic fault ratios of post-salt strata on the distal margin lead us to consider a combination of gravitational gliding of salt from the northwest and ridge push from the east as responsible for the observed styles of salt deformation.     

Superposed deformation straddling the continental-oceanic transition in deep-water Angola

The Angolan margin is the type area for raft tectonics. New seismic data reveal the contractional buffer for this thin-skinned extension. A 200-km-long composite section from the Lower Congo Basin and Kwanza Basin illustrates a complex history of superposed deformation caused by: (1) progradation of the margin; and (2) episodic Tertiary epeirogenic uplift. Late Cretaceous tectonics was driven by a gentle slope created by thermal subsidence; extensional rafting took place updip, contractional thrusting and buckling downdip; some distal folds were possibly unroofed to form massive salt walls. Oligocene deformation was triggered by gentle kinking of the Atlantic Hinge Zone as the shelf and coastal plain rose by 2 or 3 km; relative uplift stripped Paleogene cover off the shelf, provided space for Miocene progradation, and steepened the continental slope, triggering more extension and buckling. In the Neogene, a subsalt half graben was inverted or reactivated, creating keystone faults that may have controlled the Congo Canyon; a thrust duplex of seaward-displaced salt jacked up the former abyssal plain, creating a plateau of salt 3–4 km thick on the present lower slope. The Angola Escarpment may be the toe of the Angola thrust nappe, in which a largely Cretaceous roof of gently buckled strata, was transported seawards above the thickened salt by up to 20 km.     

Style and timing of salt tectonics in the Dniepr-Donets Basin (Ukraine): implications for triggering and driving mechanisms of salt movement in sedimentary basins

The Ukrainian Dniepr-Donets Basin (DDB) is a Late Palaeozoic intracratonic rift basin, with sedimentary thicknesses up to 19 km, displaying the effects of salt tectonics during its entire history of formation, from Late Devonian rifting to the Tertiary. Hundreds of concordant and discordant salt structures formed during this time. It is demonstrated in this paper that the variety of styles of salt structure formation in the DDB provide important constraints on understanding the triggering and driving mechanisms of salt kinematics in sedimentary basins in general. Salt movement in the DDB began during the Devonian syn-rift phase of basin development and exerted controls on the later distribution of salt structures though the geometry of basement faults is not directly responsible for the regular spacing of salt structures. Post-rift salt movements in the DDB occurred episodically. Episodes of salt movement were triggered by tectonic events, specifically two extensional events during the Carboniferous, an extensional reactivation at the end of Carboniferous–earliest Permian, and a compressional event at the end of the Cretaceous. Extensional events that induced salt movement were ‘thick-skinned’ (i.e. basement involved in deformation) rather than ‘thin-skinned’. Most overburden deformation related to salt movements is ductile regardless of sedimentary bulk lithology and degree of diagenesis, while the deformation of sedimentary cover in areas where salt is absent is mainly brittle. This implies that the presence of salt changes the predominant mode of deformation of overlying sedimentary rocks. Episodes of salt movement lasted longer than the periods of active tectonics that initiated them. Buoyancy, erosion, and differential loading all played a role in driving halokinesis once tectonic forces had pushed the salt-overburden system into disequilibrium; among these factors, erosion of overburden above growing salt structures acted as a key self-renewing force for development of salt diapirs. Very high sedimentation rates (related to high post-rift tectonic subsidence rates), particularly during the Carboniferous, were able to bury diapirs and to load salt bodies such that buoyancy, erosion, and differential loading forces eventually became insufficient to continue driving diapirism—until the system was perturbed by an ensuing tectonic event. In contrast, some salt anticlines and diapirs developed continuously during the entire Mesozoic because of much-reduced tectonic subsidence rates (and sedimentation supply) during this time. However, a Lower Permian salt series and overhangs of buried diapirs played an important role in preventing overburden piercing (and fracturing) during the Mesozoic and, specifically, during the Late Cretaceous salt diapirism phase.     

Salt tectonics and tear faulting in the central part of the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt,Iran

The central part of the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt is characterized by a series of right-lateral and left-lateral transverse tear fault systems, some of them being ornamented by salt diapirs of the Late Precambrian–Early Cambrian Hormuz evaporitic series. Many deep-seated extensional faults, mainly along N–S and few along NW–SE and NE–SW, were formed or reactivated during the Late Precambrian–Early Cambrian and generated horsts and grabens. The extensional faults controlled deposition, distribution and thickness of the Hormuz series. Salt walls and diapirs initiated by the Early Paleozoic especially along the extensional faults. Long-term halokinesis gave rise to thin sedimentary cover above the salt diapirs and aggregated considerable volume of salt into the salt stocks. They created weak zones in the sedimentary cover, located approximately above the former and inactive deep-seated extensional faults. The N–S to NNE–SSW direction of tectonic shortening during the Neogene Zagros folding was sub-parallel with the strikes of the salt walls and rows of diapirs. Variations in thickness of the Hormuz series prepared differences in the basal friction on both sides of the Precambrian–Cambrian extensional faults, which facilitated the Zagros deformation front to advance faster wherever the salt layer was thicker. Consequently, a series of tear fault systems developed along the rows of salt diapirs approximately above the Precambrian–Cambrian extensional faults. Therefore, the present surface expressions of the tear fault systems developed within the sedimentary cover during the Zagros orogeny. Although the direction of the Zagros shortening could also potentially reactivate the basement faults as strike-slip structures, subsurface data and majority of the moderate-large earthquakes do not support basement involvement. This suggests that the tear fault systems are detached on top of the Hormuz series from the deep-seated Precambrian–Cambrian extensional faults in the basement.     

