Permo-Triassic Salt Provinces of Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Margins

About the Book

Key Features

• ●

  Presents the first reference book to cover salt tectonics of Permo-Triassic period rocks.

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  Features case studies of passive margins like the Barents and the North Sea, Greenland, Nova Scotia, offshore Mauritania, Morocco and Iberia, and folded belts in the Betics-Rif, Tell, Pyrenees, Atlas Mountains, Alps, Balkans, Apennines, the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, and the Zechstein Basin in Norway, UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland.

• ●

  Integrates field observations, seismic examples, well-log data and models developed in universities with highly technical and advanced subsurface studies developed by the petroleum industry.

Description

Permo-Triassic Salt Provinces of Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Margins: Tectonics and Hydrocarbon Potential deals with the evolution and tectonic implications of the Upper Permian and Triassic (Keuper) evaporite rocks in the Atlantic margins from Canada or Greenland to Mauritania, Morocco and Iberia, North Africa and the Alpine orogenic system from the western Mediterranean, the Alps and the Ionian Sea, as well as various sectors of the Zechstein Basin from Norway to Poland. This book demonstrates how the nature of the Permian and Triassic evaporite sequences, the varied diapiric structures they feed, and the occurrence of hydrocarbons all suggest that they evaporites represent an efficient system to trap hydrocarbons. It explores this topic with a wide swath, also devoting content to a relatively unexplored topic, the mobilization and deformation of the Triassic salt in the westernmost Tethys (i.e. Iberia and North Africa) during the subsequent Alpine orogenic processes.

The book contains five sections. The first section presents an updated Permian and Triassic chronostratigraphy, the reconstruction of the western Tethys since the Late Permian to Early Jurassic, and various reviews of actual topics in salt tectonics, like allochthonous salt and drilling risks in multilayered salt sequences. The structure and evolution of the wide Zechstein (Upper Permian) Basin is documented from Norway and UK, to the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Petroleum provinces related to Triassic salt are documented in various segments of the Atlantic margins from eastern Canada and Greenland to western Africa in Mauritania and Morocco, offshore Portugal and northern Spain. The Triassic salt is also involved in Alpine folded belts like is shown for the Betics-Rif, Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines, Balkans, Albanides, or in Northern Africa.

Other topics covered include salt tectonic processes, models and observations, terminology, and structures formed under extension and subsequent shortening. The book is the go-to guide for both salt and shale tectonic researchers and those working in the hydrocarbon exploration industry.

Readership

Geologists, Exploration Geologists, Geoscientists, Petroleum Industry

About the Editors

Juan I. Soto

Juan Soto is a Professor of Geodynamics in the Granada University, Spain, working in structural geology and tectonics. His expertise includes salt and shale tectonic processes, seismic interpretation, extensional tectonics, and metamorphic and thermal evolution of extended terrains. He has worked in the Betics and the Alboran Sea in the Western Mediterranean, the Caspian Basin, the eastern Caribbean basins and the Mexican Gulf of Mexico. He has analyzed the structural and basin evolution during the mobilization of clay-rich, overpressured sediments comparing the resulting structures with those formed by salt tectonic processes. He has facilitated the development of a comprehensive model for the origin of the Alboran Sea and its three-dimensional crustal and lithospheric structure, reconstructing the relationships between active deformations and topography with the seismicity.

Joan Flinch

Joan Flinch received his Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Rice University, Houston, Texas and his MSc from the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. Before joining Repsol he worked as a consultant for Lagoven (ancient affiliate of PDVSA) in Venezuela and for Total on numerous exploration projects in Latin America and western Africa. Since 2004 he has been at Repsol, holding several technical and managerial positions in Madrid and The Woodlands, Texas, being currently Head of Geoscience Disciplines. He has published many papers on structural geology of the Pyrenees, structural geology and sequence stratigraphy of the Rif in Morocco, the Allochthonous salt of the Betic Cordillera in Spain, the Northern Colombia Accretionary Wedge, the Eastern Venezuelan folded belt, the Gulf of Paria in Trinidad and Venezuela, the Subandean area in Bolivia, and the Sierra Leone-Liberia margin in West Africa.

Gabor Tari

Gabor Tari holds an MSc degree in Geophysics from Eötvös University of Budapest, Hungary, and a Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Rice University, Houston, Texas. After starting with Amoco on Romanian exploration projects in 1994, he transferred to the Angola Team in 1996. Gabor continued to work at BP Amoco until 1999 when he joined Vanco Energy Company. At Vanco, as Chief Geophysicist and then as Vice President of Geosciences, he worked mostly on projects in Africa. Since 2007, Gabor has been with OMV in Vienna, Austria, working as the Group Chief Geologist on various Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and African basins.

Figures by Chapter

Part 1: Salt Tectonics in Time and Space

Chapter 1 - Permo-Triassic basins and tectonics in Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Margins: A synthesis by Juan I. Soto, Joan F. Flinch and Gabor Tari

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods. Detailed credits for the different panels are included in the text. L, Lower; M, Middle; U, Upper.

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Summary map of the Zechstein Basin (Upper Permian; 258–252.7 Ma; Fig. 5) in Central Europe. Map drawn using various documents and datasets, which are detailed in the text. It is included for comparison of the position of Iberia at the end of the Jurassic (145 Ma; dotted line) according to Barnett-Moore, Müller, Williams, Skogseid, and Seton (2017). Numbers mark the position of the basins with a summary lithostratigraphic column shown in Figs. 16–18. BCB, Bristol Channel Basin; CB, Cheshire Basin; CG, Central Graben (or Trough); CS, Celtic Sea Basin; EIS, East Irish Basin; EMS, East Midlands Shelf; ESP, East Shetland Platform (or Shetland Platform); FAB, Forth Approaches Basin; GG, Glückstadt Graben; H, Hebrides; HG, Horn Graben; MF, Moray Firth Basin; NDB, North Danish Basin (including the Egersund Basin); NPB, Northern Permian Basin; OG, Oslo Graben; PT, Polish Trough; RFH, Ringkøbing-Fyn High; SNS, Southern North Sea; SPB, Southern Permian Basin; SPB, Sole Pit Basin; WA, Western Approaches; WB, Wessex Basin; WFB, West Flannan Basin; WHP, West Hebrides Platform; WOB, West Orkney Basin; WSB, West Shetland Basin.

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) Summary map of the Keuper Basin (Carnian-Norian; ~238–206 Ma; Fig. 5) in Central Europe. Map drawn using various documents and datasets, which are detailed in the text. Numbers mark the position of the basins with a summary lithostratigraphic column shown in Figs. 16–19. BBR, Bay of Biscay Rift (includes the Parentis Basin to the E); CB, Cheshire Basin; CG, Central Graben (or Trough); CS, Celtic Sea Basin; EIS, East Irish Basin; ESP, East Shetland Platform (or Shetland Platform); FAB, Forth Approaches Basin; FB, Faroe Basin; HB, Horda Basin; HG, Horn Graben; MF, Moray Firth Basin; NDB, North Danish Basin (including the Egersund Basin); PB, Paris Basin; PT, Polish Trough; VG, Viking Graben; WB, Wessex Basin; WFB, West Flannan Basin; WHP, West Hebrides Platform.

Fig. 9(opens in new tab/window) Reconstruction of western area of the Tethys realm during the late Norian (~215–212 Ma; Upper Triassic), coinciding with the deposition of upper sequences of the Keuper Group (Fig. 5). Map redrawn after Dercourt et al. (2000). A detailed reconstruction of this epoch is presented in Chapter 3. Numbers mark the approximate position of the basins with a summary litho-stratigraphic column shown in Figs. 19 and 20.

Fig. 12(opens in new tab/window) Geographical distribution of the salt-bearing basins and folded belts in the Atlantic margins, Europe and North Africa, as are represented in this book, with numbers corresponding to the lithostratigraphic summary columns presented in Figs. 17–20. Same image and credits as are detailed in Fig. 4. The stratigraphy of the Permian Basin is shown along two sections (marked with a white line), the North Permian Basin (NPB; columns 23–26 in Fig. 15) and the South Permian Basin (SPB; columns 27–31 in Fig. 16).

Fig. 13(opens in new tab/window) Geographical distribution of the salt-bearing basins and folded belts in the North Atlantic, Greenland, the Barents Sea and the Arctic Sea, as are represented in this book, with numbers corresponding to the lithostratigraphic summary columns presented in Figs. 14 and 17. Same image and credits as are detailed in Fig. 4.

Fig. 14(opens in new tab/window) Lithostratigraphic columns of the salt basins in the Barents Sea (Chapter 12) and nearby regions in the Arctic Sea. Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods is shown in Fig. 5. Location of the numbered columns is shown in Figs. 12 and 13. Credits are detailed in the text.

Fig. 15(opens in new tab/window) Lithostratigraphic columns of the North Permian Basin (Zechstein) in offshore SW Norway (Chapters 7, 9, and 10). This section along the North Permian Basin (NPB) is marked in Fig. 12. Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods is shown in Fig. 5. Location of the numbered columns is shown in Fig. 12. Credits are detailed in the text.

Fig. 16(opens in new tab/window) Lithostratigraphic columns of the South Permian Basin (Zechstein) from the central North Sea (the United Kingdom and Norway; Chapters 7 and 8), the Netherlands, Germany (Chapters 9 and 10) and Poland (Chapter 11). This section along the South Permian Basin (SPB) is marked in Fig. 12. Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods is shown in Fig. 5. Location of the numbered columns is shown in Fig. 12. Credits are detailed in the text.

Fig. 17(opens in new tab/window) Lithostratigraphic columns of the salt basins in the West Atlantic margins, from Greenland (Chapter 12) to the Scotian Margin (Chapter 13). Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods is shown in Fig. 5. Location of the numbered columns is shown in Figs. 12 and 13. Credits are detailed in the text.

Fig. 18(opens in new tab/window) Lithostratigraphic columns of the salt basins in the East Atlantic Margins, from the United Kingdom and Ireland, to northern Spain (Chapters 16–18), offshore Portugal (Chapter 14) and offshore Morocco to Senegal (Chapter 15). Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods is shown in Fig. 5. Legend and symbols are detailed in Fig. 17. Location of the numbered columns is shown in Figs. 12 and 13. Credits are detailed in the text.

Fig. 19(opens in new tab/window) Lithostratigraphic columns of the Alpine folded belts involving Triassic evaporites, from the Paris Basin, the Aquitanian Basin and the Pyrenees (Chapter 18), the Betics-Rif (Chapter 19), the Alps (Chapters 20 and 21), the Apulian and Ionian zones (Chapters 23 and 24) and the Fore-Balkans in Bulgaria (Chapter 22). Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods is shown in Fig. 5. Legend and symbols are detailed in Fig. 17. Location of the numbered columns is shown in Fig. 12. Credits are detailed in the text.

