Cambrian skeletal halite crystals and experimental analogues

A suite of unusual highly skeletal halite pseudomorphs is described from the lower Middle Cambrian rocks that crop out at Ardmore in the Georgina Basin, northern Australia. The pseudomorphs are preserved as both moulds and casts within a dark and light colour-banded chert. They are orientated parallel to bedding and represent halite crystal growth within a brine pool. Laterally equivalent rocks are characterized by sedimentary textures and structures indicative of periodic emergence and desiccation. Laboratory grown halite crystals are also described and compared with the pseudomorphs from Ardmore. Experimentally produced halite crystals formed from either: (1) brine solutions obtained as residues after organic matter extraction from phosphate rocks, or (2) solutions of NaCI and distilled water. Both pyramidal rafted hoppers and floor nucleated cuboids formed in solutions containing only NaCI and distilled water; whereas in the residue solutions, that contained humic acids, rafted pyramidal forms were absent and crystal nucleation was restricted to the floor of the evaporative dish. As brine depth decreased the halite precipitation rate increased and resulted in a suite of excrescent, highly skeletal crystals that formed as a result of brine evaporation to dryness. The variable crystal morphology depended upon both the brine depth and slope of the evaporative dish floor. Horizontally orientated chevron halite crystals formed where the evaporative dish was inclined and precipitation preferentially occurred on cube faces. Pagoda, reticulate ridge and dendritic forms represent an increasingly skeletal crystal suite characterized by the preferential precipitation of NaCI on cube edges and corners rather than faces. Using the experimentally grown crystals as analogues the pseudomorphs at Ardmore are interpreted as forming in very shallow brine pools that evaporated to dryness.     

Proterozoic coastal sabkha halite pans: an example from the pranhita-godavari valley,South India

Extensive occurrences of pseudomorphs and casts of halite in association with wave-formed shallow water structures and evidence of emergence in quartzarenites at the base of the middle Proterozoic Pakhal Group (c. 1276 ± 20 Ma) in South India point to the development of sabkha environments in arid to semi-arid elimatic conditions. Periodic inundation of the sabkha during storm and subsequent desiccation led to displacive growth of the halite and its dissolution within the sediment just below the surface. The brine pools within the sabkha seem to have developed in fault controlled topographic depressions formed at the embryonic stage of an intra-continental rift ocean or graben system.     

Compaction in halite-cemented carbonates – the Dawson Bay Formation (Middle Devonian) of Saskatchewan, Canada

Halite-impregnated carbonates in the Dawson Bay Formation of Saskatchewan lie between beds of halite and are buried to a depth of 1 km. They exhibit two different diagenetic styles – some resisted compaction and had high pre-salt porosities; others contain compaction-broken fossils and pressure-solution seams. The uncompacted rocks, together with the difficulty of explaining how halite cement could enter the Dawson Bay after overlying bedded halites were deposited, suggest that halite cementation occurred early with only a few tens of metres of overburden. Early diagenetic compaction is suggested by the presence of unbroken, displacive skeletal halite crystals, which cross-cut compaction structures, and by the difficulty of explaining how (1) later compaction could occur in halite-cemented rocks and (2) how pore-fluids could be expelled after surrounding rocks lost their permeability. The organic-rich nature of many carbonates may explain why compaction was both early and extensive, but this explanation fails to explain how similar compaction developed in horizons with lower organic contents. Chemical compaction may also have been enhanced by aragonite dissolution during seawater evaporation or brine dilution. Early chemical compaction in Dawson Bay carbonates indicates that compaction in other carbonates need not signify deep burial diagenesis; neither can compaction be used indiscriminately to identify other diagenetic events as being of deep burial origin. Early halite cementation, as in the Dawson Bay Formation, preserves carbonates at early diagenetic stages and may thus preserve geochemical information unmodified by later diagenesis.     

