NOVEMBER 2023 LUNCHEON MEETING
David Felipe Lankford-Bravo
presents
Syn & Post depositional deformation at the Onion Creek Salt Diapir:
Observations, Lessons, and their Applications
11:30 AM Wednesday, November 15, 2023
at Willow Brook Country Club
3205 W Erwin St.
Tyler, TX 75702
Cost: $25 if you RSVP
$30 at the door if you do NOT reserve
Abstract
The Onion Creek Salt Diapir, exposed in Fisher Valley near Moab, UT, is surrounded by Permian – Plio/Pleistocene sediments that are variably deformed. Observed styles of deformation can be categorized as coming from three main events: early Permian-aged syndepositional deformation related to passive diapirism, a post-mesozoic stage of likely dissolution related diapiric roof collapse, and a third stage of plio-pleistocene to recent diapirism. Permian-aged deformation is recorded in Permian Cutler Group sediments by the presence of diapir perpendicular faulting, diapir parallel folding, and structure-associated variations in sediment thicknesses. Post-mesozoic diapiric roof collapse is represented by extensionally faulted blocks of Mesozoic strata that are distributed around older exposed salt features. Plio-pleistocene Diapirism is recorded by the presence of rotated volcanic and lacustrine sediments that onlap the present day exposure of the diapir. This talk reviews structural features exposed at the Onion Creek Salt diapir, discusses the processes behind them, and relates lessons learned to applications in industry and other basins.
Biography
David Felipe Lankford-Bravo has a B.S. in Geology from the University of Houston and a PhD in geosciences from the University of Texas at El Paso. At the University of Houston he was a member of the Conjugate Basin Tectonics and Hydrocarbons Project (CBTH) where he contributed to research regarding Gulf of Mexico passive margin fold belts and crustal boundaries. As a PhD student he contributed to the study of the evolution of a variety of salt related features within the Paradox Basin (USA), and Flinders Ranges (South Australia) as a member of the salt-sediment interactions research consortium. During his PhD, his primary research focused on differentiating between multiple styles of salt related deformation exposed at the Onion Creek Salt Diapir using integrated field and digital techniques. He specializes in salt-sediment interactions, and applies his skillset as a geoscientist at bp.