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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Salt Tectonics - Mechanics of Diapirism
By
University of Houston
The theories of origin of diapiric structures which have been
advanced in the last 100 years are reviewed and discussed in the light of
recent information. The importance of tangential pressure in forming
salt diapirs is limited to local occurrences of thin evaporites. Gravity
instability of rock salt supporting heavier sediments is a more universal
cause of diapirism on a regional scale. Salt depocenters in a basin may
control the distribution of diapirs more than any other factor. The idea
of a critical thickness of overburden for salt dome growth is discussed in
the light of evidence of "early" growth of salt structures. The role of
overburden in evaporite diapirism is reviewed and the idea developed that
there is also a critical "strength" of overburden. The relationship of
basement faults to the initiation of diapirs is largely hypothetical but
research on mechanical models might yield conclusive results. End_of_Record - Last_Page 33--------