My main research interest is a better understanding of the kinematics and dynamics of salt tectonics, especially the interaction between sediment deposition, salt flow, and boundary conditions, the latter controlling whether a salt system is subjected to extension, contraction, or strike-slip. One of the tools I use for this research is dynamically scaled experimental modeling, an approach that allows the investigation of how various parameters combined or in isolation influence the evolution of structural systems. Other tools include analytical modeling and analysis of seismic-reflection and multibeam-sonar data from selected salt regions (e.g., the Nile deep-sea fan in the eastern Mediterranean, the Mississippi fan in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Nordkapp basin in the Norwegian Barents Sea). Some of the main outputs of my past and current research include the introduction of several fundamental salt-related processes, such as how (1) thin-skinned extension triggers diapir rise then fall; (2) cryptic, late contraction reactivates diapirs in the lower continental slope; (3) sediment progradation causes gravity spreading, salt flow, and formation of polygonal minibasins; and (4) the evolution of foldbelts detaching on evaporitic décollements (for example, the Mediterranean Ridge, the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico, or the Mississippi fan foldbelt) differs from that of classic fold-and-thrust belts. In collaborating with U.S., French, Italian, Norwegian, British, and Swedish colleagues, as well as with three students, I am also exploring structural topics not related to salt tectonics, including the formation of intracontinental wrench zones and gravity instabilities, such as slumps and debris flows.

M.S., Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies, Structural Geology, Tectonophysics, and Geophysics section, Université d’Orsay (Paris XI), France, July 1984

Ph.D., Doctorat with high honors, Geology, Université de Rennes, France, July 1987

Vendeville, B. C., 2000, Remobilization of salt structures by sediment progradation: experimental models and potential applications to the Gulf of Mexico and other continental margins, in Shoup, R., Watkins, J., Karlo, J., and Hall, D., eds., Integration of geologic models for understanding risk in the Gulf of Mexico, AAPG/Datapages Discovery Series 1.

Vendeville, B. C., Cobbold, P. R., Davy, P., Brun, J. P., and Choukroune, P., 1987, Physical models of extensional tectonics at various scales, in Coward, M. P., Dewey, J. F., and Hancock, P. L., eds., Continental extensional tectonics: London, Geological Society Special Publication No. 28, p. 95–107.

Vendeville, B. C., Mart, Yossi, and Vigneresse, J. L., eds., 2000, Salt, shale and igneous diapirs in and around Europe: London, The Geological Society, Publication No. 174, 207 p.

Vendeville, B. C., and Nilsen, K. T., 1995, Episodic growth of salt diapirs driven by horizontal shortening, in Travis, C. J., Vendeville, B. C., Harrison, Holly, Peel, F. J., Hudec, M. R., and Perkins, B. F., eds., Salt, sediment, and hydrocarbons: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Gulf Coast Section, 16th Annual Research Conference Program and Extended Abstracts, p. 285–295.

Vendeville, B. C., and Jackson, M. P. A., 1992, The rise of diapirs during thin-skinned extension: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 9, no. 4, p. 331–353.

Member, Société Géologique de France Editorial Committee, Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France (1999-2001)

Guest editor, Special issue of The Leading Edge on Exploring in Complex Structural Regimes, August 1997, vol. 16, no. 8.

Symposium Convener, European Geophysical Society from the Arctic to the Mediterranean: Salt, Shale, and Igneous Diapirs in and around Europe, European Geophysical Society XXIII General Assembly, Nice, France, April 20–24 (1998)

Member, Tectonophysics Editorial Board (1992–1998)

Keynote speaker, “Understanding Salt Tectonics” session, GeoCanada 2000 meeting Calgary, Canada, May 2000

Keynote speaker, Modelling Studies session, Petroleum Group of the Geological Society meeting on Salt Tectonics, London, U.K., September 14–15, 1994

Honorable mention, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology)/American Association of Petroleum Geologists, co-author (with Martin P. A. Jackson), “Extreme Overthrusting and Extension above Allochthonous Salt Sheets Emplaced during Experimental Progradation,” 1993

Certificate of Honorable Mention, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, co-author (with Martin P.A. Jackson), “The Rise and Fall of Diapirs during Thin-Skinned Extension,” 1990

Bruno C. Vendeville, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Bureau of Economic Geology
The University of Texas at Austin
University Station, Box X
Austin, Texas 78713-8924
e-mail: bruno.vendeville@beg.utexas.edu
telephone: 512-471-8334