Dissolution of Permian Salado salt during Salado time in the Wink area, Winkler County, Texas

The Wink area, on the east edge of the Delaware Basin, was the site of dissolution of Permian Salado salts during Salado time. The Wink area is above the crest of the deepl y buried Capitan Reef and is just 2 mi east of a major dissolution trough that contains anomalously thick Late Permian, Triassic and Cenozoic sediments. Salado-age dissolution had not been recognized previously because of the obvious dissolution, collapse and infilling of the nearby dissolution trough during post-Salado time. The Salado Formation is informally divided into eight units, based upon examination of geophysical logs of 47 wells drilled in the four -section study area in Winkler County, Texas. Anomalous local thinning of Salado salt units, accompanied by anomalous thickening of overlying Salado rock units at the same site, is the major evidence of this Salado-age dissolution; anomalously thick local accumulations result from sedimentary filling of depressions created by dissolution and subsidence of underlying salts. Each of the Salado units thins anomalously by 15 -50 ft at one or several sites in the area, whereas five of the younger units thicken anomalously by 10 -45 ft above the sites of thinning. These thickness anomalies typically occur within horizontal distances of 1000 ft or less.