f THE EFFECTS OF SALT WITHDRAWAL ON TRAP EVOLUTION AND HYDROCARBON SYSTEMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO BASIN

The northern Gulf of Mexico basin margin exhibits a wide spectrum of hydrocarbon system elements from initial to mature stages that resulted from, or were influenced by salt withdrawal. In the past decade, improved seismic data quality and geological concepts developed by workers inside and outside the petroleum industry have led to a fundamentally new regional understanding of the distribution of structural styles and their evolution in the context of allochthonous, laterally displaced salt sheets with multi-phase emplacement histories.