2020 News
December 2020
Maria Nikolinakou delivered an invited keynote talk: “Geomechanical pore pressure and stress in large geologic systems” at the 3rd EAGE Workshop on Pore Pressure Prediction that took place December 14-16, 2020.
Maria Nikolinakou presented a talk “The impact of splay fault initiation and evolution on the stress state in subduction-accretion complexes” at the AGU fall meeting held in December 2020.
November 2020
Click here to view.
New publication:
Soumaya, A., Kadri, A., Ben Ayed, N., Kim, Y.-S., Dooley, T. P., Rajabi, M., & Braham, A. (2020). Deformation styles related to intraplate strike-slip fault systems of the Saharan-Tunisian Southern Atlas (North Africa): New kinematic models. Journal of Structural Geology, 140, 104175. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2020.104175
268 delegates from 21 AGL member companies attended the 32nd AGL Annual Review Meeting, held via Zoom conference on November 11–13, 2020. Delegates were treated to 30 presentations from AGL scientists and collaborators: Gillian Apps, Alex Bump, Laura Burrel, Donald Christie, Tim Dooley, Ollie Duffy, Naiara Fernandez, Mahdi Heidari, Mike Hudec, Chris Jackson, Hapreet Kaur, Chris Liu, Brandon Minton, David Mohrig, Maria Nikolinaou, Frank Peel, and Juan Soto.
Gillian Apps gave the keynote address and was a panelist at the SEPM Deepwater research group meeting, which was held on November 5, 2020.
October 2020
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On October 5, 2020 Tim Dooley presented an invited talk as part of the “Rifts and Rifted Margins” webinar series. The talk was titled “Loading complex salt isopachs: progradational loading of salt-filled rifts systems”.
New publication:
Peel, F. J., Hudec, M. R., Weijermaars, R., Salt diapir downbuilding: Fast analytical models based on rates of salt supply and sedimentation, Journal of Structural Geology, doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2020.104202
September 2020
AAPG presentation at the AAPG convention online this week:
Donald N Christie; Frank Peel, Esther Sumner, Gillian Apps,
Simulation of Stratal Architecture in Deep Marine Minibasins: Making it Realistic is Easy - Making it Exactly Right is not
August 2020
On August 18, 2020 Gillian Apps gave a virtual talk to the AAPG Salt Basins Technical Interest Group. This talk is available on You Tube, please click here for the link. Please note that the sound quality of the introduction is poor, but the talk itself is good quality.
July 2020
New publication:
Dooley, T. P. and Hudec, M. R.: Extension and inversion of salt-bearing rift systems, Solid Earth, 11, 1187–1204, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1187-2020.
New publication:
Fernandez, N., Duffy, O. B., Peel, F. J., and Hudec, M. R., 2020, Influence of minibasin obstruction on canopy dynamics in the northern Gulf of Mexico: Basin Research, doi.org/10.1111/bre.12480
On July 29, Mike Hudec spent several hours consulting remotely with BHP scientists, looking at data in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The discussions were provided as part of BHP’s membership in the AGL consortium.
On July 20, Mike Hudec spent several hours consulting with scientists from PEMEX and WesternGeco, looking at salt tectonics in the southern Gulf of Mexico.
June 2020
On June 25, Mike Hudec spent several hours consulting remotely with BHP scientists, looking at data in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The discussions were provided as part of BHP’s membership in the AGL consortium.
Gillian Apps gave a two-part talk on June 8, 2020 for the Centre for Doctoral Training, based at Heriot Watt University. Gillian gave a technical talk titled "From mantle-driven uplift to frondescent fan fringes: a lifetime journey in deepwater". The second part of the talk was speaking on reflections of her nearly 40-year career as a woman in Geoscience and addressing the broader questions of diversity (gender, racial, cultural and economic diversity).
May 2020
New publication:
Hudec, M. R., Dooley, T. P., Peel, F. J., and Soto, J. I., 2020, Controls on the evolution of passive-margin salt basins: structure and evolution of the Salina del Bravo region, northeastern Mexico: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 132, no. 5/6, p. 997–1012, http://doi.org/10.1130/B35283.1.
