Minibasin mobility and obstruction on salt-detached slopes: implications for canopy dynamics and sediment routing

In salt-detached gravity-gliding/spreading systems the detachment geometry is a key control on the downslope mobility of the supra-canopy (supra-salt) sequence. As supra-canopy minibasins translate downslope, they also subside into salt. If the base of salt has high relief, minibasins may weld and stop from further free translation downslope. The degree of minibasin obstruction controls both the kinematics of the individual basins, and the more regional pattern of supra-canopy strain. Here, we use regional 3D seismic data to examine a salt-stock canopy in the northern Gulf of Mexico slope, in an area where supra-canopy minibasins subsided vertically and translated downslope above a complex base-of-salt with high relief.

At a regional scale, we distinguish two structural domains in the study area: a highly obstructed or locked domain and a highly mobile domain. Large-scale translation of the supra-canopy sequence is recorded in the mobile domain by two different structures (a far-travelled minibasin and a ramp syncline basin). Although identifying the deformation area between the two regional domains is challenging due to its diffusive nature, characterizing domains according to base-of-salt geometry and supra-canopy minibasin configuration is helpful in identifying structural domains that may share similar subsidence and downslope translation histories.

At minibasin scale, minibasins that become obstructed modify the local strain field, typically developing a zone of shortening immediately updip of it and an extensional breakaway zone immediately downdip. Seismic attribute analysis performed in a cluster of minibasins in the study area illustrates a long-lived sediment transport system affected by the complex strain patterns associated with minibasin obstruction. At an early stage, a submarine channel system is captured and subsequently rerouted in response to the updip shortening associated with minibasin obstruction. At a later stage, a mass-transport complex (MTC) is steered by the topographic barrier created by the downdip extensional breakaway associated with minibasin obstruction.

Our work illustrates how salt-tectonic processes related to minibasin obstruction can affect the canopy dynamics at both regional and minibasin scale. Furthermore, we show that minibasin obstruction processes can modify the seafloor and subsequently control deepwater sediment dispersal, which, ultimately can affect hydrocarbon reservoir distribution on salt-influenced slopes