In£uence of extension and compression on salt diapirism in its type area, East Carpathians Bend area

Abstract: The East Carpathians Bend area has a very complex structure character-ized by the presence of nappes, their post-tectonic cover and salt diapirs. The salt forming the studied diapirs s Early Miocene (Burdigalian) in age. After its accu-mulation the salt was more or less continuously involved in alternating extensional and compressional stages that deformed it from its original tabular position to the present-day diapir. Five stages of salt deformation have been established: initial, pre-nappe mplacement, appe emplacement, post-nappe emplacement and Wal-lachian. During all of these stages the salt was configured into different shapes: it formed a truncated cone during the initial stage, a mushroom head during the pre-nappe emplacement stage, and an increasingly more tapered shape with nappe emplacement and during the post-nappe mplacement s ages. Finally, it was squeezed out and refashioned by strike-slip faulting during the Wallachian com-pressional stage of Pleistocene age. In the East Carpathians Bend area the numerous alt exposures as well as salt-water springs reveal the presence of subsurface salt bodies. Historically, the salt has been o