New publication:
Duffy, O. B., Fernandez, N., Peel, F. J., Hudec, M. R., Dooley, T. P., and Jackson, C. A.-L., 2020, Obstructed minibasins on a salt‐detached slope: an example from above the Sigsbee canopy, northern Gulf of Mexico: Basin Research, v. 32, p. 505–524, http://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12380.
On May 28, 2020, Gillian Apps gave a virtual seminar at Newcastle University for the Natural and Environmental Science Community. Gillian gave a technical talk titled "From mantle-driven uplift to frondescent fan fringes: a lifetime journey in deepwater" and also spoke on her reflections of her nearly 40-year career as a woman in Geoscience.
Gillian Apps
AGL: Open for Business
The AGL team is excited to be continuing its research, consulting, and publishing plans for 2020. Tim Dooley has received permission to continue operating his lab, but everyone else has made the switch to working from home thanks to the expert support supplied by the BEG IT team. Here are some of the highlights of our ongoing work:
Consulting
In-person visits are obviously off the table for a while, but, as a reminder, all AGL member companies are entitled to one free day of consulting each year from any of the AGL research staff. We are all also available for on-line visits and discussions upon request.
Oliver Duffy
Tim Dooley
Naiara Fernandez
Research - Current projects
• Apps – Modeling of minibasin sedimentation and sand distribution
• Dooley –
Shortening of diapir-bearing trapezoidal-shaped salt basins
Behavior of inclusions during diapir growth and subsequent tectonic shortening
Distribution of layered evaporites during minibasin subsidence and welding
• Duffy –
Influence of salt composition and layering on minibasin subsidence, North Sea
Triassic salt tectonics of the Central North Sea
• Fernandez –
Numerical models of inclusions in diapirs
3D numerical modeling of minibasin translation on the Gulf of Mexico slope
Compilation of field exposures of inclusions in diapirs
• Heidari –
Evolution of stresses and pore pressures in faulted sediments around diapirs
Geomechanical behavior of mobile shales
• Hudec –
Analysis of shale structures, East Breaks fold belt
Comparison of mechanics and geometries of salt and shale tectonics
Processes of shale tectonics
• Nikolinakou – Effect of faults on regional stress state and basin evolution
• Peel –
Salt and fold structures in the Bay of Campeche
Influence of spinning microplates during continental breakup on salt tectonics
Importance of salt tectonics in CO2 sequestration
• Soto –
Processes of shale tectonics
Compilation of shale-tectonic provinces
Mike Hudec
Mahdi Heidari
Maria Nikolinakou
Publications
Recently published:
• A digital version of our out-of-print book The Salt Mine is now available for download from the BEG bookstore at https://store.beg.utexas.edu/special-books/3779-us0005-the-salt-mine-a-digital-atlas-of-salt-tectonics.html
• Covault, J. A., Sylvester, Z., Hudec, M. R., Ceyhan, C., and Dunlap, D., 2020, Submarine channels ‘swept’ downstream after bend cutoff in salt basins: The Depositional Record, v. 6, no. 1, p. 259–272, http://doi.org/10.1002/dep2.75.
• Fernandez, N., Hudec, M. R., Jackson, C. A.-L., Dooley, T. P., and Duffy, O. B., 2020, The competition for salt and kinematic interactions between minibasins during density-driven subsidence: observations from numerical models: Petroleum Geoscience, v. 26, no. 1, p. 3–15, http://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2019-051
• Hudec, M. R., Dooley, T. P., Peel, F. J., and Soto, J. I., 2020, Controls on the evolution of passive-margin salt basins: structure and evolution of the Salina del Bravo region, northeastern Mexico: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 132, no. 5/6, p. 997–1012, http://doi.org/10.1130/B35283.1.
• Goteti, R., Nikolinakou, M. A., and Heidari, M., 2020, Mechanics of salt systems: state of the field in numerical methods, Part II: Petroleum Geoscience, v. 26, no. 1: p. 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2020-002
In press:
• Reber, J. E., Cooke, M. L., & Dooley, T. P., in press, What model material to use? A Review on rock analogs for structural geology and tectonics: Earth-Science Reviews, 202, 103107. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103107.
