Origins of the Mid-Cretaceous evaporite deposits of the Sakhon Nakhon Basin in Laos: Evidence from the stable isotopes of halite
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LITHOLOGY OF KIMMERIDGIAN EVAPORITES OF SOUTH-WESTERN SLOPE OF EAST EUROPEAN PLATFORM
Summary
Kimmeridgian evaporites spread out along the south-western slopes of East European Platform on territory of Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine and Poland. They consist of interbedded dolomites, dolomitic limestones, anhydrite and siliciclastic rocks, and in Predobrugea also of gypsum and rocks salt. The lithological and geochemical examination showed that they formed in similar lagoonal environments, in conditions of the increased salinity, restricted water exchange and terrigenous material supply to the evaporite basin. Only in the Predobrugea region the evaporite process reached the stage of halite accumulation. The research was made possible in part by grants Nos. UCMOOO and UCM200 from the International Science Foundation.
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Chemical deposits inside evaporite (gypsum, anhydrite and halite) caves are far less common than those developed within limestone or volcanic cavities. Moreover they exhibit a lower scarce mineralogical variability due to several reasons, the most important of which are: 1) calcium sulfate and sodium chloride are by far less reactive than calcium carbonate; 2) evaporite outcrops normally have a low mineralogical variability within the cave recharge areas. Therefore these karst environments were less investigated from this point of view in the past: no general paper exists on speleothems developing in halite and anhydrite caves until present, while the last printed one on gypsum (and anhydrite) karst appeared around 20 years ago. Several mineralogical studies were carried out in the last decades in caves from different evaporite areas proving that some of them host peculiar minerogenetic mechanisms, which are, at the moment, exclusive for these areas, and sometimes also brought to light to rare or even new cave minerals. In the present paper, together with an overview on all the actually known minerogenetic mechanisms active within the evaporite caves, the related chemical deposits and speleothems are shortly described. Far from being exhaustive, the recent mineralogical research on evaporite caves puts in evidence their unexpected richness in peculiar hosted speleothems and rare cave deposits. Seven out of the fifty known evaporite cave minerals, and around 10 speleothem types/subtypes are exclusive to these environments. Taking into account that only a few evaporite areas have been, so far, studied, it is highly probable that in the near future many more new cave deposits will be discovered, thus increasing the mineralogical interest of these unique caves.
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Red beds
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The Upper Miocene and Pliocene evaporite deposits of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile (Hilaricos and Soledad Formations) are among the few non‐marine evaporites in which aridity not only formed the deposits, but has also preserved them almost unaltered under near‐surface conditions. These deposits are largely composed of displacive Ca sulphate and halite together with minor amounts of glauberite, thenardite and polyhalite. However, at the base and top of these deposits, there are also beds of gypsum crystal pseudomorphs that originally formed as free‐growth forms within shallow brine bodies, rather than as displacive sediments. The halite is present as interstitial cement, displacive cubes and shallow‐water, bottom‐growth chevron crusts. Most of the calcium sulphate is presently anhydrite, pseudomorphous after gypsum, that was the primary depositional sulphate mineral. The secondary anhydrite formed under early diagenetic conditions after slight burial (some metres) resulting from the effect of strongly evolved pore brines. The anhydrite has been preserved without rehydration during late diagenetic and exhumation stages on account of the arid environment of the Atacama Desert. Both the Hilaricos and the Soledad Formations contain geochemical markers indicating that these Neogene evaporites had a largely non‐marine origin. Bromine content in the halite is very low (few p.p.m.), indicating neither a sedimentological relation with sea water nor the likelihood of direct recycling of prior marine halites. Moreover, the δ 34 S of sulphates (+4·5‰ to +9‰) also reflects a non‐marine origin, with a strong volcanic influence, although some recycling of Mesozoic marine sulphates cannot be ruled out. δ 34 S of dissolved sulphate from hot springs and streams in the area commonly displays positive values (+2‰ to +10‰). Leaching of oxidized sulphur and chlorine compounds from volcanoes and epithermal ore bodies, very common in the associated drainage areas, have been the main contribution to the accumulation of evaporites. The sedimentary and diagenetic evolution of the Hilaricos and Soledad evaporites (based on lithofacies analysis) provides information about the palaeohydrological conditions in the Central Depression of northern Chile during the Neogene. In addition, the diagenesis and exhumation history of these evaporites confirms the persistence of strongly arid conditions from Late Miocene until the present. A final phase of tectonism took place permitting the internal drainage to change and open to the sea, resulting in dissolution and removal of a significant portion of these deposits. Despite the extensive dissolution, the remaining evaporites have undergone little late exhumational hydration.
