Changes

==Future directions==

==Future directions==

Areas remain in which additional advances can be made in the study of shale tectonics. As exploration and development of hydrocarbons move into deeper waters along continental margins, our ability to seismically image shale versus salt must improve if we are to deduce the role that these very different materials play in deep-water fold-belt evolution. Improved understanding of how muds behave at grain-to-grain scale when buried will inform modelers and improve our understanding of diagenetic processes in shales.

Areas remain in which additional advances can be made in the study of shale tectonics. As exploration and development of hydrocarbons move into deeper waters along continental margins, our ability to seismically image shale versus salt must improve if we are to deduce the role that these very different materials play in deep-water [[fold]]-belt evolution. Improved understanding of how muds behave at grain-to-grain scale when buried will inform modelers and improve our understanding of diagenetic processes in shales.

At present, many intriguing questions remain regarding shale tectonics and mobile muds. How do we get fluid and plastic muds extruded at the sea floor that appear on seismic data to have originated well below the lithifaction depth of shales (see Day-Stirrat et al.<ref name=Daystirratetal_2010 /> for a review)? What is the physical interaction between mud-volcano pipes and underlying hydrocarbon reservoirs? Some researchers have shown that no hydraulic links between these crosscutting strata exist (DeVille et al.<ref name=Devilleetal_2006>Deville, E., S.-H. Guerlais, Y. Callec, R. Griboulard, P. Huyghe, S. Lallemant, A. Mascle, M. Noble, and J. Schmitz, 2006, Liquefied vs. stratified sediment mobilization processes: Insight from the south of the Barbados accretionary prism: Tectonophysics, v. 428, p. 33–47, doi:[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040195106003945 10.1016/j.tecto.2006.08.011].</ref>). Do shales truly inflate as salts do above a regional stratigraphic datum? Evidence in Nigeria seems to suggest that they do (see Wiener et al.<ref name=Wieneretal_2010 />). Why have we not identified more basins in which such regional inflation of shale occurs? Is there truly such a thing as a shale diapir or is this term a misdirected application of terminology? And of course, there is always the terminology itself. Although a laborious task to standardize, because this is the language by which scientific communities communicate their ideas, some attention must be paid to its clarification.

At present, many intriguing questions remain regarding shale tectonics and mobile muds. How do we get fluid and plastic muds extruded at the sea floor that appear on seismic data to have originated well below the lithifaction depth of shales (see Day-Stirrat et al.<ref name=Daystirratetal_2010 /> for a review)? What is the physical interaction between mud-volcano pipes and underlying hydrocarbon reservoirs? Some researchers have shown that no hydraulic links between these crosscutting strata exist (DeVille et al.<ref name=Devilleetal_2006>Deville, E., S.-H. Guerlais, Y. Callec, R. Griboulard, P. Huyghe, S. Lallemant, A. Mascle, M. Noble, and J. Schmitz, 2006, Liquefied vs. stratified sediment mobilization processes: Insight from the south of the Barbados accretionary prism: Tectonophysics, v. 428, p. 33–47, doi:[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040195106003945 10.1016/j.tecto.2006.08.011].</ref>). Do shales truly inflate as salts do above a regional stratigraphic datum? Evidence in Nigeria seems to suggest that they do (see Wiener et al.<ref name=Wieneretal_2010 />). Why have we not identified more basins in which such regional inflation of shale occurs? Is there truly such a thing as a shale diapir or is this term a misdirected application of terminology? And of course, there is always the terminology itself. Although a laborious task to standardize, because this is the language by which scientific communities communicate their ideas, some attention must be paid to its clarification.