The diversity of salt structures in Saxony Anhalt linked to the tectonic evolution in the southern part of the Central European Basin

Salt structures are structurally and genetically highly complex structures in sedimentary basins with a stratigraphic pile comprising thick salt layers. Such structures are of increasing scientific and economic interest in times of energy transition and subsurface storage. In the southern part of the Central European Basin several salt structures formed due to halokinetic and halotectonic processes from Triassic to Cenozoic times and rearranged the originally flatlying evaporites of the Zechstein-Formation. In Saxony-Anhalt (Central Germany) three domains of the former Central European Basin with different kinds of salt structures exist: (1) The Altmark dominantly favoured salt-pillow and diapir formation. (2) The Subhercynian Basin comprises elongated salt anticlines and (3) the South-Eastern Harzforeland dominantly shows stratiform and mildly upward-rising salt. Most of these structures are distributed along faults suggesting the influence of tectonics on all kinds of halokinetic structures.

To investigate the complex genesis and influencing parameters, we performed a data- and evidence-based compilation for salt structures of Saxony-Anhalt. Therefore, we evaluated existing data of salt structures from exploration phases, 3D-models and geophysical data. The resulting geoinformation system compiles information on the geology, geometry, exploration data, tectonics and timings of diapirs, pillows and anticline structures, which allow us to re-interpret their evolution.

Preliminary results indicate that the majority of the studied diapirs are elliptical with an overhanging top. Regarding the time of salt pillow and diapir formation a clear spatial correlation from southwest to northeast can be interpreted in the Altmark region coinciding with the main tectonic phases in Central Germany.