GROWTH FAULTS, SALT, AND DEEP STRUCTURE OF NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO

The major Cenozoic growth fault systems of offshore Texas and Louisiana are of two main styles: type I - short, arcuate fault systems associated with minibasins and salt domes, most typically found offshore Louisiana; type II - laterally extensive, linear, listric fault systems, most common in coastal Texas. Both styles are the results of updip extension and related downdip, gravity-driven, lateral spreading of strata and salt. The contrast in the nature of faulting between the two types of fault systems may well be a function of depositional style. Short, arcuate fault systems associated with minibasins and trapped salt (type I) are more likely the result of irregular point loads provided by shifting deltas. Long, linear, listric fault systems (type II) are generally associated with strike-oriented barrier island/interdeltaic deposition.