Paleomagnetic Studies of Salt Domes
Wulf A. Gose, J. Richard Kyle
For the past several years, we have been pursuing a detailed paleomagnetic
and petrographic study of the anhydrite cap rock of the Winnfield salt dome in
Louisiana. This is the first such study ever undertaken and offers new insight
into the timing of basinal and halokinetic processes. At Winnfield, periodic
introduction
of metalliferous fluids along the salt or anhydrite interface
resulted in the formation of stratiform sulfide laminae, which contain the
magnetic mineral pyrrhotite. Dense stratigraphic sampling of a 40-m section of
the anhydrite yielded a magnetic reversal sequence that corresponds to sea-floor
magnetic anomalies M22 to M20 (Kimmeridgian) and we were thus able to determine
directly the age and rate of anhydrite accumulation. We recently sampled an
additi nal 20 m of section at Winnfield and initiated a similar study of the
Damon Mound, a salt dome in the Houston diapir province.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.