*2.4. Salt Diapirs*

Salt diapirs act as heat pipes and can depress temperatures in the nearby oil window by nearly 100 ◦C, delaying hydrocarbon maturation enough to a ffect exploration strategies. Two studies of the specific analysis of the impact of salt on basin temperature illustrate how the modeling of salt diapirs can be integrated into future exploration models. Cedeño et al. [6] used Slumberger software to analyze the impact of salt diapirism on the subsurface temperature and the timing of maturation in a confined salt-bearing basin in the Norwegian Barents Sea, showing that the densely packed diapirs depress temperatures by 50–70 ◦C and delay maturation. With examples from the Nordkapp Basin, they show that the temperatures along the diapir flanks are 70 ◦C cooler and are exceptionally low (~150 ◦C) at depths of ~9 km beneath the salt.

Grunnaleite and Mosbron [7] show that salt structures on the Eastern flank of the Central Graben of the Norwegian North Sea depress temperatures by 85 ◦C and vitrinite Ro by up to 1.0%. They use the BMT (Basin Modeling Toolbox) software to accurately track the changing shape of the diapirs (especially the retraction of the root), and present what may be the most realistic salt model of a specific site ye<sup>t</sup> published. They show the timing and geometrical evolution of salt structures depends critically on correctly defining the geometry of salt volumes and having a good geohistory model.
