Deriving the rate of salt rise at the cape fear slide using new seismic data

Abstract

Recently acquired 2-D seismic data from offshore North Carolina provides images of salt diapirs and landslides in the Carolina Trough that give insight into the interaction between slope sediments and intruding salt from below. The best example of this is the Cape Fear Slide Complex in which at least two salt diapirs are surrounded by the lower headwall of the slide. Here, we present seismic images that were collected for the Eastern North American Margin Community Seismic Experiment. We describe the morphology of the slide and diapirs in order to infer rates of salt rise. We have tentatively estimated a post-slide growth rates of 517 m per million years (m/Ma). However, as the analysis continues, it is possible this estimate will change. This research provides significant insight into the interplay of salt and slope failure processes in an ocean basin setting.