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Announcement
Advances in Salt Tectonics: Observations, Applications, and
Perspective: In Honor of Martin P.A. Jackson
11–16 February 2018 • Dead Sea, Ein Boqeq, Israel
www.geosociety.org/PenroseConferences
CONVENERS
Ram Weinberger, Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, and
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel,
rami.weinberger@gsi.gov.il
Ian Alsop, Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology,
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK,
ian.alsop@abdn.ac.uk
Michael R. Hudec, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University
of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA, michael.hudec@
beg.utexas.edu
Cosponsored by: GSA Foundation, Israeli Ministry of Science,
Geological Survey of Israel
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES
Salt tectonics involves processes associated with the flow of
rock salt. These processes are both scientifically and economically
important, because (1) when salt is present, it typically dominates
the structural style, evolution, and stratigraphic development of
surrounding regions, providing a long time-scale, long length-
scale record of geodynamic processes; and (2) salt governs hydro-
carbon trap development and the thermal evolution of many
basins, including some of the largest hydrocarbon accumulations
on Earth. Great advances have been made in salt tectonics over
the past 10 years, largely driven by the utilization of 3D seismic
data, advanced physical and numerical modeling techniques, and
application of modern geospatial technology to the study of
exposed salt structures. This Penrose Conference will gather the
leading academic and applied industry experts in salt tectonics in
the Dead Sea (the lowest place on Earth’s surface), with field trips which is a 15-minute drive from the Sedom salt wall and about a
to the Sedom salt wall, one of the most accessible and exceptional
salt diapirs in the world.
The main objectives of the meeting are to present and discuss:
1. New field-based observations of salt-diapir geometries and
kinematics;
2. Latest advances in understanding of diapiric structures from
seismic interpretation;
66 GSA Today | May 2017
3. New concepts derived from physical and mathematical mod-
eling of salt diapirs;
4. Innovative, and perhaps controversial new concepts in salt
tectonics;
5. Evolution of salt basins; and
6. A field visit to the Sedom salt wall, which provides as an out-
standing outcrop example of diapiric geometry, kinematics
and mechanics.
The preliminary outline of sessions is as follows:
1. Field-based studies of salt diapirs and related structures;
2. Seismic-based analysis of salt tectonic systems in Atlantic
margins, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, and elsewhere;
3. Physical and mathematical modeling of salt tectonics;
4. Mechanics of salt flow from microscale to macroscale; and
5. Interrelations between salt tectonics and hydrocarbons.
PRELIMINARY AGENDA
This six-day meeting will start with an icebreaker on the shore
of the Dead Sea, Israel, on the evening of Sunday, 11 Feb. 2018. It
will end at the foot of Masada, on the afternoon of Friday, 16 Feb.
2018. The meeting will contain a balance of two days of field
excursions and three days of talks and poster presentations. The
field excursions will focus on the Sedom salt wall as well as the
Dead Sea plate-bounding fault systems and seismically triggered
deformation structures in the Dead Sea basin. We believe the
Sedom salt wall to be one of the best exposed and most accessible
salt diapirs in the world, with an impressive current uplift rate of
about 8 mm/yr. It includes great outcrops of both halite and sur-
rounding sediments.
All nights will be spent at the Leonardo Club Hotel, Dead Sea,
two-hour drive from the international airport at Tel-Aviv.
ATTENDEES AND ESTIMATED COSTS
The registration fee is estimated at US$750–$850 and will
cover the cost of the meeting, hotel lodging for five nights (double
occupancy; single occupancy will be possible with additional
fees), the icebreaker reception, all meals and coffee breaks for five
days, transportation, and meals for the field trips. Airfare is not