Integrated study of the basin structure, tectonic history, rock physics, physical stratigraphy, hydrogeology, geochemistry, natural resources, and geomorphology of the Palo Duro and Dalhart Basins in the Texas Panhandle is part of a national evaluation of ancient salt basins as potential sites for isolation and management of nuclear wastes.
Mobilization of the Louann Salt created the present structural configuration in the central part of the East Texas Basin and was the major control on hydrocarbon accumulation in the area. Salt-cored anticlines, turtle-structure anticlines, and salt diapirs were produced by flow of salt.
Principal fault systems in the East Texas Basin were examined in terms of their distribution, geometry, displacement history, and possible origins. All the faults studied are normal and moved syndepositionally over approximately 120 Ma (million years); some have listric shapes and associated rollover anticlines.