Fig. 20(opens in new tab/window) Lithostratigraphic columns of the North Africa onshore salt basins, from the Atlas in Morocco (Chapter 26), the Tunisian Atlas (Chapter 25) and the Saharan Platform in Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (Chapter 27). Chronostratigraphic scale of the Permian and Triassic Periods is shown in Fig. 5. Location of the numbered columns is shown in Fig. 12. Credits are detailed in the text.

Chapter 3 - Late Permian - Early Jurassic Paleogeography of Western Tethys and the World by Christopher R. Scotese and Antonio Schettino

Fig. 1A(opens in new tab/window) & 1B(opens in new tab/window) Study area, showing the distribution of oceanic lithosphere in the Mediterranean region from the Earth’s surface down to the upper transition zone (500 km). Black lines are lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) depth contours. The lighter areas illustrate the present-day surface distribution of oceanic or transitional crust: EAB, eastern Algerian basin; HB, Herodotus basin; IB, Ionian basin; LPB, Liguro-Provençal basin; WAB, western Algerian basin. A–D: 200–300–400–500 km slices, respectively, showing the distribution of cold upper mantle anomalies (δvp/vp > 0) in the P-wave tomography model of Piromallo and Morelli (2003): ALB, Alboran; CS, Carpathian slab; EAS, eastern Alpine slab; EASL, eastern Alpine subcontinental lithosphere; EIS, eastern Ionian slab; NLT, northern Ligurian Tethys; NTS, Neo-Tethyan slab; PS, Pindos slab; SLT, southern Ligurian Tethys; WAS, western Alpine slab; WASL, western Alpine subcontinental lithosphere; WIS, western Ionian slab.

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Late Triassic fit of central Pangaea (230 Ma, late Carnian). The distribution of the continental lithosphere is shown in gray. Pre-Late Triassic oceanic lithosphere is shown in white. Present-day coastlines are shown for reference. The areas affected by rifting are bounded by orange lines. Transform faults are shown in green. Dashed line is a possible spreading center, which accounts for the subduction of western Tethys beneath the southern Eurasian margin. ADR, Adria; APU, Apulia; ARA, Arabia; DIN, Dinaride platform; EUR, Eurasia; IBE, Iberia; KIR, Kirşehir; MOR, Morocco; NAM, North America; NEA, northeast Africa; NWA, northwest Africa; PAB, Pannonian Basin; RHO, Rhodope; SAK, Sakarya; SEM, Serbia-Macedonia; SGR, southern Greece; TAU, Menderes-Taurides platform.

Fig. 3(opens in new tab/window) Plate tectonic evolution from the late Permian to the earliest Jurassic (260–200 Ma). Plate boundaries: subduction zones = lines with barbs, midocean ridges = dashed lines, and continental collision zones = small x’s. Plates: C, Cimmeria; MO, Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean; pF, proto-Farallon; pIz, proto-Izanagi; pNT, proto-NeoTethys; pPh, protoPhoenix; PT, PaleoTethys; S, Stikinia; W, Wrangellia.

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Late Permian paleogeography (Lopingian, 260 Ma).

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Early Late Triassic paleogeography (early Carnian, 230 Ma).

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Earliest Jurassic paleogeography (Hetangian/Sinemurian, 200 Ma).

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Late Permian control points. Black line = late Permian coastline, modern political boundaries and coastlines shown in gray. Plus symbols indicate continental facies. Circles indicate marine facies. Triangles are salt deposits. The size of the symbols is proportional to the duration of the stratigraphic interval from which a data point is taken. The area shaded gray in the upper-right corner of the map is the Siberian Traps.

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) Early Late Triassic control points. Black line = early Late Triassic paleocoastline, modern political boundaries and coastlines shown in gray. Plus symbols indicate continental facies. Circles indicate marine facies. Triangles are salt deposits. The size of the symbols is proportional to the duration of the stratigraphic interval from which a data point is taken.

Fig. 9(opens in new tab/window) Early Jurassic control points. Black line = Early Jurassic paleocoastline, modern political boundaries and coastlines shown in gray. Plus symbols indicate continental facies. Circles indicate marine facies. Triangles are salt deposits. The size of the symbols is proportional to the duration of the stratigraphic interval from which a data point is taken. The area shaded gray in the center of the map is the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP).

Fig. 10(opens in new tab/window) Index map of important geographic, geologic, and tectonic features. AA, AntiAtlas; Ap, Apulia; ApB, Pannonian Basin; Ard, Ardennes; Arm, Armorican Massif; BM, Bohemian Massif; Ca, Calabria; Cnt, Cantabria; Co, Corsica; EbH, El Biot High; Far, Faroes Trough; GB, Grand Banks; IbM, Iberian Meseta; IDB, Italo-Danaride block; MC, Massif Central; MP, Moesian Platform; NAS, North African shelf; Nf, Newfoundland; NPB, North Permian Basin; PaB, Pannonian Basin; PDG, Polish-Dobrugea Graben; PGB, Pelagonian-Golija Block; PT, Porcupine Trough; RG, Rockall graben; Rho, Rhodope; Sar, Sardinia; Sic, Sicily; SPB, South Permian Basin; SPT, Sub Pelagonian Trough; WA, Western Approaches.

Fig. 11(opens in new tab/window) Paleolatitudes of European cities during the late Permian through earliest Jurassic. This figure shows the transit of Paris (large dashes), Halifax (dots), Madrid (solid line), Rome (dashes and dots), and Tripoli (dashes) from the South Subtropical Arid Belt, across the Equatorial Rainy Belt, and into the North Subtropical Arid Belt. The gray dashed lines represent the boundaries of the Equatorial Rainy Belt. Time along the horizontal axis is millions of years. M, Mississipian; P, Pennsylvanian; Pm, Permian; Tr, Triassic; eJ, early Jurassic.

Fig. 12(opens in new tab/window) Eustatic sea level during the late Permian through earliest Jurassic. The dotted line represents changing global sea level (meters) after Haq et al. (1987). The time range of the paleogeographic maps are shown along the left side of the diagram. The major supersequence boundaries are shown, including the times of transgression (T) and regression (R). Time scale is from Gradstein, Ogg, Schmiz, and Ogg (2012).

Fig. 13(opens in new tab/window) Paleogeography of the late Permian (Lopingian: 259.8–252.17 Ma). The colors represent: dark blue = deep ocean, medium blue = continental slope, light blue = shallow shelf, light green = terrestrial areas receiving sediments, dark green = emergent areas, pink = Zechstein salt basin. The shading pattern: dots = clastics (i.e., mud, silt, sand, and conglomerate), brick = carbonates. The thick black line is the coastline. The thin dashed line is the shelf edge.

Fig. 14(opens in new tab/window) Paleogeography of the Middle-early Late Triassic (Ladinian and Carnian: 242–227 Ma). For description of the symbols see the caption for Fig. 13.

Fig. 15(opens in new tab/window) Paleogeography of the earliest Jurassic (Hettangian and Sinemurian: 201.3–190.8 Ma). For description of the symbols see the caption for Fig. 13.

Chapter 5 - The internal structure of the Zechstein salt and related drilling risks in the northern Netherlands by Frank Strozyk

Fig. 3(opens in new tab/window) E-W seismic section (A; data provided by NAM; VE: 5×; for location see Figs. 1A and 4A) and its seismo-stratigraphic interpretation sketch (B) trending from the Friesland Platform (left) into the Waddenzee area (right). The strong variation in thickness and deformation of the Zechstein section clearly correlates to the complexity of intrasalt structures, imaged by the interpreted Z3AC reflections (black): a thin, layered salt and less deformed Z3AC on the Friesland Platform highly contrasts with the thick, diapiric salt and the highly fragmented and folded Z3AC in the Waddenzee. Note how the Z3AC is highly discontinuous and is intensively folded within the salt crest on the right-hand side (B). As indicated by the deformation in the postsalt sediments, early, thin-skinned salt diapirism was triggered by extension and rafting of the overlying Lower Triassic sediments, and reactivated during compressional tectonics in the Late Cretaceous to Paleogene times. The almost undeformed Neogene to Quaternary sediments indicate that deformation and salt motion dropped during this epoch.

Part II: Zechstein Basin

Chapter 7 - Palaeogeographic Evolution of Latest Permian and Triassic Salt Basins in Northwest Europe by Tom McKie

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Illustrative geoseismic sections of Permo-Triassic basin-fill successions. (A) The Horda Platform area shows Late Permian to Early Triassic half-graben (cf. Steel & Ryseth, 1990) in the approximate boundary region between open marine Zechstein to the north and evaporitic Zechstein to the south. (B) Zechstein halite was extensively mobilized across the Central North Sea region, beginning in the Early Triassic with minibasin formation. (C) Composite transect from the East Midlands Shelf eastward into the Southern Permian Basin showing halokinesis of the Zechstein and thickening of the Late Triassic into the Glückstadt Graben. (D) Late Triassic half-graben on the UK Western Approaches with mobile Carnian halite in the hangingwall. Section locations are shown in Fig. 1. ((B) Modified from Zanella, E., & Coward, M. P. (2003). Structural framework. In D. Evans, C. Graham, A. Armour, & P. Bathurst (Eds.), The millennium atlas: Petroleum geology of the Central and Northern North Sea (pp. 45–59). London: Geological Society of London. (C) From Pharaoh, T. C., Dusar, M., Geluk, M. C., Kockel, F., Krawczyk, C. M., Krzywiec, P., et al. (2010). Tectonic evolution. In J. C. Doornenbal, & A. G. Stevenson, (Eds.), Petroleum geological atlas of the Southern Permian Basin Area (pp. 25–57). Houten: EAGE Publications BV.)

