UNDERSTANDING SALT MOVEMENT KEY TO HOT GULF OF MEXICO PLAY

Bob Tippee Managing Editor-Economics and Exploration A. D. Koen Senior Editor-News The Gulf of Mexico's hottest exploration play in years hinges on drastically changing concepts about shapes and movements of underground salt. The old, standard view of salt as an upward thrusting dome rooted to a deep source bed has expanded to encompass a range of salt shapes and behaviors. Although piercement domes of the old model exist, many salt bodies prove to have more width than depth, often detached