Interpreting Salt and Faults in the Subsurface: Lessons from the Field

By: Bruce Trudgill

Monday, May 4, 2026 | 5:30 – 7:30pm

Spaghetti Western, 1608 Shepherd Drive, Houston, TX 77007

Parking note: Park in lot behind restaurant

Cost: $45 Members, $55 Non-members, $40 Students

Details: Includes buffet dinner and two drink tickets

Interpreting Salt and Faults in the Subsurface: Lessons from the Field

“Interpretation is telling the geologic story contained in seismic data. It is correlating the features we see in seismic data with elements of geology as we know them” (Interpreter Sam, September 2003)

Effective geological interpretation of subsurface seismic data integrates a wide range of skills, merged with experience gained from previous interpretation projects and real-world examples from the field. Interpreters need to be flexible enough to handle multiple interpretive possibilities and be able to visualize geology in three dimensions without the latest advances in visualization tools and technologies. Using field analogs to develop better interpretations of salt systems and fault families in the subsurface is therefore a critical component of building geologically realistic subsurface interpretations.

This talk illustrates spectacular examples of salt and fault outcrops from Utah, Colorado and South Australia to see how these outcrops serve as analogs for subsurface seismic datasets in petroliferous salt basins. We will visit the salt-detached normal fault systems of the Canyonlands Grabens and Arches National Park, investigate salt-sediment interactions and halokinetic sequences of the Paradox Basin and South Australia, and describe the shortened salt walls, minibasins and allochthonous salt sheets of the Eagle Basin in Colorado.

Our work in the Eagle Basin has significant implications for the timing and magnitude of both Ancestral Rocky Mountain uplifts and Laramide-age shortening. Additionally, diagnostic structural and stratigraphic features present in the Eagle Basin are analogous to salt-dominated regions that have undergone shortening of pre-existing diapirs and minibasins such as the Sivas Basin of Turkey, the Gulf of Mexico/America, and the shortened foreland of northern Oman mountains.

About the speaker:

Dr. Bruce Trudgill

Bruce Trudgill is currently the SME in Structural Geology for Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy). Bruce joined Oxy in 2024 after 21 years as an associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines, where he is now an Emeritus professor. His research interests are in the growth and evolution of geological structures and their influence on depositional systems, both in the field and subsurface. At Oxy, Bruce teaches internal courses on seismic interpretation and structural geology and leads field courses to Utah and Colorado. He is responsible for implementing best practices in structural analysis as well as teaching and mentoring in structural geology across the company.