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Illustrative gamma well log correlations showing the stratigraphic context of Permo-Triassic halites. P-T indicates the approximate position of the Permian-Triassic boundary. (A) West-east correlation from the Moray Firth into the Northern Permian Basin (wells 11/30-6, 12/26-3, 11/30a-10, 12/28-1, 12/23-1, 12/29-2, 12/30-1, 18/5a-1, 20/3-1, 20/12-2, 21/11-1). Marginal fluvial-eolian facies pass basinwards into lagoonal and anhydritic basin-margin evaporites, which define the periphery of basin-centered halite and carnalite successions. (B) South-north section from the UK Western Approaches northwards via the English Midlands into the East Irish Sea (wells 72/10-1, 73/6-1, 73/2-1, 73/14-1, 74/1-1, 85/28-1, 86/18-1, 86/17-1, 87/12-1, 98/11-1, Nettlecombe, Winterborn Kingston, Cranborne, Lockerley, Farley South, Cooles Farm, Stretton, Kempsey, Ranton, Prees, Burford, Elworth, Knutsford, 110/13-1, 110/11-1, 110/6b-1, 110/9-1, 113/27-1, 112/13-1). Halite in the south (Western Approaches and Wessex Basin) accumulated in Carnian rifts with marine access from the south. To the north the East Irish Sea halites are Middle Triassic in age and the marine brine source was located to the east in the Southern Permian Basin. (C) West-east section from the East Irish Sea into the Southern Permian Basin (wells 110/2b-9, 110/11-1, 110/13-1, Knutsford, Elworth, Burford, Prees, Ranton, Alrewas, Long Eaton, Farley’s Wood, Clarborough, Torksey-4, Tetney Lock, 48/7a-9, 49/6-4, 44/21-2, 44/23-6, 44/12-1, 44/13-1, F04-3, L02-1, F14-7). The East Irish Sea halites were the product of episodic seepage and spill of marine waters from the Southern Permian Basin during Muschelkalk marine flooding. Restriction of marine access to Tethys led to precipitation of the Early Anisian Rőt and Late Anisian Muschelkalk halites within the Southern Permian Basin, while the East Irish Sea reverted to a sediment-starved continental playa.

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Paleogeographic context of the main Permo-Triassic halite-bearing intervals (see Fig. 6 for color key). For ease of comparison the map panels maintain the same area of interest rather than depicting ongoing plate movement. The Tethyan region is generalized and the position of discrete terranes has been omitted. (A) Deposition of latest Permian Zechstein cycles Z4–Z7 occurred during retreat of the Boreal seaway. Large volumes of halite (the limits of SPB halites associated with cycles Z4–Z6 are indicated by contours) demonstrate continued marine access, but without the episodes of fully marine inundation seen in earlier Zechstein cycles. (B) The early Anisian Rőt Halite resulted from initial, restricted connection with Tethyan marine waters, which entered a postrift playa extending across the Southern Permian Basin. (C) In the middle Anisian East Irish Sea halites were the product of westward penetration of marine waters following the Lower Muschelkalk flooding of the Southern Permian Basin. (D) Restriction of the Tethyan connections resulted in the late Anisian Muschelkalk Halite within the Southern Permian Basin. (E) Early and Late Carnian halites were precipitated across a wide area during expansion of the rift basin network, although halite in the Southern Permian Basin is restricted to the axes of the rift systems rather than extending across the Southern Permian Basin. (F) Halite distribution was located further to the south during the Norian as a result of the northward drift of NW Europe beyond the equatorial arid zone.

Chapter 9 - Structure and evolution of the Glueckstadt Graben in relation to the other post-Permian sub-basins of the Central European Basin System by Yuriy Maystrenko, Ulf Bayer and Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic settings within the Central European Basin System (modified after Maystrenko, Y. P., Bayer, U., & Scheck-Wenderoth, M. (2012). Regional-scale structural role of Permian salt within the Central European Basin System. In G. I. Alsop, S. G. Archer, A. J. Hartley, N. T. Grant, & R. Hodgkinson (Eds.), Salt tectonics, sediments and prospectivity (Vol. 363, pp. 409–430). London: Geological Society of London, Special Publications; Maystrenko, Y. P., Bayer, U., & Scheck-Wenderoth, M. (2013). Salt as a 3D element in structural modeling: Example from the Central European basin system. Tectonophysics, 591, 62–82) with location of the 3D structural model of the Central European Basin System (orange frame). The transparent gray color corresponds to the present-day extent of Permian deposits. The major fault zones—EFS, Elbe Fault System; LTZ, Lithospheric Transition Zone (after Medhus, A. B., Balling, N., Jacobsen, B. H., Kind, R., & England, R. W. (2009). Deep-structural differences in southwestern Scandinavia revealed by P-wave travel time residuals. Norwegian Journal of Geology, 89, 203–214); STZ, Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone; TTZ, Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone.

Fig. 12(opens in new tab/window) (A) True vertical thickness and distribution (green line) of the Permian salt (Zechstein plus salt-rich Rotliegend) and (B) top of the Permian salt within the Central European Basin System. (Modified after Maystrenko, Y. P., Bayer, U., & Scheck-Wenderoth, M. (2012). Regional-scale structural role of Permian salt within the Central European Basin System. In G. I. Alsop, S. G. Archer, A. J. Hartley, N. T. Grant, & R. Hodgkinson (Eds.), Salt tectonics, sediments and prospectivity (Vol. 363, pp. 409–430). London: Geological Society of London, Special Publications; Maystrenko, Y. P., Bayer, U., & Scheck-Wenderoth, M. (2013). Salt as a 3D element in structural modeling: Example from the Central European basin system. Tectonophysics, 591, 62–82.) Structural elements: CG, Central Graben; FT, Fjerritslev Trough; GG, Glueckstadt Graben; HG, Horn Graben; HiG, Himmerland Graben; LSB, Lower Saxony Basin; MNSH, Mid North Sea High; NEGB, Northeast German Basin; PB, Polish Basin; RFH, Ringkoebing-Fyn High; SPB, Sole Pit Basin. Red frame is the 3D structural model of the Glueckstadt Graben, detailed in Figs. 3 and 8.

Fig. 13(opens in new tab/window) True vertical thicknesses of sediments within the Central European Basin System. (Modified after Maystrenko, Y. P., Bayer, U., & Scheck-Wenderoth, M. (2012). Regional-scale structural role of Permian salt within the Central European Basin System. In G. I. Alsop, S. G. Archer, A. J. Hartley, N. T. Grant, & R. Hodgkinson (Eds.), Salt tectonics, sediments and prospectivity (Vol. 363, pp. 409–430). London: Geological Society of London, Special Publications; Maystrenko, Y. P., Bayer, U., & Scheck-Wenderoth, M. (2013). Salt as a 3D element in structural modeling: Example from the Central European basin system. Tectonophysics, 591, 62–82.) (A) Triassic, (B) Jurassic, (C) Cretaceous, and (D) Cenozoic. Structural elements: BFB, Broad Fourteens Basin; CFD, Carpathian foredeep; CG, Central Graben; CNB, Central Netherlands Basin; EHT, East Holstein Trough; FH, Flechtingen High; FT, Fjerritslev Trough; GG, Glueckstadt Graben; GH, Grampian High; HCM, Holy Cross Mountains; HG, Horn Graben; HiG, Himmerland Graben; HM, Harz Mountains; LH, Lasutian High; LRG, Lower Rhine Graben; LSB, Lower Saxony Basin; MB, Muensterland Basin; MFB, Moray Firth Basin; NDB, Norwegian-Danish Basin; NEGB, Northeast German Basin; NGB, North German Basin; NS, Netherlands Swell; PB, Polish Basin; RFH, Ringkoebing-Fyn High; RVG, Roer Valley Graben; ShP, Shetland Platform; SPB, Sole Pit Basin; STZ, Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone; TTZ, Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone; VG, Viking Graben; WHT, West Holstein Trough; WNB, West Netherlands Basin. Red frame is the 3D structural model of the Glueckstadt Graben, detailed in Figs. 3 and 11.

Fig. 14(opens in new tab/window) Modeled true vertical thickness maps of the Permian (Zechstein plus salt-rich Rotliegend) salt. (Modified after Maystrenko, Y. P., Bayer, U., & Scheck-Wenderoth, M. (2013). Salt as a 3D element in structural modeling: Example from the Central European basin system. Tectonophysics, 591, 62–82.) (A) Initial thickness of the Permian salt at the end of the Permian, (B) end of the Triassic, (C) end of the Jurassic, and (D) prior to the Late Cretaceous-Early Cenozoic inversion. For structural elements see Fig. 13. Red frame is the 3D structural model of the Glueckstadt Graben. Green line outlines the present-day distribution of the Permian salt.

Chapter 10 - The tectonic history of the Zechstein Basin in the Netherlands and Germany by Frank Strozyk, Lars Reuning, Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth and David Tanner

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) (A) Overview map of the NW-SE-trending Southern Permian Basin in northwest Europe (modified after Doornenbal, H., & Stevenson, A., et al. (2010). Petroleum geological atlas of the Southern Permian Basin (p. 354). Houten: EAGE Publications). The thickest, salt-rich occurrences of Zechstein salt in the central basin are shown in dark gray, the transition to the carbonate-anhydrite-rich platform deposits occurring along the outer boundary of the basin is gray. Salt pillows (blue) and diapirs (red) trace regional trends of the main tectonic regimes during postsalt deformation, which are NW-SE and N-S. The dotted line indicates a major NW-SE-trending fault tone that comprises the German Elbe Fault System (EFS), the Dutch Hantum Fault Zone (HFZ), and others. UK, United Kingdom; NL, The Netherlands; GER, Germany; DEN, Denmark; POL, Poland. (B) Overview of main structural elements in the Netherlands and northern Germany (compiled after Geluk, M. C. (2000). Steps towards prediction of the internal tectonics of salt structures. In R. M. Geertman (Ed.), Proceedings of the 8th world salt symposium, The Hague. Amsterdam/New York: Elsevier; Scheck, M., Bayer, U., & Lewerenz, B. (2003a). Salt movements in the northeast German Basin and its relation to major post-Permian tectonic phases—Results from 3D structural modeling, backstripping and reflection seismic data. Tectonophysics, 361, 277–299. doi:10.1016/s0040-1951(02)00650-9; Scheck, M., Bayer, U., & Lewerenz, B. (2003b). Salt redistribution during extension and inversion inferred from 3D backstripping. Tectonophysics, 373, 55–73. doi:10.1016/s0040-1951(03)00283-x; Kley, J., & Voigt, T. (2008). Late Cretaceous intraplate thrusting in central Europe: Effect of Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence, not Alpine collision. Geology, 36, 839–842; and Doornenbal, H., & Stevenson, A., et al. (2010). Petroleum geological atlas of the Southern Permian Basin. Houten: EAGE Publications, 354 pp.). Dark gray areas indicate structural highs, light gray areas structural lows. The red lines indicate the locations of profiles. (C) Map of Rotliegend gas reservoirs (red; after Doornenbal, H., & Stevenson, A., et al. (2010). Petroleum geological atlas of the Southern Permian Basin (p. 354). Houten: EAGE Publications) and their position relative to the Zechstein basin facies (gray) within the SPB. Note that the reservoirs follow the general WNW-ESE trend of the SPB and are aligned along the southern margin of the Zechstein Basin.

