--> Abstract: Sedimentary Fracturing around Rapidly Moving Salt Sheets, by Z. Yu, I. Lerche, and A. Lowrie; #91004 (1991)

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Sedimentary Fracturing around Rapidly Moving Salt Sheets

YU, ZHIHUAI, and IAN LERCHE,* University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, and ALLEN LOWRIE, Consultant, Picayune, MS

High-speed motion through sediments of salt sheets at various rates (10-20 km/Ma), depths, and salt sheet thicknesses are presented in this study. Mohr's criterion for failure is used to examine the domains of primary and secondary fracturing surrounding the mobile salt sheets. Sediment structures are also examined. Three sets of numerical examples of initiation of fracturing and/or faulting in formations around a rapidly moving salt sheet are illustrated. It is shown that (1) the higher the rate of salt motion, the larger the range of fracturing; and (2) the domain of fracturing around the salt body depends on the salt size and sediment properties as well as on the salt speed. Generally, the fracturing domain extends to as far as 2-4 km in the vertical and to about 3-5 km in the late al direction around the forward "edge" of the salt sheet.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)