Geology of the Gulf Coast Salt Domes: Part IV. Relations of Petroleum Accumulation to Structure

The structure of salt domes and salt anticlines in the three American salt dome provinces, Gulf Coast, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and Utah-Colorado, is the theme of this paper. The cycle of salt deposition, salt dome formation, growth, and ablation, is treated in the stages of youth, maturity, and old age. Under youth are described the effect of domal growth on peripheral sediments and the growth of anhydrite cap rocks; under maturity the mechanics of salt dome piercement, thickness of the original source bed of salt, symmetry of domes and of overlying and flanking sedimentary rocks; and under old age the formation of cap rocks, structure of adjacent sedimentary rocks, nature of water sands, and of oil reservoirs.