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) (A) Compiled regional line of seven NNE-SSW trending seismic profiles across the entire Dutch onshore, provided by TNO (vertical exaggeration (V.E.): 6×; for location see Figs. 1B and 4A (only northern part)). The line covers all structural elements from the salt-rich, gas-prone Lower Saxony Basin to the north (i.e., Coevorden area), across the salt-poor Central Netherlands Basin and the Maasbommel High in the center, to the Roer Valley Graben in the south. (B) Interpretation sketch of the line (modified after Hillebrand, C. (2016). Tectonic-stratigraphic interpretation and kinematic reconstruction along a regional NNE-SSW seismic-reflection transect across the eastern Netherlands (p. 64). M.Sc. Thesis, RWTH Aachen University). The thick and largely deformed Zechstein salts in the north wedge out towards the structural highs in the central Netherlands, where the Zechstein platform facies forms a 50–200 m thick layer that mainly consists of carbonates, anhydrite and clay and is mechanically coupled to the Carboniferous and Permian sediments below. This also indicates that these highs were located at the Zechstein Sea margin during evaporite deposition, and that most of the structural highs and lows observed today were already formed before the late Permian, but were occasionally reactivated during postsalt tectonics. The large, steep-flanked diapir is the prominent Onstwedde Diapir.

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) (A) Compiled E-W profiles (top; provided by NAM; V.E.: 5×; for location see Figs. 1B and 4A) and the interpretation sketch (bottom) from the Friesland Platform (left), across the Lauwerszee Trough (center), to the Groningen High (right). This regional line highlights that salt diapirism mainly occurred along the boundaries between the structural highs and lows. Furthermore, it demonstrates the major differences in salt deformation and intrasalt structures of the Friesland Platform (left) and the Groningen High (right), which is related to changes in initial Zechstein thickness and the varying impact of postsalt tectonics (cf. Strozyk et al., 2014). Black, dotted lines indicate sediment geometries inside rafted and partially tilted Triassic blocks. The top of the seismically visible layer of the stacked Platty Dolomite and Main Anhydrite at the base of the Z3 cycle (Z3AC) is exemplarily marked in white. (B) Regional seismic line (top) and its interpretation sketch (bottom) trending from the central Friesland Platform across the Hantum Fault Zone (which is part of a major fault zone through the SPB) into the Waddenzee basin, provided by NAM (see also data by Strozyk et al. (2014); V.E.: 5×; for location of the profile see Figs. 1B and 4A (only eastern part)). Note the (apparently) E-dipping trend of base salt (actual dip is N/NE (see Strozyk et al., 2014)), which caused early, gravity-driven salt flow towards the Hantum Fault Zone (Strozyk et al., 2014). Furthermore, it images a prominent jump from the less deformed, wedge-shaped salt at the platform to thick salt in the Waddenzee, which is deformed to salt pillows and diapirs as well as very thin salt layers below subsided Triassic sediments. Black dotted lines within the Triassic illustrate the change from rafted and tilted, tabular Lower Triassic to only locally deposited Middle to Upper Triassic sediments. The top of the seismically visible Z3 Platty Dolomite and Main Anhydrite (Z3AC) is exemplarily marked in white. White question marks indicate that the exact distribution and thickness of Jurassic sediments is not fully clear.

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) NE-SW seismic profile (A; provided by NAM; V.E.: 5×; for location see Fig. 1B) and its interpretation sketch (B) across the K15/L13 blocks in the Dutch offshore at the transition from the offshore extension of the Texel-Ijsselmeer High to the Broad Fourteens Basin (modified after Fischer, M. (2012). 3D seismic data-based tectono-stratigraphic interpretation of the north-eastern edge of the Broad Fourteens Basin offshore the northern Netherlands (p. 81). M.Sc. Thesis, RWTH Aachen University). Note the change from less deformed Zechstein and postsalt sediments on the high (right) to the complex deformation patterns of salt and sediments at the transition to the deeper basin area (left). This profile also highlights (i) the common lack of Jurassic sediments on top of structural highs, (ii) the tabular, initially undeformed layering of Lower Cretaceous sediments that were subsequently folded during Late Cretaceous contraction, and (iii) the complexity of fold and thrust structures that formed during Late Cretaceous compressional tectonics (left).

Chapter 11 - Permo-triassic evaporites of the polish basin and their bearing on the tectonic evolution and hydrocarbon system, an overview by Piotr Krzywiec, Tadeusz Marek Peryt, Hubert Kiersnowski, Paweł Pomianowski, Grzegorz Czapowski and Krzysztof Kwolek

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) Zechstein salt structures of the Central European Basin System (after Dadlez, R., Marek, S., & Pokorski, J. (Eds.). (1998). Palaeogeographic atlas of the epicontinental Permian and Mesozoic in Poland, scale 1:2 500 000. Warsaw; Lockhorst, A. (Ed.) 1998. NW European Gas Atlas. British Geological Survey, Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Danmarks og Gronlands Geologiske Undersogelse, Nederlands Instituut voor Toegepaste Geowetenschappen. Państwowy Instytut Geologiczny, European Union, simplified) and areas that underwent the Alpine inversion (after Ziegler, P. A. (1990). Geological atlas of Western and Central Europe (239 pp.), 2nd ed. Bath: Shell Internationale Petroleum Maatschappij B.V. and Geological Society Publishing House; Ziegler, P. A., Bertotti, G., & Cloetingh, S. (2002). Dynamic processes controlling foreland development—The role of mechanical (de)coupling of orogenic wedges and forelands. In: G. Bertotti, K. Schulmann, & S. Cloetingh (Eds.), Continental collision and the Tectonosedimentary evolution of forelands (Vol. 1, pp. 29–91). Munich: European Geosciences Union (Stephan Mueller Special Publication Series). Dark blue lines: main faults (cf., Mazur, S., Scheck-Wenderoth, M., & Krzywiec P. (2005). Different modes of inversion in the German and Polish basins. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 94, 782–798. doi: 10.1007/s00531-005-0016-z; Pharaoh, T. C., Dusar, M., Geluk, M. C., Kockel, F., Krawczyk, C. M., Krzywiec, P., Scheck-Wenderoth, M., Thybo, H., Vejbæk, O. V., & Van Wees, J. D. (2010). Tectonic evolution. In: J. C. Doornenbal, & A. G. Stevenson (Eds.), Petroleum geological atlas of the Southern Permian Basin area (pp. 25–57). Houten: EAGE Publications B.V.; Scheck-Wenderoth, M., Krzywiec, P., Zülke, R., Maystrenko, Y., & Frizheim, N. (2008). Permian to Cretaceous tectonics. In: T. McCann (Ed.), The geology of central Europe, 2, Mesozoic and Cenozoic (pp. 999–1030). London: Geological Society of London); TTZ: Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone, STZ: Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone (after Pharaoh, T. C. (1999). Palaeozoic terranes and their lithospheric boundaries within the Trans-European Suture Zone, a review. Tectonophysics, 314, 17–41. doi: 10.1016/S0040-1951(99)00235-8), green line: regional seismic transect from Fig. 2.

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Regional seismo-geological transect across the central (Kuiavian) part of the Polish Basin. (Modified after Krzywiec, P. (2004). Triassic evolution of the Kłodawa salt structure: Basement-controlled salt tectonics within the Mid-Polish Trough (central Poland). Geological Quarterly, 48(2), 123–134; Scheck-Wenderoth, M., Krzywiec, P., Zülke, R., Maystrenko, Y., & Frizheim, N. (2008). Permian to Cretaceous tectonics. In: T. McCann (Ed.), The geology of central Europe, 2, Mesozoic and Cenozoic (pp. 999–1030). London: Geological Society of London.)

Fig. 3(opens in new tab/window) Upper Rotliegend stratigraphy in Polish and North German Basins.

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Polish Basin—Early Permian to the earliest Late Permian (Rotliegend) lithofacies and paleogeography. (After modified Gast, R., Dusar, M., Breitkreuz, C., Gaupp, R., Schneider, J. W., Stemmerik, L., Geluk, M., Geißler, M., Kiersnowski, H., Glennie, K., Kabel, S., & Jones, N. (2010). Rotliegend. In: J. C. Doornenbal & A. G. Stevenson (Eds.), Petroleum geological atlas of the Southern Permian Basin area (pp. 101–121). Houten: EAGE Publications B.V.; Kiersnowski, H. (2013). Palaeozoic climate cycles: Their evolutionary and sedimentological impact. In: A. Gąsiewicz, & M. Słowakiewicz (Eds.), Late Permian aeolian sand seas from the Polish Upper Rotliegend Basin in the context of palaeoclimatic periodicity (Vol. 376, pp. 431–456). London: Geological Society of London (Special Publication). doi: 10.1144/SP376.20.)

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Zechstein stratigraphy in Poland.

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Polish Basin—Late Permian (Zechstein) lithofacies and paleogeography. (After modified Dadlez, R., Marek, S., & Pokorski, J. (Eds.). (1998). Palaeogeographic atlas of the epicontinental Permian and Mesozoic in Poland, scale 1:2 500 000. Warsaw: Polish Geological Institute; Peryt, T. M., Geluk, M. C., Mathiesen, A., Paul, J., & Smith, K. (2010). Zechstein. In: J. C. Doornenbal & A. G. Stevenson (Eds.), Petroleum geological atlas of the Southern Permian Basin area (pp. 225–253). Houten: EAGE Publications B.V.)