Salt tectonics in the Cap Boujdour Area,Aaiun Basin,NW Africa

Seismic reflection data indicate the Moroccan salt basin extends to the Cap Boujdour area in the Aaiun Basin. Two salt diapir structures have been identified and several areas of collapsed strata indicate probable salt removal at the shelf edge. The presence of salt in this area correlates to the conjugate southern George's Bank Basin and the Baltimore Canyon area, and it is suggested that the salt extends southward from the known salt diapir province in the George's Bank Basin southward to the Great Stone Dome. The paucity of salt diapirs is attributed to the thick carbonate and anhydrite sequence, which was deposited soon after salt deposition that inhibited halokinesis. The presence of salt along this large segment of the Atlantic margin should increase its hydrocarbon potential with traps created around salt diapirs and provision of migration pathways from deep potential source rocks in the early Cretaceous and Jurassic strata to shallower levels.     

Impact of basin structure and evaporite distribution on salt tectonics in the Algarve Basin,Southwest Iberian margin

The SW Iberian margin developed as a passive margin during Mesozoic times and was later inverted during the mainly Cenozoic Alpine orogeny. The initial syn-rift deposits include a Lower Jurassic evaporite unit of variable thickness. In the onshore, this unit is observed to thicken basinward (i.e., southward), in fault-controlled depocenters, and salt-related structures are only present in areas of thick initial evaporites. In the offshore, multiple salt-structures cored by the Lower Jurassic evaporites are interpreted on seismic reflection data and from exploratory drilling. Offshore salt structures include the allochthonous Esperança Salt Nappe, which extends over an area roughly 40 × 60 km. The abundance of salt-related structures and their geometry is observed to be controlled by the distribution of evaporite facies, which is in turn controlled by the structure of rift-related faulting. This paper presents a comprehensive study of salt tectonics over the entire onshore and offshore SW Iberian passive margin (southern Portugal and Gulf of Cadiz), covering all aspects from initial evaporite composition and thickness to the evolution of salt-related structures through Mesozoic extension and Cenozoic basin inversion.     

Possible diapirs in the gulf of Elat,Southern Dead Sea rift

Elongate trending diapiric structures occur along faulted rifts in the Gulf of Elat. Those diapirs in the southern part of the Gulf, believed to be of salt origin were formed in the embryonic continental margin during the separation of the Nubian and Arabian plates. The diapirs farther to the north are believed to be of shale origin. These findings support other recent geological evidence suggesting that the tectonic regime in the region is obliquely extensional. Comparison with the structure of the Suez Rift indicates a jump of the northern extension of the Red Sea spreading center during the early Pliocene period.     

Seafloor instability at East Flower Garden Bank,northwest Gulf of Mexico

An increasing volume of evidence suggests that normal faulting and graben formation associated with salt diapirism may be catastrophic. The evidence includes: 1) removal of solid salt from the diapirs by dissolution, 2) the nature of rock outcrops at the crests of domes, 3) seismic profiles showing recent displacement of the seafloor, and 4) changes in coral growth rates at the East Flower Garden Bank. The possibility of catastrophic movement of the seabed is an engineering constraint that must be addressed prior to emplacing structures such as jack-up rigs and production platforms.     

Seismic expression of sedimentary volcanism on the continental slope,northern Gulf of Mexico

High-resolution geophysical data define acoustically amorphous, mounded structures on the upper, middle, and lower continental slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Physical samples and observations within this unique seismic facies show gassy sediments, sometimes in hydrated form and, in places, as chemosynthetic communities. The geologic setting of these mounds suggests that the process of formation falls on the continuum of mud volcanoes to mud diapirs.     

西非被动大陆边缘盐构造样式与成因机制

基于三维地震资料,对西非陆缘盐构造样式及分布特征进行了刻画,剖析了其形成演化机制与控制因素。西非陆缘盐上地层滑脱形成典型的薄皮构造,前缘发育挤压变形,后缘发育拉张变形,两者之间为过渡变形。拉张区发育白垩系盐筏、前盐筏、新近系盐筏等盐构造;过渡变形区以发育各种底辟构造为特征;挤压变形区主要发育侵位盐席构造。重力滑脱作用是被动陆缘盐构造发育过程中始终存在的驱动机制,重力扩展作用在大陆边缘成熟阶段作用明显,在陆缘演化早期并不突出。陆缘构造活动控制盐构造的形成,差异沉积负载作用影响着盐上地层滑移特征,而盐下底形对盐岩流动、盐上地层滑移速率及相关断裂体系的产生与沉积响应具有重要影响。