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Institutions should heed these recommendations to prepare faculty and students for discrimination and racialized violence before traveling and to protect them once in the field.

Stratal geometries of salt-floored minibasins provide a record of the interplay between minibasin subsidence and sedimentation. Minibasin subsidence and resulting stratal geometries are frequently interpreted by considering the minibasins in isolation and implicitly assuming that internal geometries are the result of purely vertical halokinetic processes. However, minibasins rarely form in isolation and may record complex subsidence histories even in the absence of tectonic forces. In this study we use numerical models to investigate how minibasins subside in response to density-driven downbuilding. We show that minibasins subsiding in isolation result in simple symmetric minibasins with relatively simple internal stratigraphic patterns. In contrast, where minibasins form in closely spaced arrays and subside at different rates, minibasins can kinematically interact due to complex patterns of flow in the encasing salt, even during simple density-driven subsidence. More specifically, we show that minibasins can: 1) prevent nearby minibasins from subsiding; 2) induce lateral translation of nearby minibasins; and 3) induce tilting and asymmetric subsidence of nearby minibasins. We conclude that even in areas where no regional or dominant salt flow regime exists, minibasins can still be genetically related and that minibasin subsidence histories cannot be fully understood if considered in isolation.

22Minibasins are fundamental components of many salt-bearing sedimentary basins, where they may host 23 large volumes of hydrocarbons. Although we understand the basic mechanics governing their 24 subsidence, we know surprisingly little of how minibasins subside in three-dimensions over geological 25timescales, or what controls such variability. Such knowledge would improve our ability to constrain 26 initial salt volumes in sedimentary basins, the timing of salt welding, and the distribution and likely 27 charging histories of suprasalt hydrocarbon reservoirs. We use 3D seismic reflection data from the 28 Precaspian Basin, onshore Kazakhstan to reveal the subsidence histories of 16, Upper Permian-to-29 Triassic, suprasalt minibasins. These minibasins subsided into a Lower-to-Middle Permian salt layer 30 that contained numerous relatively strong, clastic-dominated minibasins encased during an earlier, latest 31 Permian phase of diapirism; because of this, the salt varied in thickness. Suprasalt minibasins contain a 32 stratigraphic record of symmetric (bowl-shaped units) and then asymmetric (wedge-shaped units) 33 subsidence, with this change in style seemingly occurring at different times in different minibasins, and 34 most likely prior to welding. We complement our observations from natural minibasins in the 35 Precaspian Basin with results arising from new physical sandbox models; this allows us to explore the 36 volumes) is a key challenge when attempting to unravel the geodynamics of continental breakup (e.g. 63 Davison et al., 2012), whereas the timing of salt welding is of critical importance for understanding the 64 potential for and the timing of the transmission of hydrocarbons through welds from subsalt source 65 rocks into suprasalt reservoirs (Rowan, 2004). 66Despite their ubiquity and importance, and although they are typically well-imaged in seismic 67 reflection data and penetrated by numerous boreholes, surprisingly little is known about the variability 68 of minibasin subsidence, and what controls this in time and space (see Clark et al. 1998 for an exception; 69 Fig. 1E). This reflects how few published studies have employed high-quality, regionally-extensive 3D 70 seismic reflection datasets to map their synkinematic strata, the architecture of which preserve a record 71 of salt tectonic-related changes in accommodation. Using 2D seismic reflection and borehole data from 72 the northern Gulf of Mexico, Rowan and Weimer (1998) document four types of seismic-stratigraphic 73 3 packages within Pliocene-Pleistocene minibasins subsiding into thick allochthonous salt. Each type 74defines a different style of minibasin subsidence, with periods of broadly symmetrical subsidence 75 recorded by 'bowls' and 'layers', and asymmetric subsidence and minibasin tilting defined by 'wedges' 76 ( Fig. 1A and C). Rowan and Weimer (1998) conclude the transition from bowl-to wedge-shaped 77 packages is driven by and thus records, minibasin welding during passive diapirism (see Fig. 1A; see 78also Kergaravat et al....

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Subsurface salt flow can deform overlying strata and influence contemporaneous sedimentary processes. Studying salt-sediment interactions is challenging in the subsurface due to poor imaging adjacent to salt, and in the field due to the dissolution of halite. Discrete Element Modelling provides an efficient and inexpensive tool to model stratigraphy and deformation around salt structures, which is advantageous over other modelling techniques as it realistically recreates brittle processes such as faulting. Six 2D experiments were run representing 4.6 Myr (46,000 timesteps) to determine the effect of salt growth on syn-kinematic stratigraphy. Halokinetic deformation of stratigraphic architecture was assessed by varying sediment input rates (slow, intermediate, and fast), and increasing and decreasing them through time. Results show the realistic formation and evolution of salt-related faults which define a zone of halokinetic influence, ~3 times the width of the initial diapir. Outside of this, pre-and syn-kinematic stratigraphy are undeformed. Within this zone, syn-kinematic strata are initially isolated into primary salt withdrawal basins, onlapping and thinning towards the salt-cored high. In most models, syn-kinematic strata eventually thin across and cover the diapir roof. Thinning rates are up to six times greater within 350 metres of the diapir, compared to further afield, and typically decrease upwards (with time) and laterally (with distance) from the diapir. Outputs are compared to a subsurface example from the Pierce field, UK North Sea, which highlights the importance of considering local fluctuations in diapir rise rate. These can create stratigraphic architectures that may erroneously be interpreted to represent 'apparent' increases/decreases in sedimentation rate. Exposed examples, such as the Bakio diapir, northern Spain, can be used to make inferences of the expected depositional facies, below model resolution. Our models aid prediction of sedimentary unit thickness and thinning rates, and can be used to test interpretations arising from incomplete or low-resolution subsurface and outcrop data when building geological models for subsurface energy.