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Polish Basin—Late Triassic (Middle Keuper, Lower Gypsum Beds) lithofacies and paleogeography. (After modified Gajewska, I., Peryt, T. M., & Tomassi-Morawiec, H. (1985). Bromine content of the Keuper (Upper Triassic) salts in Central Poland indicates their marine (mainly second cycle) origin. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte, 6, 349–356; Dadlez, R., Marek, S., & Pokorski, J. (Eds.). (1998). Palaeogeographic atlas of the epicontinental Permian and Mesozoic in Poland, scale 1:2 500 000. Warsaw: Polish Geological Institute.) Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) Polish Basin—Late Triassic (Middle Keuper, Lower Gypsum Beds)—selected well profiles. Fig. 9(opens in new tab/window) Geological map of Poland without Cenozoic cover (Dadlez, Marek, & Pokorski, 2000), red lines: location of seismic profiles shown in Figs. 10–19. Green colors: Cretaceous, blue colors: Jurassic, pink colors: Triassic, orange: Zechstein (for more details see Dadlez et al., 2000). Pomeranian Swell and Kuiavian Swell: two segments of the Mid-Polish Swell, i.e., inverted Mid-Polish Trough, located above the Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone (cf. Fig. 1). Fig. 10(opens in new tab/window) Seismic example of the peripheral structure (the so-called Koszalin-Chojnice Fault Zone) located along the NE margin of the Pomeranian segment of the Mid-Polish Swell (cf., Krzywiec, 2012). Intra-Upper Cretaceous unconformities document several phases of inversion of this structure that previously evolved as a thin-skinned extensional feature. For location see Fig. 9. Fig. 11(opens in new tab/window) Thin-skinned peripheral structure (Siekierki half graben) located along the SW margin of the central part of the Mid-Polish Swell. Localized thickness increase of the Lower Triassic succession is related to the extensional phase of its development; an overall anticlinal structure of the entire Mesozoic section was formed during the Late Cretaceous inversion of the Polish Basin. For location see Fig. 9. Fig. 12(opens in new tab/window) Thin-skinned peripheral structure (half graben bounded by a listric normal fault) located along the SW margin of the central part of the Mid-Polish Swell. For location see Fig. 9. Fig. 13(opens in new tab/window) Thin-skinned peripheral structure (half graben bounded by a listric normal fault) from the westernmost part of the Polish Basin. For location see Fig. 9. Fig. 14(opens in new tab/window) Small-scale Early Triassic extensional structure from the Pomeranian segment of the Mid-Polish Swell that might be indirectly related to a deeper Devonian-Carboniferous fault zone. For location see Fig. 9. Fig. 15(opens in new tab/window) Salt pillows formed during the Late Cretaceous inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough. For location see Fig. 9. Fig. 16(opens in new tab/window) Asymmetric salt diapir showing strong compressional reactivation during the Late Cretaceous inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough. For location see Fig. 9.

Fig. 17(opens in new tab/window) Salt diapir showing strong compressional reactivation during the Late Cretaceous inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough. For location see Fig. 9.

Fig. 18(opens in new tab/window) Gopło salt diapir showing strong compressional reactivation during the Late Cretaceous inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough. For location see Fig. 9.

Fig. 19(opens in new tab/window) Kłodawa salt diapir with large overhang formed as an extrusive salt glacier in Late Triassic, compressionally deformed during the Late Cretaceous inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough. For location see Fig. 9.

Fig. 20(opens in new tab/window) Carboniferous-Permian petroleum system.

Part III: Atlantic Margins Chapter 12 - Salt tectonics of the Norwegian Barents Sea and Northeast Greenland shelf by Mark G. Rowan and Sidsel Lindso

Fig. 13(opens in new tab/window) 2D, time-migrated seismic profile across the NE Nordkapp basin: (A) uninterpreted; (B) interpreted based on horizon picks from Høy, T. (2013). Geologisk kartlegging og seismisk tolking av de nye områdenei Barentshavet sørøst. Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. http://www.npd.no/global/norsk/3-publikasjoner/ressursrapporter/ressursrapport2013/tore-hoey.pdf (seismic data courtesy of the NPD). The mounded features at the north end of the line are carbonate buildups. White double-headed arrows denote depocenters, numbers in white circles indicate intervals or features discussed in text. The fault beneath the widest diapir cannot be identified here but is imaged along strike. Approximate line location shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 17(opens in new tab/window) 2D, depth-migrated composite seismic profile across part of the NE Greenland shelf: (A) uninterpreted; (B) interpreted (seismic data courtesy of TGS, ION-GXT, and the Kanumas project). Ages of sub-Cretaceous horizons are uncertain, as is the correlation across the Danmarkshavn Ridge. Short segment of interpreted Moho is constrained by strike lines. Approximate line location shown in Fig. 2.

Chapter 13 - A review of Mesozoic-Cenozoic salt tectonics along the Scotian margin, eastern Canada by Mark Deptuck and Kris Kendell

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) (A)(opens in new tab/window) (B)(opens in new tab/window) Regional maps of the Scotian margin showing (A) Important structural elements including basement highs, faults, the interpreted perimeter of the primary salt basin, and present-day distribution of salt bodies. (B) Total sediment thickness between the seafloor and the top basement, showing well and figure locations. Faults in the Fundy Basin are from Wade, Brown, Fensome, and Traverse (1996); landward most faults on the LaHave Platform from Wade and MacLean (1990). See text for details. SDR, seaward dipping reflections; ECMA, East Coast Magnetic Anomaly.

Fig. 3(opens in new tab/window) (A) Top basement depth-structure map overlain by basement faults and the perimeter of the primary salt basin. (B) Location of major basement features, grabens, and subbasins described in the text. Wells that penetrate basement, synrift strata, or the autochthonous salt layer also shown. The seaward boundary of the primary salt basin is separated into three different segments (red); see text for details and Fig. 1 for legend.

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Line drawings of composite seismic sections across the Scotian margin. Each profile was flattened roughly on the Middle Jurassic J163 marker. Pre-J152 strata also shown, illustrating the abrupt increase in Jurassic sedimentation in profiles (C) and (D) across the central and northeastern parts of the margin. Question marks and dashed lines identify regions of increased interpretation uncertainty. See text for details and Fig. 1B for line locations.

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Line drawings of representative composite seismic sections across the Scotian margin, arranged from southwest (A) to northeast (G). The water column was depth-converted in each profile, removing the associated water-column velocity sag with increasing water depth, but otherwise the vertical scale is shown in two-way travel time. See Fig. 1B for line locations.

Chapter 14 - Salt diapirism influence over the basin architecture and hydrocarbon prospects of the Western Iberian Margin by Rui Pena dos Reis, Nuno Pimentel, Roberto Fainstein, Marta Reis and Bjorn Rasmussen

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) Location and geological framework of the studied area. (A) Onshore and offshore basins of the Western Iberian Margin, including the Lusitanian and Peniche Basins. Bb, Berlengas block; Gb, Guadalquivir block (Betic-Rif arc); Ss, Sagres spur. The red dotted line represents the approximate position of the schematic section depicted in Fig. 8. (B) Simplified geological map of the Lusitanian Basin. C, Coimbra; L, Leiria; N, Nazaré; PN, Peniche; SC, Santa Cruz; T, Tomar; TV, Torres Vedras; VF, Vale Furado.

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Simplified lithostratigraphic chart of the Lusitanian Basin, with indication of the main geodynamic stages, magmatic events and first order sequences. (Adapted from Pimentel, N., & Pena dos Reis, R. (2016). Petroleum systems of the West Iberian Margin; a review of the Lusitanian basin and the deep offshore Peniche Basin. Journal of Petroleum Geology, 39(3), 305–326.)

Fig. 3(opens in new tab/window) Stratigraphy and paleogeography of the salt-rich Dagorda Formation. Upper table—Lithostratigraphy of the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic units at the Lusitanian Basin, showing its lateral and vertical articulations (based on Palain, C. (1976). Une série détritique terrigène. Les «Grès de Silves»: Trias et Lias inférieur du Portugal. Memórias Serviços Geológicos de Portugal, Nova Série 25, 377 pp.; Rocha, R. B., Marques, B. L., Kullberg, J. C., Caetano, P. C., Lopes, C., Soares, A. F., et al. (1996). The 1st and 2nd rifting phases of the Lusitanian Basin: Stratigraphy, sequence analysis and sedimentary evolution. Final Report (unpublished), C. E. C. Proj. MILUPOBAS, 4, Lisboa; Soares, A. F., Marques, J. F. & Calapez, P. (2010). O Grupo de Silves (Coimbra-Penela). In J. M. C. Neiva, A. Ribeiro, L. M. Victor, F. Noronha, & M. M. Ramalho (Eds.), Ciências Geológicas—Ensino, Investigação e sua História (pp. 397–404). Associação Portuguesa de Geólogos e Sociedade Geológica de Portugal; Kullberg, J. C., Rocha, R. B., Soares, A. F., Rey, J., Terrinha, P., Azerêdo, A. C., et al. (2013). A Bacia Lusitaniana: Estratigrafia, Paleogeografia e Tectónica. In R. Dias, A. Araújo, P. Terrinha, & J. C. Kullberg (Eds.), Geologia de Portugal — Geologia Meso-cenozóica de Portugal (pp. 195–347). Lisboa: Escolar Editora). White numbers 1–4 correspond to informal Dagorda Members: (1) Clay/Salt Member, with red clays and halite; (2) Salt Member, with red/grey clays and gypsum; (3) Mixed Salt Member, with halite, gypsum and grey clays; (4) Dolomitic Member, with dolomite, halite and gypsum. Lower sketch—conceptual model of the proximal-distal variations (broadly E-W) of the lateral and vertical distribution of the Silves Group red-beds and the salt-rich deposits of the Dagorda Formation, related to rotated half grabens.

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic control and position of the Dagorda Formation salt-rich units at the Lusitanian Basin (onshore and offshore; same area as in Fig. 1B) based on the Near Top “Massive Dagorda Salt” time structure map from Rasmussen et al. (1998, Plate II). Red lines A–F represent the location of interpreted seismic lines, depicted as insets A–F. (A) Line S84-23, adapted from Rasmussen, E. S., Lomholt, S., Andersen, C., & Vejbæk, O. V. (1998). Aspects of the structural evolution of the Lusitanian Basin in Portugal and the shelf and slope area offshore Portugal. Tectonophysics, 300, 199–225. (B) Line adapted from Lomholt, S., Rasmussen, E. S., Andersen, C., Vejbaek, O. V., Madsen, L., & Steinhardt, H. (1996). Seismic interpretation and mapping of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal. Contribution to MILUPOBAS Project, EC Contract JOU2-CT94-0348, Geological Survey of Denmark, 70 pp. (C) Line UTP 81-3, adapted from Carvalho, L. (2013). Tectónica e caraterização da fracturação do Maciço Calcário Estremenho, Bacia Lusitaniana. Contributo para a prospeção de rochas ornamentais e ordenamento da atividade extrativa (Ph.D. Thesis). Lisbon University, 443 pp. http://repositorio.lneg.pt/handle/10400.9/2049. (D) Line BL-9, adapted from Rasmussen, E. S., Lomholt, S., Andersen, C., & Vejbæk, O. V. (1998). Aspects of the structural evolution of the Lusitanian Basin in Portugal and the shelf and slope area offshore Portugal. Tectonophysics, 300, 199–225. (E) Line AR-9-80, adapted from Rasmussen, E. S., Lomholt, S., Andersen, C., & Vejbæk, O. V. (1998). Aspects of the structural evolution of the Lusitanian Basin in Portugal and the shelf and slope area offshore Portugal. Tectonophysics, 300, 199–225. (F) Line adapted from Lomholt, S., Rasmussen, E. S., Andersen, C., Vejbaek, O. V., Madsen, L., & Steinhardt, H. (1996). Seismic interpretation and mapping of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal. Contribution to MILUPOBAS Project, EC Contract JOU2-CT94-0348, Geological Survey of Denmark, 70 pp.

