Geological interpretation and numerical modelling of salt movement in the Barbastro-Balaguer anticline, southern Pyrenees

Abstract

The Barbastro-Balaguer salt anticline, located in the South Pyrenean foreland basin, was characterised with seismic reflection profiles and well logs interpretation to be the result of a combination of thrusting, buoyancy and differential loading mechanisms. These mechanisms were responsible for the formation and the evolution of the structure from the Late Oligocene to the present. Seismic reflection interpretation indicates that alpine compressional tectonics played the major role in the early stages of the formation of the anticline. A numerical model based on the finite difference involving thrusting, buoyancy and differential loading mechanisms was developed and applied to the modelling of the development of the salt structure. The results of our modelling suggest that buoyancy and differential loading have played an important role in the subsequent growth of the Barbastro-Balaguer anticline.