Thaw modification of frost-fissure wedges,Richards Island,Pleistocene Mackenzie Delta,Western Arctic Canada

Thaw modification is the general process whereby frost-fissure wedges are modified during thaw, and by which frost-fissure pseudomorphs may develop. Specific processes of thaw modification are inferred from ice-wedge pseudomorphs, composite-wedge pseudomorphs and deformed sand wedges in the Pleistocene Mackenzie Delta: i.e. thermal erosion, collapse, subsidence, refreezing, loading, buoyancy, spreading, folding and shearing. Thaw modification is believed to result in selective preservation of pseudomorphs and wedges. Sand wedges are more likely to be preserved than are ice-wedge pseudomorphs or compositewedge pseudomorphs, because only those sand wedges that penetrate massive ice or icy sediments are prone to thaw modification. Furthermore, whereas ice wedges preferentially develop in ice-rich, fine-grained sediments (thaw-sensitive), their pseudomorphs appear to be selectively preserved in ice-poor, coarse-grained sediments (thaw-stable).     

论华南栖霞组中的菊花石

本文中的菊花石指华南栖霞组中由柱状晶体放射状排列而成的菊花状晶簇。它最早发现于湖南浏阳永和镇栖霞组上部(方邺森等人,1988),之后又见于广西来宾县城郊栖霞组上部(沙庆安等人,1990),它们被认为是天青石或天青石假象。笔者(1991)在湖北省黄石地区栖霞组上部发现该类假象,并认为其原生矿物是六水碳钙石。虽然它们分别被解释成不同矿物,但无论是外部形态还是内部成分、结构构造均具极大的相似性。对该矿物集合体的不同解释将对栖霞组沉积环境的认识产生重要影响。本文通过与六水碳钙石假象的对比,讨论该矿物集合体的成因及其环境意义。不妥之处请批评指正。     

Sedimentology of the Cretaceous Maha Sarakham evaporites in the Khorat Plateau of northeastern Thailand

Evaporites of the Cretaceous to early Tertiary Maha Sarakham Formation on the Khorat Plateau of southeast Asia (Thailand and Laos) are composed of three depositional members that each include evaporitic successions, each overlain by non-marine clastic red beds, and are present in both the Khorat and the Sakon Nakhon sub-basins. These two basins are presently separated by the northwest-trending Phu Phan anticline. The thickness of the formation averages 250 m but is up to 1.1 km thick in some areas. In both basins it thickens towards the basin centre suggesting differential basin subsidence preceding or during sedimentation. The stratigraphy, lithological character and mineralogy of the evaporites and clastics are identical in both basins suggesting that they were probably connected during deposition. Evaporites include thick successions of halite, anhydrite and a considerable accumulation of potassic minerals (sylvite and carnallite) but contain some tachyhydrite, and minor amounts of borates. During the deposition of halite the basin was subjected to repeated inflow of fresher marine water that resulted in the formation of anhydrite marker beds. Sedimentary facies and textures of both halite and anhydrite suggest deposition in a shallow saline-pan environment. Many halite beds, however, contain a curious `sieve-like' fabric marked by skeletal anhydrite outlines of gypsum precursor crystals and are the product of early diagenetic replacement by halite of primary shallow-water gypsum. The δ³⁴S isotopic values obtained from different types of anhydrite interbedded with halite range from 14.3‰ to 17.0‰ (CDT), suggesting a marine origin for this sulphate. Bromine concentration in the halite of the Lower Member begins around 70 ppm and systematically increases upward to 400 ppm below the potash-rich zone, also suggesting evaporation of largely marine waters. In the Middle Member the initial concentration of bromine in halite is 200 ppm, rising to 450 ppm in the upper part of this member. The bromine concentration in the Upper Member exhibits uniform upward increase and ranges from 200 to 300 ppm. The presence of tachyhydrite in association with the potassic salts was probably the result of: (1) the large volumes of halite replacement of gypsum, on a bed by bed basis, releasing calcium back into the restricted waters of the basin; and (2) early hydrothermal input of calcium chloride-rich waters. The borates associated with potash-rich beds likely resulted from erosion and influx of water from surrounding granitic terrains; however, hydrothermal influx is also possible. Interbedded with the evaporites are non-marine red beds that are also evaporative, with displacive anhydrite nodules and beds and considerable amounts of displacive halite. The δ³⁴S isotopic values of this anhydrite have non-marine values, ranging from 6.4‰ to 10.9‰ (CDT). These data indicate that the Khorat and Sakhon Nakhon basins underwent periods of marine influx due to relative world sea-level rise but were sporadically isolated from the world ocean.     