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Configuration and tectonic controls of three piercing diapirs at the onshore Lusitanian Basin, depicted in detail in insets A–C. (A) Leiria diapir. (B) Porto de Mós diapir. (C) Matacães diapir (adapted from Miranda, J., Figueiredo, F. P., & Pimentel, N. (2011). Acquisition and modeling of gravimetric data over Matacães salt diapir (Torres Vedras, Lusitanian Basin, Portugal). Boletim de Geociências da Petrobras, 19 (1/2), 69–100): C1—schematic cross-section based in gravimetric data modeling (S represents a low-density salt body within the Dagorda Formation); C2—simplified geological map (the white line indicates the location of figure 6C1); C3—interpreted main structures (same area and scale as in figure C2).

Fig. 6 (A B C D & E)(opens in new tab/window) Fig.6 F(opens in new tab/window) Landscape and outcrop photos of salt-units and piercing diapirs of the Lusitanian Basin. (A) Western border of the São Martinho do Porto diapir (see Fig. 6F for location), showing increasing dip of the Upper Jurassic layers approaching the diapir (to the left). (B) Late Triassic red-beds with red clays and sands from the Castelo Viegas Formation at Coimbra City. (C) Southern border of the Santa Cruz diapir, showing increasing dip of the Upper Jurassic layers approaching the diapir (to the left). (D) Dagorda Formation with contorted red/grey clays with dolomites and gypsum, outcropping at the Santa Cruz diapir. (E) Landscape view of the Matacães diapir, seen from its western border, showing uplifted and deformed Jurassic and Cretaceous layers (see also Fig. 5C). (F) Oblique Google Earth image of the Lusitanian Basin detailing in purple the two main outcropping elongated diapirs of Caldas da Raínha and Porto de Mós (see also Figs. 4C and 5B).

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Salt tectonics at the offshore Peniche Basin, based in seismic interpretation. The location of the interpreted lines and diapirs is represented on a “free air gravity anomaly” map (Connors et al., 2012).

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) Salt tectonics and petroleum systems at the Western Iberian Margin. (A) Schematic articulation of the regional structures in the Lusitanian and Peniche Basins, depicting the configuration of salt tectonics, based in a broad fusion of several interpreted seismic lines, personal field work and the analysis of geological maps. (B) Conceptual sketch depicting the relationships between salt tectonics and petroleum systems at the Lusitanian Basin, with possible adaptations to the Peniche Basin.

Chapter 16 - Salt Tectonics within the offshore Asturian Basin: North Iberian Margin by Gonzalo Zamora, Matthew W. Fleming and Jorge Gallastegui

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) SW-NE composite 3D-2D seismic lines showing the regional architecture of the margin. (A) Line at the western margin of the basin shows an overall higher basement with a gentle continental slope. (B) Line at the central part of the basin shows a deeper basin and a prominent basement structure (Le Danois Bank) in its northern sector with a steep continental slope. Interpretation of the accretionary wedge based in Gallastegui et al. (2002) and Fernández-Viejo et al. (2012). Location in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Time slice at 2.2 s (TWT) covering both 3D surveys. (A) Uninterpreted seismic, (B) interpretation showing the salt-related structures. Salt walls and minibasin development are more prominent in the western sector, where up to 10 different salt-related structures can be identified. The eastern sector shows very few salt walls, but a well-developed salt sheet has been emplaced.

Fig. 6 (opens in new tab/window)(A) Uninterpreted West-east composite seismic line covering both 3D seismic surveys. (B) Interpreted version shows a series of tilted basement blocks in the Western Salt Domain that gradually deepens the basin to the east. The limit between the Western and Eastern Domain is interpreted in the central part of the seismic line, where a larger fault deepens the basin from 3 to 6 s (TWT). Location in Fig. 2.

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) (A) Uninterpreted West-east seismic line and (B) interpreted version showing some of the main salt structures in the basin. From west to east the Asturias tear-drop diapir, a major salt wall and a salt sheet. Note that the well MC H-2X did not drill salt and it was located near a salt sheet. Location in Fig. 2.

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) (A) Uninterpreted South-north seismic line through the western sector and (B) interpreted version showing a basement high limited by two opposing normal faults with diapirs. Later, these diapirs were compressed and squeezed, reaching the sea floor at Paleogene time. Location in Fig. 2.

Fig. 9(opens in new tab/window) (A) Uninterpreted South-north seismic line through the eastern sector and (B) interpreted version showing salt cored and faulted anticlines at the southern edge and the base Miocene unconformity which marks the end of the deformation. To the north, the base of the basin deeps below 5 s (TWT). Location in Fig. 2.

Fig. 10(opens in new tab/window) Three seismic lines showing a salt sheet in the eastern sector of the basin. (A and B) South-north and (C) West-east. The deeper diapir was compressed during Paleogene time. The sheet initiated in the hanging wall of a diapir-roof thrust. As compression continued, the sheet broke out at the surface and evolved into a thrust advancing salt sheet. The thin roof at that time favored extension on top of the salt sheet and developed an incipient roho system with creation of small minibasins and salt being expelled seaward. Location in Fig. 2.

Part IV: Alpine Folded Belts

Chapter 17 - Salt and strike-slip tectonics as main drivers in the structural evolution of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin, Spain by Pedro Cámara

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Geological map of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin. Based on IGME geological maps and own work. A large-scale image of this figure is available in the book website.

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Regional geological cross sections of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin. Inset shows the location of the sections. Chronostratigraphy and color scale for the different sequences is detailed in Fig. 3. A large-scale image of the sections is available in the book website.

Chapter 18 - The Southern Pyrenees: a salt-based fold and thrust belt by Pedro Cámara and Joan F. Flinch

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Geologic map with the main geological structures of the Southern Pyrenees with the location of seismic line drawings and geological cross sections. Based on IGME (Instituto Geologico y Minero de España) geologic maps and own observations.

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) Interpreted time-dip lines SL-1 to SL-4 through the Southern Pyrenees (see Fig. 4 for location). The sections illustrate the structure of the main thrust sheets, with the Triassic evaporites as a basal detachment.

Fig. 9(opens in new tab/window) Interpreted time-strike lines SL-5 to SL-7 through the Southern Pyrenees (see Fig. 4 for location). Notice location of intersection with lines of Fig. 8. These sections show the role of the Triassic in the structure of the study area.

Fig. 10(opens in new tab/window) Dip geological cross sections through the Southern Pyrenees based on geological surface information, depth-converted seismic and exploration well data. The locations of the sections are shown in Fig. 4.

Chapter 19 - Allochthonous triassic and salt tectonic processes in the betic-rif orogenic arc by Joan F. Flinch and Juan I. Soto

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic map of the Gibraltar Arc in the Western Mediterranean formed by mountain ranges of the Betics in Southern Spain and the Rif in Northern Morocco. The structures in the Alboran Sea and the Gulf of Cadiz are also included. Numbered red lines and boxes mark the position of the different figures. Well abbreviations are detailed in Figs. 4 and 10. This map compiles multiple data (e.g., Suter, 1980a, 1980b; García-Dueñas et al., 1985; Chalouan, Rachida, Michard, & Bally, 1997; Comas, Platt, Soto, & Watts, 1999; Chalouan et al., 2008; Soto, Fernández-Ibáñez, Talukder, & Martínez-García, 2010; Martínez-García, Comas, Soto, Lonergan, & Watts, 2013; Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, 2015; Fernández-Ibáñez & Soto, 2017). Complete credits are detailed in the Appendix. The nature of the oceanic crust in the Atlantic, beneath the accretionary wedge of the Gulf of Cadiz, is confirmed by geophysical observations (Sallarès et al., 2011). AI, Alboran island; CAW, Gulf of Cadiz accretionary wedge; EAB, East Alboran Basin; GAW, Guadalquivir accretionary wedge; RB, Rharb Basin; SAB, South Alboran Basin; SBB, South-Balearic Basin; WAB, West Alboran Basin. Wells correspond to B1, Bornos-1; Bet14, Betica-14; Bet18, Betica 18-1; Buj, Bujalance-1; Car1, Carcelen-1; CG1 to 3, Cerro Gordo-1 to -3; Ch, Chiclana-2; CNv, Casas Nieves 1; G1, Andalucía G1; IM, Isla Mayor-1; Jar1, Jaraco-1; KC1, Kcebia 1; Led1, Ledaña-1; MZ1&2, Bou Maiz 1 and 2; NC, Nueva Carteya-1; OR1, Oued Rdom 1; RGn1, Río Guadalquivir N-1; Sal1, Salobral-1; Sap, Sapo-1; V, Villamanrique-1; VA, Villalba de Alcor-1; w1, Alborán A1; w2, Andalucía A1; w3, El-Jebha; w4, ODP Site 976; w5, ODP Site 977; w6, ODP Site 978; w7, ODP Site 979; w8, DSDP Site 121.

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Crustal section from the Betics to the eastern Rif and across the Alboran Sea Basin using geological and geophysical data. Structures in the offshore are constrained by seismic data, simplified from Soto et al. (2010), Martínez-García et al. (2013), and Fernández-Ibáñez and Soto (2017). Position of the composite section is included in Fig. 1. Numbers correspond to densities (in kg m−3) according to the coincident, 2D gravity model of Torne, Banda, García-Dueñas, and Balanyá (1992). The base of the crust (thick discontinuous line) is also included from this model, as well as the position of a lithosphere body beneath the Betics (discontinuous green line). Sedimentary and crustal thicknesses are taken from the 3D crustal model of Soto, Fernández-Ibáñez, Fernàndez, and García-Casco (2008). FTB, fold-and-thrust belt; Vr, volcanic rocks.

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Summary panel of the lithologies and chronostratigraphy encountered in selected wells in the Betics and Rif. Position of the wells is included in Figs. 1, 5, 9, and 10. The stratigraphy of the well PF2 in the Rides Prerifaines is taken from Zizi (1996, 2002).

