Salt Tectonics: Principles and Practice

Description

Salt tectonics is the study of how and why salt structures evolve and the three-dimensional forms that result. A fascinating branch of geology in itself, salt tectonics is also vitally important to the petroleum industry. Covering the entire scale from the microscopic to the continental, this textbook is an unrivalled consolidation of all topics related to salt tectonics: evaporite deposition and flow, salt structures, salt systems, and practical applications. Coverage of the principles of salt tectonics is supported by more than 600 color illustrations, including 200 seismic images captured by state-of-the-art geophysical techniques and tectonic models from the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory at the University of Texas, Austin. These combine to provide a cohesive and wide-ranging insight into this extremely visual subject. This is the definitive practical handbook for professional geologists and geophysicists in the petroleum industry, an invaluable textbook for graduate students, and a reference textbook for researchers in various geoscience fields.

Martin P. A. Jackson is a Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology and holds the William L. Fisher Endowed Chair in Geological Sciences at the University of Texas, Austin. He founded the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory at the University of Texas, a consortium dedicated to research on salt tectonics and supported by the oil industry since 1989. He has taught 73 short courses on salt tectonics to geoscientists around the world. His publications have been cited more than 6800 times (Google Scholar) and have been recognized by five awards from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and from the Geological Society of London. Michael R. Hudec has been studying salt tectonics for more than 25 years in industry and academia. He is a Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas, Austin, where he is Principal Investigator in the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory, a consortium dedicated to research on salt tectonics and supported by the oil industry since 1989. He has led over 100 short courses and field trips on salt tectonics for geoscientists around the world. His publications have been cited more than 1400 times (Google Scholar) and have been recognized by numerous awards.

'Unchallenged leaders in their field of research, the authors provide a much needed comprehensive overview of salt tectonics. This book is truly unique and will have a long shelf life, a must-have for anyone studying and interpreting salt structures found on land or inundated offshore. All illustrations have a common layout which greatly aids the reader to quickly grasp the key concepts and principles ... My conclusion is that this legacy book showcases state-of-the-art salt tectonics in the fashion of a memorable magnum opus. There can be no doubt: it will quickly become an indispensable handbook for professionals and students who want to understand how salt came to shroud and trap a significant portion of Earth's hydrocarbon resources.' Ruud Weijermars, Texas A & M University 'A literary and artistic masterpiece adding new ideas to every branch of salt geology ... it will inspire many future generations of salt tectonicians.' Christopher Talbot, previously at Uppsala University, Sweden 'Since the mid-1980s there has been a complete revolution in our understanding of salt tectonics. Much of this paradigm shift in thinking has been driven by the work of the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory at the University of Texas, and the authors of this new textbook were at the forefront of this research ... Now, for the first time, the fruits of these labors are available to the academic community in this new textbook ... [T]his is a rich compendium indeed, covering the full spectrum of salt tectonics, from evaporite deposition through salt structures, salt systems and the practical application of salt tectonics in seismic interpretation of petroleum systems. Lavishly illustrated in color throughout, with field, model and seismic based examples, this is a superb reference for any graduate student or faculty researcher interested in the field, and a vital resource for geologists and geophysicists working in any system that involves salt tectonics.' Bruce Trudgill, Colorado School of Mines 'I could not have wished for a better text on salt tectonics, thanks to the combination of very knowledgeable authors, their close industrial contact, superb and plentiful color illustrations and very easy to follow writing. Highly recommend to anyone with an interest in salt tectonics.' Haakon Fossen, Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, Germany 'Introductory classic, reference text, groundbreaking new ideas, this book encompasses all three. It is the first to integrate the vast knowledge of the past hundred years of salt tectonic research into a comprehensive review with a wealth of unpublished data and scale models, at a scale that ranges from basins to microphysics. Lucid, fresh and fascinating, this is the new standard work in this field.' Janos L. Urai, Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen University 'Jackson and Hudec's tour de force clearly and coherently reveals the complexity and importance of the neglected field of salt tectonics. Lavishly illustrated. Truly authoritative. A must-have for academic and industrial practitioners of salt tectonics.' Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson, Statoil Professor of Basin Analysis, Imperial College, London 'Breathtaking in scope, scholarly in execution, and accessible in style and intent, this is an extraordinary book. No less could be expected from the authors, whose collective knowledge and insight on all matters geologically salty is without equal amongst past and present peers in this demanding branch of the geological sciences. Transcending mineral physics, geochemistry, sedimentology, reflection seismology and 'boots and hammer' field geology, each chapter builds an intricately interwoven portrayal of salt as a lubricant for a diversity of geological processes and an archive of past climatic upheavals. Stunningly illustrated and simply yet elegantly written, this is surely a text book to last a century: definitive and comprehensive.' Joe Cartwright, University of Oxford 'The volume is well written, superbly illustrated and clearly a labour of love, borne from a lifelong devotion to structural geology and halokinesis. ... In conclusion, this is an excellent book ... it is arguably the most comprehensive textbook on salt tectonics and is essential reading for anyone wishing to get up-to-speed with the latest thinking on the subject.' John Underhill, Geoscientist 'Many good illustrations, schematics, field examples, seismic images, sandbox model cross sections, and references make it a book worth having for anyone who wants to start a career or further one in salt-dominated environments.' Gopal Mohapatra, The Leading Edge