The Eocene Salt Canopy of the NW Gulf of Mexico explained by the Mechanism of Squeezed Diapirs – A Numerical Modeling Study

Normal 0 21 false false false NO-BOK X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 We present a numerical modeling study of canopy evolution through the mechanism of squeezed diapirs. The setting is adapted to the northwestern Gulf of Mexico where a mid-basin canopy formed during the Eocene. The models include a first phase of diapir growth driven only by uneven sedimentation and local isostatic compensation. In the second phase, differential loading by prograding sediments induces gravity spreading. Subsequent shortening leads to squeezing of the diapirs and upward expulsion of salt into a canopy. The resulting structures show a number of similarities to the canopy-related structures of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.