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic map of the western Rif modified from Flinch (1993, 1996) and Flinch et al. (1996) including information from Chalouan et al. (2008). Position of this map is detailed in Fig. 1.

Fig. 10(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic map of the western Betics with emphasis on the allochthonous Triassic and the related minibasins and canopies. Position of the map is detailed in Fig. 1. Map compiles our observations and various cartographic documents (e.g., García-Dueñas et al., 1985 and the IGME geologic maps of the region). Credits are detailed in the Appendix. Color codes for the Flysch units are the same as used in Fig. 13.

Fig. 13(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic map of the Western Betics highlighting the relationships between the Alboran Domain and the External Betics, as well as the position of the Triassic series in the contact between both crustal domains. Location of the map is detailed in Figs. 1 and 10. Map compiles own observations and various cartographic documents (e.g., García-Dueñas et al., 1985 and the IGME geologic maps of the region). Credits are also detailed in the Appendix.

Fig. 15(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic map of the allochthonous Triassic sheet and the associated minibasins (from Upper Cretaceous to Lower-Middle Miocene) in the area around El Saucejo village (South of Osuna, in the Sevilla province). Map compiles own observations and the cartographic maps of the area (credits in the Appendix). The positions of some detailed structures illustrated in Figs. 17 and 18 are given.

Fig. 16(A)(opens in new tab/window) Fig. 16(B)(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic map of the allochthonous Triassic sheet and the associated minibasins (from Upper Cretaceous to Lower-Middle Miocene) in the area around Badolatosa and Benamejí villages (SE of Puente Genil, in the Córdoba and Sevilla provinces). Map compiles own observations and the cartographic maps of the area (credits in the Appendix).

Fig. 21(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic evolution of the Betics from the Upper Cretaceous-Paleogene (A), Oligocene-Lower Miocene (B) to the Upper Miocene (C). The possible geometry of the allochthonous Triassic canopy and the role played by this structure during the subsequent Alpine contraction is indicated. The structure of the Flysch Units and of the Alboran Domain is schematic, as well as the evolution and configuration of the Alboran Sea Basin (considering data from various sources and Soto et al., 2010; Fernández-Ibáñez & Soto, 2017). Other symbols are detailed in the caption of Fig. 6. A detailed and larger version of this reconstruction can be found in Appendix. Complete credits are also detailed in the Appendix.

Chapter 20 - The role of the Triassic evaporites underneath the North Alpine foreland by Anna Sommaruga, Jon Mosar, Marc Schori and Marius Gruber

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) Simplified tectonic map of the Jura FTB and Molasse Basin and the northwestern Alps including the External Crystalline Basement Massifs. Inset: overview map of the Alpine foredeep and shown in the frame the western area discussed in this paper. On the map, location of the sections presented in subsequent figures: (a) Fig. 2; (b) Fig. 9A; (c) Fig. 9B; (d) Fig. 9C; (e) Fig. 10.

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) General geological cross section across the Jura FTB and the Molasse Basin (see Fig. 1 for location). In the lower simplified cross section, the thrust surfaces separating the major tectonic units are highlighted as well as normal and reverse faulting in the basement. Cross section constructed based on several authors (Rigassi & Jaccard, 1995; Burkhard & Sommaruga, 1998; Mosar, 1999; Madritsch, Schmid, & Fabbri, 2008; Gruber, 2017). External Crystalline Massifs (ECM): ARM, Aiguilles Rouges Massif; IARM, Infra Aiguilles Rouges Massif.

Chapter 21 - The Eastern Alps: multistage development of extremely deformed evaporates by Christoph Leitner and Christoph Spötl

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Cross section of the central NCA based on Krenmayr and Schnabel (2006) illustrating the occurrence of salt bodies (147) in this fold-and-thrust belt. The Allochthonous Molasse of the Molasse basin in the north comprises sedimentary rocks up to Paleogene age. Its sediments can be traced far south below the thrust belt. The Rhenodanubian Flysch and the Helvetic unit comprise sedimentary rocks up to Paleogene age. The Cenoman group (98) is tectonically mixed with the Helvetic. The Bajuvaric nappe system carries rocks up to Lower Cretaceous in age (100). The Tirolic and Upper Juvavic nappe systems carry only rocks up to Jurassic age (104) (and Lower Cretaceous rocks in their northern part; 99). As thrusting prograded from south to north, overthrusted sediments become successively younger in this direction. Accordingly, the detachment level rises to younger rocks, at least within the NCA. The Upper Juvavic and Tirolic units were detached at the level of the Haselgebirge Fm. (147), the Bajuvaric at the evaporitic Raibl Fm. (129) and the Cenoman group (98) was detached at a level of Cretaceous rocks. A shallower detachment surface toward the N is consistent with the model of an orogenic wedge (Davis, Suppe, & Dahlen, 1983). The paleogeographically southernmost units are the Haselgebirge and the Hallstatt Fms. (125). Both lie on top of the Tirolic and Juvavic units and are tectonically underlain by Jurassic basinal sedimentary rocks. Gravitational gliding is indicated by isolated blocks embedded in Upper Jurassic basinal sediments in the northernmost part of Raschberg (Altaussee). The Plassen and Oberalm Fms. cap the Haselgebirge salt rocks as well as Jurassic basinal sediments. The Upper Juvavic Dachstein nappe was partly thrusted over Lower Cretaceous rocks (Rossfeld Fm., 99).

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) Cross sections with salt outcrops, based on Mandl et al. (2012); their locations are shown in Fig. 1B. (A) Hallstatt salt body, section including the mine; a detailed section ca. 100 m to the east in shown in Fig. 7A. The main salt body of the Haselgebirge carries Hallstatt facies rocks, rests on Jurassic basin sediments and is partly overlain by rocks of the Plassen Fm. Olistolithes are present in Jurassic basin sediments south of the salt body. (B) Altaussee salt body. The section shown is not mined, but illustrates the extrusive geometry of the salt body, resting on Jurassic basin sediments. Hallstatt facies rocks are present within the salt body as well as on top of it, olistolithes occur in the north of the salt body. The Hallstatt rocks are sealed by limestones of the Plassen Fm. (C) Trauntal salt body. Not mined, explored by drilling. The salt body rests on Lower Cretaceous Schrambach Fm. and contains Hallstatt facies and Jurassic platform rocks, which are also present on its top. Note salt surrounded by Jurassic rocks on right side of the section.

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Cross section of the Bad Ischl salt mine, based on Mayr (2003). The location of this outcrop is shown in Fig. 1B. The complete succession of stratigraphic formations is present: Haselgebirge, Gutenstein, Hallstatt, Zlambach, Ruhpolding, Plassen, and Schrambach Fms. The salt rests on Jurassic basin sediments. Toward the surface, the salt extrudes between broken blocks of Plassen Fm.

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Internal salt structures in the salt mine of Hallstatt, based on sections and mapping by O. Schauberger in the 1950s. The location of this outcrop is shown in Fig. 1B. (A) The salt crops out along a vertical, dextral ESE-WNW trending fault (Arnberger, 2006). Note the vertical foliation and the upward widening of the salt body, which underlines the extrusive character of the salt body. (B) Map of an underground cavern created by solution mining (the flat top of the cavern was mapped). Note two different senses of shear (circles 1–5 and circles 6–7; Schorn & Neubauer, 2014). Sections (A) and (B) do not cross, but the level of (B) is marked in (A) and the orientation of (B) relative to (A) is indicated.

Chapter 22 - Salt Tectonics in the Carnian evaporite basin of the Eastern Balkan-Forebalkan region of Bulgaria by Georgi Georgiev and Gabor Tari

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) General setting of NE Bulgaria: (A) Tectonic scheme of Bulgaria (by Georgiev & Dabovski, 1997; Dabovski et al., 2002; Zagorchev et al., 2009, Fig. 5.1-8; modified); (B) Upper Triassic facies and isopach map of NE Bulgaria (updated and modified after Bokov & Chemberski, 1987, Figs. 10 and 36 and Tari et al., 1997, Fig. 10C).

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Regional structural transect across the Eastern Bulgaria (by Papanikolaou et al., 2004; Zagorchev et al., 2009, Fig. 5.1-3; slightly modified).

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Detailed stratigraphic and lithologic description of the Triassic sequence encountered in the Omurtag-4 and Straja-10 wells with some typical core photos of the drilled evaporites. For location see Fig. 3B.

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Geological interpretation of a vintage seismic section across the western Omurtag anticline. For location see Fig. 3B.

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) Geological interpretation of a vintage seismic section across the eastern Omurtag anticline. For location see Fig. 3B.

Fig. 9(opens in new tab/window) Simplified geological transects across the study area, adapted from Georgiev (1981, 1996, 2010); for location see Fig. 3B. Note that these transects were lined up on their southern end, along the thrust border between the Balkan and the Forebalkan.

Chapter 24 - The Ionian fold-and-thrust belt in central and southern Albania: a petroleum province involving Triassic evaporates by Zamir Bega and Juan I. Soto

Fig. 2(opens in new tab/window) Simplified map of the Mesozoic carbonate platforms in central and southern Albania emphasizing the occurrence of the Triassic evaporites as well as the position of the oil and gas fields in the Ionian fold-and-thrust belt (FTB). The Ionian FTB comprises three major, NW-SE fold-and-thrust sheets that from east to west are: Berati (B), Kurveleshi (K), and Cika (C). Three major tectonic lineaments that control the overall architecture of the Ionian FTB are: the Vlora-Diber Lineament (VDL), the Corfu-Picardi Lineament (CPL), and the Corfu-Butrinti Fault (CBF). The location of the key wells shown in this study (Fig. 5) are also included, as well as a regional section across the Ionian FTB (Fig. 4). The position of the detailed geological maps shown in Figs. 6 and 11 is marked. (Modified from Bega, Z., Meehan, P., & Ballauri, A. (2003). Buttressing role of the Apulian Platform on the structural styles of Southern Albania. In Paper presented at the Albanian Seminar, IFP Conference, Rueil-Malmaison, France.)

Fig. 6 (A)(opens in new tab/window) (B)(opens in new tab/window) Geological map of Dumre area, highlighting the relationships between the evaporite plug or diapir, feed with Triassic evaporites (in transparent purple), and the surrounding Paleogene and Neogene sequences. The position of various seismic lines is also included (Figs. 9 and 10), together with the main deep exploration wells drilled within and in the vicinities of the Triassic evaporites (Fig. 5). The distribution of previous oil shows in the southern (Kucova field) and western part (Pekishti and Murrizi fields) of the Dumre diaper promoted the deep-drilling activities in the past. (B) Oblique areal view (obtained from GoogleEarth) of the Dumre salt plug and simplified geological contacts. DDT, trace of the “Dumre Deep” thrust. ((A) Taken from the Geological Map of Albania; Xhomo, A., Kodra, A., Xhafa, Z., & Shallo. M. (2002). Geological Map of Albania. Scale 1:200,000. Albania: Ministry of Industry and Mining.)