土楔和冰楔假形及其古气候意义

由于土楔及冰楔所处冻土的含冰状况不同,二者对冻土退化的响应不同。土楔的形状及大小乃至其中的充填物可以完整地保存下来,而冰楔在融化过程中经受强烈变形,其原形状很难保存下来,以至无法辨认。已报道的冰楔假形中,有相当部分可能是原生土脉,甚至是活动层土楔。冰楔在多年冻土环境下生长,其假形可以指示古冻土曾存在过。但它与温度之间没有简单的对应关系,因为楔形构造的形成是地-气综合因素相互作用之结果。土楔可以是原生的,也可以是次生的,它与多年冻土环境并无必然联系。     

Petrological evidence for shock‐induced high‐P metamorphism in a gabbro

Microlites (minute spherulitic, dendritic, skeletal, acicular and poikilitic crystals) diagnostic of crystallization in quenched melt or glass in fault rocks have been used to infer fossil earthquakes. High‐P microlites and crystallites are described here in a variably eclogitized gabbro, the wallrock to the coesite‐bearing eclogite breccia at Yangkou in the Chinese Su‐Lu high‐P metamorphic belt. The studied hand specimens are free of discernible shear deformation, although microfractures are not uncommon under the microscope. In the least eclogitized gabbro, the metagabbro, stellate growths of high‐P minerals on the relict igneous minerals are common. Dendritic garnet crystals (<1?5 μm) grew around rutile and/or phengite replacing ilmenite and biotite, respectively. Skeletal garnet also rims broken flakes of igneous biotite and mechanically twinned augite. Radial intergrowths of omphacite and quartz developed around relict igneous orthopyroxene and are rimmed by skeletal or poikilitic garnet where a Ti‐bearing mineral relict is present. Acicular epidote, kyanite and phengite crystallites are randomly distributed in a matrix of Na‐rich plagioclase, forming the pseudomorphs after igneous plagioclase. In the more eclogitized gabbro, the coronitic eclogite located closer to the eclogite breccia, all the igneous minerals broke down into high‐P assemblages. Thick coronas of poikilitic garnet grew between the pseudomorphs after igneous plagioclase and ferromagnesian minerals. The igneous plagioclase is replaced by omphacite crystallites, with minor amounts of phengite and kyanite. Thermodynamic modelling of the plagioclase pseudomorphs shows an increase in P–T in the wallrock from the metagabbro to the coronitic eclogite, and the P–T variation is unrelated to H₂O content. The fluid‐poor pressure overstepping scenario is unsupported both by phase diagram modelling and by whole‐rock chemical data, which show that the various types of eclogitized gabbro are all fairly dry. A large pressure difference of >2 GPa between the metagabbro and the coesite‐bearing eclogites ~20 m apart cannot be explained by the subduction hypothesis because this would require a depth difference of >60 km. The microlites and crystallites are evidence for dynamic crystallization due to rapid cooling because constitutional supercooling was unlikely for the plagioclase pseudomorphs. The lack of annealing of the broken biotite and augite overgrown by strain free skeletal garnet is consistent with a transient high‐P–T event at a low ambient temperature (<300 °C), probably in the crust. Therefore, the eclogitization of the wallrock to the eclogite breccia was also coseismic, as proposed earlier for the eclogite facies fault rocks. The outcrop‐scale P–T variation and the transient nature of the high‐P–T event are inconsistent with the other existing tectonic models for high‐P metamorphism. The fact that the less refractory but denser biotite is largely preserved while the more refractory but less dense plagioclase broke down completely into high‐P microlite assemblages in the metagabbro indicates a significant rise in pressure rather than temperature. Given that the metamorphic temperatures are far below the melting temperatures of most of the gabbroic minerals under fluid‐absent conditions, stress‐induced amorphization appears to be the more likely mechanism of the coseismic high‐P metamorphism.     

