A semiregional isopach map of the Hosston-Sligo interval in north Louisiana suggests the existence of a salt-stock family similar to D. Sanneman's example in the Zechstein basin of northwestern Germany. The "mother salt stock" appears to be the Gibsland salt dome in Bienville Parish, which the isopach map indicated had a well-developed rim syncline during Hosston deposition. Withdrawal of salt into the Gibsland dome appears to have triggered the growth of peripheral salt pillows such as Vacherie, Minden, Athens, Sugar Creek, and Arcadia. Some of these pillows subsequently developed into salt stocks. The centrifugal or outward growth of salt structures continued with the withdrawal of salt from beneath the Minden subbasin into the Minden and Bistineau salt domes. This acce tuated growth of the Sligo, Bellevue, and Cotton Valley salt pillows, which in turn triggered development of the Pine Island salt pillow in latest Early Cretaceous time.

The growth of the salt structures progressed outward from deeper to shallower portions of the North Louisiana salt basin. An older salt-stock family may be centered on the Winnfield or Cedar Creek salt domes in the deepest part of the salt basin. Centrifugal growth of these stock should be discernible in seismic profiles. A knowledge of the relative ages of these structures is important in predicting sites of Lower Cretaceous reefs and hydrocarbon migration paths.

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