Michoud fault

Movement of the complex and thus on the Michaud fault reflects gravitational instabilities and down-dip motion during times of high sedimentation (Peel et al., 1995).

Growth faults are common geologic structures of regions undergoing high sedimentation rates, such as river deltas and passive margins.

They often develop where weak rock layers (detachments) such as salt, anhydrite, or shale underlie regions of rapid sedimentation.

These downslope movements will be correspondingly experienced in the headwall region (such as that occupied by the Michoud fault) either as slow (barely perceptible) or rapid (catastrophic) subsidence.

Holocene faulting and tilting is widely recognized in many world deltas, such as the Nile, the Ganges-Brahmaputra, the Yangtze, the Po River, and the Rhine.