Boulby Mine, Salt Tectonics Field/Lecture Course

Preliminary Programme

Venue: Grinkle Park Hotel, Easington, Cleveland, UK.
Course Leaders: Ian Davison, Earthmoves Ltd.
and Dave Waltham, Royal Holloway, University of London.

This two day combined field/lecture course will cover all aspects of Salt Tectonics and its effects on sedimentation. The course provides a unique opportunity to combine a lecture course with a visit to the deepest mine in the UK. The mine extends out 5 km below the North Sea coastline and up to 1.3 km below sea level, where you can walk around in salt rollers on the shoulder of the North Sea Central Graben! Coastal cliff exposures of salt welds and Zechstein collapse breccias will be examined at Seaham (optional extra field excursion held on Sunday before the main course starts.

 OPTIONAL EXTRA. Salt welds and dissolution seams Seaham Middlesborough. ID. Note this extra field session is really an add on for people that are prepared to travel up to the area a day early for a 3 pm start, and is not considered an essential part of the course. 

DAY 1 

Morning Session

9.00 am. Concepts of fluid mechanics. DAW.

9.30 am. Physical properties of salt and concepts of fluid mechanics. Physical modeling demonstration. ID.

10.00 am. Growth and mechanics of salt diapirism. Relative importance of buoyancy differential loading and regional tectonics. Numerical and physical modeling of salt diapirism. ID

11.00 am. North Sea Salt Diapirs Part 1: Central Graben diapirs. Growth history and large scale deformation features. ID.

12.00 am. Seismic section interpretation exercise.

1.00 pm. Lunch.

Afternoon Session

PARTY 1 (7 people) 2-5 pm. Trip to Boulby Mine. ID.

PARTY 2 (7 people)

2.00 Prograding sediment wedges above salt layers, with numerical modelling exercises. Investigation of erosion effects on diapir growth. DAW.

3.00 Principles of turbidite deposition. Physical modeling demonstration. DAW.

3.30 2D modelling of turbidite flows. DAW

4.00 3D Modelling of turbidite deposition around diapirs, and against fault scarps. DAW.
Course finishes 5.00 pm.

DAY 2. 

Morning

8.30 am. North Sea Salt Diapirs. Part 2: Detailed reservoir geometry and deformation features: implications for reservoir productivity. ID.

9.30 am. Drag folding adjacent to salt diapirs. Implications for traps against diapir walls ID.

10.00 am. Cap rock formation and dissolution features. ID.

11.00 am. Allochthonous salt sheets, and compressional salt structures. ID.

12.00 am. Lunch

Afternoon

1.00 pm -4 pm PARTY 2 Boulby Mine Trip. ID.

PARTY 1

1.00 pm. Prograding sediment wedges above salt layers, with numerical modelling exercises. Investigation of erosion effects on diapir growth. DAW.

1.30 pm. Principles of turbidite deposition. Physical modeling demonstration. DAW.

2.00 pm. 2D modelling of turbidite flows. DAW

2.45 pm. 3D Modelling of turbidite deposition around diapirs, and against fault scarps. DAW.

Course Finishes 4.00 pm. (ID = Ian Davison, DAW= David Waltham)

Cost of course: £1,150 +VAT, including two nights accommodation and full board at the Grinkle Park Hotel (www.grinklepark.co.uk).

Attendance is limited to 14 participants. To reserve places, or for further information contact: Ian Davison, i.davison@earthmoves.co.uk

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