--> ABSTRACT: A Model for Salt History on the Deep Margin of Central Gulf of Mexico Basin, by Dorene B. West; #91030 (2010)

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A Model for Salt History on the Deep Margin of Central Gulf of Mexico Basin

Dorene B. West

Based on available seismic data, a preliminary model has been developed for salt history on the deep margin of the central Gulf of Mexico basin. In this model, the Tertiary clastic wedge has prograded to the basinward limit of original Jurassic salt by the middle Miocene. Rapid accumulation of middle (and upper) Miocene sediment loads and gravity sliding formed a decollement, shearing off the basinward edge of the Louann Salt and propelling it out from under the slide and up through the middle Miocene section. Most of the upper Miocene and Pliocene sediments are trapped behind the detached salt, but Pleistocene sediments are able to breach the barrier.

Deformation of the detached salt wedge produced the features present on the slope today. Preliminary work indicates that most of the detached salt has been propelled basinward and upsection toward the present Sigsbee escarpment, leaving pinch and swell salt structures behind. Varying morphology of the residual salt structures is a result of variations in the history of sedimentary loading. Different stages of development of pinch and swell structures, illustrated by seismic sections, demonstrate the thought process involved in developing this model.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.