We examined two tear faults, namely, Nos. 4 and 7 Faults, in Tarim Basin
to investigate how a tear fault penetrates the salt layer. Using
high-quality seismic data, we showed that No. 4 Fault penetrates the
salt layer, whereas No. 7 Fault does not. We calculated the strata
shortening data of Nos. 4 and 7 Faults. For No. 4 Fault, we observed
shortening differences between the western and eastern sections in both
the supra- and sub-salt strata, whereas for No. 7 Fault, we observed
shortening differences only in the supra-salt strata. We demonstrated
that under the action of thrusting, a tear fault could penetrate the
salt layer if there is a shortening difference in the different
positions of the sub-salt strata. A lack of shortening difference in the
sub-salt strata implies that a tear fault cannot penetrate the salt
layer, even though the sub-salt strata are deformed during thrusting.