Internal Salt Tectonics within the Halogenic Series in the Gremyachinskoye Potassium Salt Field

Explorations of 1979–1982 and 2006–2009 have made the field ready for industrial development and have revealed peculiar manifestations of internal salt tectonics within the subhorizontal halogenic bodies. The degree and the character of intrasalt tectonics are estimated according to boudinage, i. e. the response of the rigid dolomite- anhydrite interlayers within the salts to arising tectonic stresses. Upon folding, the interlayers are torn into separate fragments and stretched along the bedding. Examination of the Gremyachinskoye field has revealed uncommon type of boudinage: that of infusion, not of stretching. The experience of studying internal salt tectonics at the Elton dome, folding at the Svetloyarskaya anticlinal feature and folding at the Gremyachinskoye field makes it possible to establish the primary cause of salt-dome unit formation