Articles | Volume 6, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-6-9-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-6-9-2015
Research article
 | 
06 Jan 2015
Research article |  | 06 Jan 2015

Analogue experiments of salt flow and pillow growth due to basement faulting and differential loading

M. Warsitzka, J. Kley, and N. Kukowski

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Short summary
This paper summarizes the results of scaled analogue experiments examining the kinematics of salt flow and the formation of salt pillows due to basement faulting and subsequent sedimentation. Our experimental results reveal that salt above a basement normal fault can flow downward or upward depending on the direction of the pressure gradient within the salt layer. Due to upward flow driven by differential loading, salt pillows can form above the higher basement block.