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Panoramic view of the central part of the Dumre diapir or plug in the Gradishta locality, formed by Triassic evaporites (mostly gypsum and red marls) covered by a discontinuous and brecciated carapace of dolostones (gray outcrops in the hill). The picture comes from the central area of the diapir (cf. Fig. 6).

Fig. 9 (A)(opens in new tab/window) (B)(opens in new tab/window) Seismic profiles across the Dumre diapiric structure (in purple). Location is shown in Figs. 2 and 6. (A) W-E seismic section in depth and interpretation, in the northern part of the Dumre diapir. Some isolated, high-amplitude reflections are observed within the general transparent seismic fabric of the diapir with Triassic evaporites. Notice the high-amplitude and continuous reflection that marks the base of the salt plug. The salt plug in this section is asymmetric with a reverse deep fault zone overthrusting Miocene sediments in the west, and a gentle flank with onlapping sediments of Oligocene age in the east. (B) N-S strike, time-migrated seismic line and interpretation across the center of the Dumre diapir. In this case the diapir shows highly continuous and subhorizontal reflections, and the base is also marked by a high-amplitude reflection. The internal fabric of the diapir is interpreted as fish-tailed thrusts, with a general sense of displacement that is perpendicular to the section. To the north, the Neogene sequences overthrust the diapir and a weld thrust is possibly formed (s. Rowan et al., 1999; purple circles). Dots and crosses express motion toward and from the observer, respectively. The Dumre 7 well documents the existence of Oligocene sediments below the diapir, although the deep structure interpreted here is entirely speculative. Acronyms for ages are as in Fig. 4 (Pg1-2, Paleocene and Eocene).

Fig. 11(A)(opens in new tab/window) (B)(opens in new tab/window) Geological map of South Albania, highlighting the main thrusts of the Ionian zone and the position of the Triassic evaporites in Delvina, Butrinti-Xarra, and Picari-Kardhiq. General position of the map is marked in Fig. 2. The position of the regional cross sections (Figs. 14, 15, and 18), the seismic line shown in Fig. 15, and the localities for the photographs shown in Figs. 12 and 15 (colored stars) are all included, as well as the main wells used for this study. (B) Oblique areal view (obtained from GoogleEarth) of Southern Albania, highlighting the salt structures of Butrinti-Xarra and Delvina (in transparent purple), including simplified tectonic contacts. The outcropping and suboutcropping evaporites are distinguished in the area of the Butrinti-Xarra salt wall. ((A) Taken from the Geological Map of Albania; Xhomo, A., Kodra, A., Xhafa, Z., & Shallo. M. (2002). Geological Map of Albania. Scale 1:200,000. Albania: Ministry of Industry and Mining.)

Fig. 12(opens in new tab/window) View of Delvina-Krongji evaporites in southern Albania. See situation in Fig. 11. (A) Panoramic view of the Delvina area, including a general interpretation of this structure, which represents an elongated pillow of Triassic evaporites at the base of the major Mali Gjere thrust sheet. (B) Layered structure of the Triassic evaporites at the core of the Delvina pillow. The sequence is Upper Triassic in age and consists of red marls and clays with gypsum nodules and decametric, competent layers of siltstone. Salt is not outcropping in the surface, although there are abandoned salt mines in the area. The wall is about 100 m high and outcrops along the Krongji River. (C) Detailed view showing internal isoclinal folding of the layering in the Triassic evaporites of Delvina. This image belongs to the same outcrop shown in (B). Same legend and acronyms as are detailed in Fig. 11.

Fig. 14(opens in new tab/window) Seismic profile in the Delvina structure and interpretation. Seismic profile is almost coincident with the section shown in Fig. 13. Location of the profile and legend are detailed in Fig. 11. The Triassic evaporites (in purple) are interpreted to occur as a thrust pillow structure, at the base of the Mali Gjere thrust sheet. The underlying structure is highly speculative and is suggested to be the inversion of a listric, growth normal fault and a half-graben with Oligocene (and possibly Paleocene and Eocene) sediments. First motion of the faults is indicated with white arrows and the kinematics related to tectonic inversion are marked with black arrows. Acronyms for ages are as in Fig. 4 (Cr2, Late Cretaceous; Pg1-2, Paleocene and Eocene).

Fig. 17 (A)(opens in new tab/window) (B)(opens in new tab/window) Tectonic sketch map of the Southern Ionian FTB in Albania, highlighting the salt structures (in purple) of Delvina and Picari-Kardhiq (salt pillows) and Butrinti-Xarra (salt wall). The discontinuous line represents an approximate horizontal section of the salt structures. BT, backthrust; T, foreland-vergent thrust. (B) Schematic reconstruction of a dip parallel section in the former Ionian platform emphasizing the different initial geometries of the Late Triassic salt structures (in purple) and how they condition the style of the later thrusting during the initiation of the Alpine contraction (in the Oligocene). The subsequent evolution of thrusting during the Early and Middle Miocene is not illustrated here, although the depletion of the Triassic evaporites and the continuation of the diapir squeeze promoted the backthrusting in Butrinti-Xarra as well as the pop-up anticline structures developed in front of Delvina (see Fig. 13). Location of the section is marked in (A). Acronyms for ages are as in Fig. 4 (Tr3, Upper Triassic; J1-3, Lower, Middle, and Upper Jurassic; Cr1-2, Lower and Upper Cretaceous; Pg1-2, Paleocene and Eocene). Purple dots mark the position of primary salt welds.

Part V: North Africa

Chapter 25 - Styles of salt tectonics in central Tunisia: an overview by Habib Troudi, Gabor Tari, Wael Alouani and Giuseppe Cantarella

Fig. 1(opens in new tab/window) Regional geology of northern and central Tunisia with the location of Triassic outcrops (in magenta). Red rectangle shows the location of Figs. 3, 7, and 8.

Chapter 26 - Salt Tectonics in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco by Jaume Vergés, M. Moragas, J.D. Martin-Martin, E. Saura, E. Casciello, Ph. Razin, C. Grelaud, M. Malaval, R. Joussiame, G. Messager, I. Sharp and D.W. Hunt

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Field view and interpretation of the NE segment of the Tazoult diapir along the Ouhançal river gorge. SE flank view showing the overturned to subvertical south-dipping Pliensbachian carbonates (Jbel Choucht Fm) bounding the diapir wall, and the less competent Pliensbachian (Aganane Fm) to Aalenian (Aguerd-n’Tazoult Fm) succession filling the Amezraï minibasin towards the southeast. Balanced cross section (below) showing the structure of the salt wall and the halokinetic strata. Late Jurassic gabbro intrusions are depicted in green along the core of the Tazoult salt wall.

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Field picture of the SW flank of the Tazoult diapir showing the allochthonous Triassic body and the late Pliensbachian-Toarcian Amezraï Fm halokinetic strata thinning and onlapping towards the diapir contact. Cross section modified from Martín-Martín et al. (2017) showing the geometry of both flanks of the Tazoult. Lithologic legends and acronyms of the section are detailed in Fig. 6. The stratigraphic correlation shows how the proximal to distal facies changes away from Tazoult diapir (below) (Joussiaume, 2016; Malaval, 2016).

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) (A) Balanced cross section and panoramic view of the SE margin of the Amezraï minibasin and adjacent salt wall and salt weld of the Jbel Azourki-Taghia ridge and the halokinetic strata delineated by the late Pliensbachian-Aalenian mixed deposits of the Zaouiat Ahançal Group. (Modified from Martín-Martín, J. D., Vergés, J., Saura, E., Moragas, M., Messager, G., Razin, P., et al. (2017). Diapiric growth within an early Jurassic rift basin: The Tazoult salt wall (Central High Atlas, Morocco). Tectonics, 25, 35. doi:10.1002/2016TC004300. (accepted).) The overlying late Aalenian-Bajocian carbonates of the Bin el Ouidane 1 Fm forms the subhorizontal top unit in the background. Sedimentary facies deepening away from diapir wall (B) (Malaval, 2016).

Fig. 9(opens in new tab/window) Synthetic cross section, modified from Saura et al. (2014), showing the Imilchil minibasin salt domain across the Tassent and Ikkou salt walls (ridges) and field picture to show the Lower Jurassic halokinetic strata of the “Vélodrome.” Detailed correlation panel within the Imilchil Fm. in the Ikkou minibasin. (Modified from Joussiaume, R. (2016). Les relations entre diapirisme et sédimentation: Exemple du Jurassique moyen de la région d’Imilchil, Haut-Atlas central, Maroc (PhD Thesis). Université de Bordeaux, pp. 1–308.)

Chapter 27 - Development of an Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic evaporite basin on the Saharan Platform, North Africa by Peter Turner and Klaus Pelz

Fig. 4(opens in new tab/window) Regional sections in southern Tunisia showing the key seismic horizons and their intersections with wells A, B, and C (see Fig. 2 for location). (A) NE-SW (approximate strike section) and (B) N-S (approximate dip section). Vertical scale is two way travel time (in ms). DT is interval velocity (in μs/ft) and GR is gamma log.

Fig. 5(opens in new tab/window) The ROD-2 well (also in Fig. 6) in the central Berkine Basin of Algeria showing evaporite stratigraphy and sequence analysis.

Fig. 6(opens in new tab/window) Correlation of stratigraphy and evaporite cycles in east-west section from eastern Algeria (ROD-2) to western Libya (A1-NC118) along the northern margin of the Berkine Basin. The B Marker (Sequence 2) is used as the datum.

Fig. 7(opens in new tab/window) Stratigraphic correlation of wells in southern Tunisia using top Abreghs Anhydrite as datum. These three wells are also included in the seismic section shown in Fig. 4B. Well C is shown in Figs. 4B and 6.

Fig. 8(opens in new tab/window) Triassic correlation of wells from Hassi R’Mel (W) to the Tunisian border (E) showing the westward onlap of Triassic evaporites. (After Courel, L., Ait Salem, H., Benaouiss, N., Et-Touhami M., Fekirine, B., Oujidi, M., Soussi, M., & Tourani, A. (2003). Mid-Triassic to Early Liassic clastic/evaporitic deposits over the Maghreb Platform. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 196, 157–176.)