Turtle-back anticlines are defined as mounded strata between salt diapirs, with a thick sedimentary sequence in the core that thins laterally. Turtle structures form between diapirs whose flanks subside, and record the history of salt flow and diapir narrowing through time. They are key to track the complex 3D evolution of salt wall-minibasin systems. In this work we analyse seismic and field examples to identify types of turtle structures and how they record complex salt migration. The Central North Sea (CNS) is a natural laboratory for salt tectonics that provides valuable examples related with the mobilization of the Zechstein supergroup (Late Permian) and the development of minibasins enclosed by salt walls during the Triassic. We examine the morphology and geometry of a ca. 31 km-long zig-zag shaped salt wall and its flanking minibasins which contain different types of turtle structures. In addition to classic turtle anticlines with anticline axial plane parallel to the salt wall strike, two across-strike turtle axes have been identified. Based on the observations from well-constrained seismic data we have interpreted that those turtles are associated to the migration of salt towards transverse salt bodies or spurs splaying from the main sinuous salt wall. We compare these examples with a well-exposed across-strike turtle structure in the Central High Atlas salt province of Morocco. This Jurassic antiformal structure records the past existence of transverse spurs (now only partially preserved) from the NE-SW oriented Aberdouz salt wall that collapsed early in the extensional evolution of the Atlas basin. The high-quality examples from the North Sea and the Atlas illustrate how the distribution and type of turtle anticlines are controlled by the 3D geometric pattern of salt migration and associated salt-sediment interaction.