Salt tectonics synchronous with salt deposition in the Santos Basin (Ariri Formation, Brazil)

Halokinetic deformations synchronous with salt deposition are processes already suggested in several salt giants including the Lower Cretaceous salt deposits of the Santos Basin in Brazil. However, the dynamics of syn-depositional deformation has never been studied in a coherent depositional and structural framework. This study investigates well data and high-resolution 3D seismic images in the evaporitic Ariri Formation of the Santos Basin to understand the intra-salt deformations, estimate their timing and establish a link with the depositional setting of the evaporites. The seismic data shows numerous examples of intra-salt onlaps, erosive surfaces and sedimentary wedges highlighting the occurrence of deformations during salt deposition. Two dominant processes have initiated salt creep: the density contrasts between a dense upper anhydrite-rich unit and a less dense lower halite-dominated unit and the gravitational system promoted by the late-rift subsidence. Updip, extension prevailed during salt deposition and favored a boudinage of the Ariri Formation. Downdip, early contraction favored the development of well-developed intra-salt minibasins. Deformation occurring during salt deposition and induced topographic relief likely influenced the hydrological conditions. It probably led to intra-salt dissolution/reprecipitation processes and hyper-saline conditions favoring the precipitation of tachyhydrite deposits in localized intra-salt depocenters. Eventually, post-salt minibasins systematically developed above syn-salt depocenters, indicating that syn-salt deposition deformation had a strong impact on post-salt evolution. This new understanding of the intra-salt deformation in the Santos Basin paves the way for new interpretations of halokinetic deformations reported elsewhere in the South Atlantic or in other salt-giant provinces.