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The development of basal Zechstein (Wuchiapingian) strata inSW Polandindicates the existence of a diversified relief inherited after the flooding of the pre-existing depression by the transgressing Zechstein sea. The deeper parts of the basin were the place of development of thin basinal Zechstein Limestone showing sedimentary condensation manifested by bored and encrusted grains and thick evaporites (mostly halite), and in shallow parts Zechstein Limestone reefs followed by thinner evaporite sequences (dominated by anhydrite) occur. The analysis of 3D seismic sections showed that instead of three conventionally recognized evaporite units of stratigraphic potential in the PZ1 cycle, five units occur (from the base to the top: Lower Anhydrite, Lower Oldest Halite, Middle Anhydrite, Upper Oldest Halite, Upper Anhydrite). In a particular place their number may vary from two (Lower Anhydrite at the base of the PZ1 cycle and Upper Anhydrite at the top of the PZ1 cycle) to five. There are two complexes of Lower Anhydrite occurring throughout the platform and basinal zones showing deepening-upward (transgressive) trend. The halite sedimentation in the deepest parts of salt basins began shortly after the deposition of the upper Lower Anhydrite complex while in the sulphate platform areas the sulphate deposition lasted still for a long time. The Lower Oldest Halite deposits occur in the depressions. Between the halite basins, anhydrite platforms occur, and the thickness of anhydrite platform deposits is smaller than it is observed in salt basins. The Upper Oldest Halite in turn is recorded above the anhydrite platform. The two halite units represent different phases of development of halite basins. The Lower Oldest Halite basins are related to the pre-Zechstein depressions, although in some cases their syndepositional subsidence was controlled by reactivation, during the deposition of basal Zechstein strata, of former faults. In turn, the Upper Oldest Halite basins used the accommodation space created due to anhydritization of the Lower Anhydrite deposits composed originally of selenitic gypsum. The 3D seismics evidences that the PZ1 evaporites inSW Polandhave been deposited in far more complex and dynamic system than it was assumed before.
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This paper, the first of three reviews on the evaporite‐base‐metal association, defines the characteristic features of evaporites in surface and subsurface settings. An evaporite is a rock that was originally precipitated from a saturated surface or near‐surface brine in hydrological systems driven by solar evaporation. Evaporite minerals, especially the sulfates such as anhydrite and gypsum, are commonly found near base‐metal deposits. Primary evaporites are defined as those salts formed directly via solar evaporation of hypersaline waters at the earth's surface. They include beds of evaporitic carbonates (laminites, pisolites, tepees, stromatolites and other organic‐rich sediment), bottom nucleated salts (e.g. chevron halite and swallow‐tail gypsum crusts), and mechanically reworked salts (such as rafts, cumulates, cross‐bedded gypsarenites, turbidites, gypsolites and halolites). Secondary evaporites encompass the diagenetically altered evaporite salts, such as sabkha anhydrites, syndepositional halite and gypsum karst, anhydritic gypsum ghosts, and more enigmatic burial associations such as mosaic halite and limpid dolomite, and nodular anhydrite formed during deep burial. The latter group, the burial salts, were precipitated under the higher temperatures of burial and form subsurface cements and replacements often in a non‐evaporite matrix. Typically they formed from subsurface brines derived by dissolution of an adjacent evaporitic bed. Because of their proximity to 'true' evaporite beds, most authors consider them a form of 'true' evaporite. Under the classification of this paper they are a burial form of secondary evaporites. Tertiary evaporites form in the subsurface from saturated brines created by partial bed dissolution during re‐entry into the zone of active phreatic circulation. The process is often driven by basin uplift and erosion. They include fibrous halite and gypsum often in shale hosts, as well as alabastrine gypsum and porphyroblastic gypsum crystals in an anhydritic host. In addition to these 'true' evaporites, there is another group of salts composed of CaSO4 or halite. These are the hydrothermal salts. Hydrothermal salts, especially hydrothermal anhydrite, form by the subsurface cooling or mixing of CaSO4‐saturated hydrothermal waters or by the ejection of hot hydrothermal water into a standing body of seawater or brine. Hydrothermal salts are poorly studied but often intimately intermixed with sulfides in areas of base‐metal accumulations such as the Kuroko ores in Japan or the exhalative brine deeps in the Red Sea. In ancient sediments and metasediments, especially in hydrothermally influenced active rifts and compressional belts, the distinction of this group of salts from 'true' evaporites is difficult and at times impossible. After a discussion of hydrologies and 'the evaporite that was' in the second review, modes and associations of the hydrothermal salts will be discussed more fully in the third review.
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