Style and evolution of salt pillows and related structures in the northernpart of the Northeast German Basin

The northern part of the Northeast German Basin contains a large number of Late Permian (Zechstein) salt pillows, whereas diapiric structures are almo st completely absent. This lack of diapirs facilitated the study of early s tages of salt movement in the basin. Salt pillows and related structures we re investigated in terms of distribution, geometry and time of initiation o f salt flow within the regional geological context. The primary Zechstein t hickness in the study area was reconstructed to gain more insight into the relationship between the geometry of the salt layer and the style of the sa lt-related structures. In this study, no clear spatial relationship between the salt structures and basement faults has been found and the location of the salt structures in this area appears to be highly independent of the u nderlying structural grain. The overburden is affected by minor faulting. W e propose that buckling of the overburden due to regional compression signi ficantly contributed to the initiation of the Late Jurassic to Early Cretac eous salt structures in the basin. Reverse faulting of the Gardelegen and H aldensleben Faults is related to inversion tectonics and exerted a compress ion on the basin fill. During the deformation, the Late Permian salt layer acted as an efficient detachment and led to a marked decoupling of the Meso zoic overburden from the underlying pre-Zechstein rocks.