• Duffy, O. B., Fernandez, N., Peel, F. J., Hudec, M. R., Dooley, T. P., and Jackson, C. A.-L., in press, Obstructed minibasins on a salt‐detached slope: an example from above the Sigsbee canopy, northern Gulf of Mexico: Basin Research, 20 p., http://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12380.
• Jackson, C. A.-L., Duffy, O. B., Fernandez, N., Dooley, T. P., Hudec, M. R., Jackson, M. P. A., and Burg, G., in press, The stratigraphic record of minibasin subsidence, Precaspian Basin, Kazakhstan: Basin Research, 25 p., http://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12393.
In review and in preparation:
• Apps –
Influence of mantle-driven dynamic topography on salt basins
Sediment transport systems across minibasins
• Dooley –
Growth and evolution of salt canopies on a salt-detached slope
Extension and inversion of salt-bearing rift systems
• Duffy – Shortening of isolated minibasin provinces
• Fernandez –
Minibasin obstruction and regional canopy dynamics
Minibasin translation velocities from numerical models
• Heidari – Multiple sand layers in numerical models of rising salt walls
• Hudec – Control of salt depositional configuration on evolution of the southern Pyrenees
• Nikolinakou – Deformation during thrust advance of salt sheets
• Peel –
Controls on shapes of salt diapirs
Louann salt deposition in global context
Rates and duration of salt deposition
• Soto – Physical properties of mobile shales
Frank Peel
Juan Soto
April 2020
New publication:
The Salt Mine is now available as a digital download!
US0005D. The Salt Mine: A Digital Atlas of Salt Tectonics, by M. R. Hudec and M. P. A. Jackson. Bureau of Economic Geology Udden Book Series No. 5 and AAPG Memoir 99. 305 p., 400 images, 40 animations, 2011. Downloadable (1.7 GB zip folder) version issued March 2020. ISBN: 978-0-615-51836-7.
Click image for link to store.
New publication:
Xiaodong Yang, Frank J. Peel, Lisa C. McNeill and David J. Sanderson, 2020, Comparison of fold-thrust belts driven by plate convergence and gravitational failure. Earth-Science Reviews Volume 203, April 2020, 103136, doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103136
March 2020
Dr. Stanbrook with Murphy in Houston, visited the AGL offices in early March. He visited Frank Peel, Gillian Apps and PhD student Donald Christie (Southampton University) in his capacity as Donald's co-supervisor. They discussed the forward modelling software Onlapse, which Donald is developing from Frank's early prototype. They discussed how Onlapse currently models the interplay between structural growth and sediment flux to a basin, and we touched on future applications of the software.
Mike Hudec visited Shell’s Houston office on March 10-11, to discuss salt tectonics in basins around the world. Portions of the visit were provided as part of Shell’s membership in the AGL consortium.
On March 11, 2020 Frank Peel and Gillian Apps visited the offices of Hess to discuss the Gulf of Mexico.
February 2020
New Publication:
Reber, J. E., Cooke, M. L., Dooley, T. P. (2020). What model material to use? A Review on rock analogs for structural geology and tectonics. Earth Science Reviews, 202, 103107. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103107
Mike Hudec visited WesternGeco’s Houston office on February 3 to present a one-day short course on salt tectonics entitled “Introduction to Salt Tectonics”.
Mike Hudec attended a Repsol internal conference entitled “The Repsol Circum-Gulf of Mexico Workshop” in Houston on February 26-27. During the workshop, Mike gave a presentation entitled “Jurassic opening of the Gulf of Mexico, and its influence on variations in salt structures around the basin margins”. Parts of the visit was provided as part
of Repsol’s membership in the AGL consortium.
On February 27, Mike Hudec represented geology at the 2020 Blazier Elementary School career day. Mike spent much of the day setting off dry ice + boiling water volcanoes.
January 2020
Juan Soto officially joined AGL as a full-time research scientist. Juan has begun a 5-year leave of absence from the University of Grenada to work with UT research on our new project investigating shale tectonics.
January 20-29, Juan Soto and Mike Hudec visited the Houston offices of AGL member companies Repsol, Shell, WesternGeco, and PGS to discuss research into shale tectonics.
