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Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 OEX, UK
This volume is dedicated to studies of the deformation of evaporite rocks in pillows and diapirs, and the surrounding sedimentary overburden rocks and sediments. Salt diapirs have become the focus of attention in the last forty years, because of their strategic importance in controlling hydrocarbon reserves, and their unique physical properties enable storage of hydrocarbons and toxic waste. Their economic importance is unique on the Earth’s surface, as evaporites in the Middle East are responsible for trapping up to 60% of its hydrocarbon reserves (Edgell).
Salt also produces some of the most complex and beautiful deformation features on the Earth’s surface, although few of these surface exposures have been examined in detail. The first section of this volume consists of analyses of outcrop, cave, mine and borehole information which add to our general understanding of the internal diapir deformation patterns and overburden tectonics. This is followed by papers mainly based on seismic reflection profile interpretation, which provide accurate documentation of salt tectonics in the NW Europe Zechstein Basin (Buchanan et al., Stewart et al., Zirngast), Persian Gulf (Edgell), and the Angolan Margin (Spathopoulos).
Salt diapirism is principally controlled by the rheology of the overburden rocks and physical models have given us important new insights into the deformation of overburden. Deformation experiments are presented on overburden around salt structures (Alsop), salt sheet segmentation (Koyi), and development of giant counter-regional faults on the Brazilian continental margin (Szatmari et al.). Petersen & Lerche investigate the influence of salt sheets and diapirs on thermal
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