Rise in seawater sulphate concentration associated with the Paleoproterozoic positive carbon isotope excursion: evidence from sulphate evaporites in the ∼2.2–2.1 Gyr shallow‐marine Lucknow Formation,South Africa

Abstract Past oceanic sulphate concentration is important for understanding how the oceans’ redox state responded to atmospheric oxygen levels. The absence of extensive marine sulphate evaporites before ～1.2 Gyr probably reflects low seawater sulphate and/or higher carbonate concentrations. Sulphate evaporites formed locally during the 2.22–2.06 Gyr Lomagundi positive δ¹³C excursion. However, the ～2.2–2.1 Gyr Lucknow Formation, South Africa, provides the first direct evidence for seawater sulphate precipitation on a carbonate platform with open ocean access and limited terrestrial input. These marginal marine deposits contain evidence for evaporite molds, pseudomorphs after selenite gypsum, and solid inclusions of Ca‐sulphate in quartz. Carbon and sulphur isotope data match the global record and indicate a marine source of the evaporitic brines. The apparent precipitation of gypsum before halite requires ≥2.5 mm L^?1 sulphate concentration, higher than current estimates for the Paleoproterozoic. During the Lomagundi event, which postdates the 2.32 Gyr initial rise in atmospheric oxygen, seawater sulphate concentration rose from Archean values of ≤200 μm L^?1, but dropped subsequently because of higher pyrite burial rates and a lower oceanic redox state.     

东濮凹陷文留油田盐岩地震反射特征及相关油藏类型

利用地震资料, 结合地质、钻井资料, 对东濮凹陷文留地区盐岩的物理性质、地震反射特征、几何形态、与盐岩相关油气藏的类型进行了研究。发现盐岩具有密度恒定特性(低密度)和速度稳定特性(高速度), 基本不随深度变化。盐岩与砂泥岩体之间有较强的波阻抗差, 因而其界面反射特征明显。但盐岩的流动特性造成盐岩体有多种赋存状态, 它们的地震反射特征各不相同, 这是盐岩解释的主要困难。利用地震资料识别归纳出盐层(体)解释判定模式, 认为本区盐岩主要有3种赋存状态:原生板状盐岩、后生变形盐岩和次生盐墙。盐岩流动变形及相变形成了3类油气藏:盐上堑式背斜油气藏、盐侧向封堵油气藏和盐下盐背斜油气藏。      

Depositional environments of marine-dominated bedded halite, Permian San Andres Formation, Texas

The interpretation of the depositional environments in which bedded halite is formed is a frontier of evaporite sedimentology. Facies studies, supplemented by geochemical data, define an evaporite shelf depositional environment for the halite of the San Andres Formation of the Palo Duro Basin, Texas Panhandle, that is significantly different from modern and previously described ancient halite-precipitating environments such as playas, salinas, sabkhas, and barred basins. A coastal palaeoenvironmental setting for the San Andres halite is defined by its facies position between normal marine-shelf carbonates and aeolian deposits. The San Andres brine pool extended over more than 10 000 km² but was very shallow. Perennial brine-pool conditions (thick sequences of halite) alternated with ephemeral brine-pool conditions (halite, haloturbated mudstone-halite, mudstone interbeds, and microkarst). The depositional sequence in the perennial brine pool includes (1) flooding and minor dissolution of previously deposited halite, (2) precipitation of a thin lamina of gypsum, and (3) evaporation and precipitation of halite. Bottom-growth forms of halite, including chevrons and vertically elongated crystals, are well preserved. Cumulates of foundered, floating crystals and rafts were probably abundant but have been almost completely recrystallized. Mudstone interbeds in halite and microkarst features cut into bedded halite record the episodic interruption of brine-pool deposition and the establishment of subaerial conditions. Vertically elongated karst pits originate at the palaeosurfaces, cross-cut primary brine-pool fabrics, and are filled with geopetal sediment and coarse halite cement. Mudstone interbeds and mixtures of mudstone and halite have been haloturbated by the alternating growth and dissolution of halite reflecting conditions of fluctuating salinity. The geochemistry of halite from both ephemeral and perennial brine-pool environments reflects the frequent influx of marine brine, indicating that communication with the marine environments to the south was ‘good’ considering that restriction was sufficient to precipitate halite.     

Neogene evaporites in desert volcanic environments: Atacama Desert, northern Chile

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 δ³⁴S 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. δ³⁴S 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.     

老挝他曲地区石盐流体包裹体特征、氢氧同位素组成及成盐物质补给方式

对老挝他曲地区钻孔中石盐流体包裹体特征、类型以及氢氧同位素组成进行了研究,用以重塑盆地成盐过程中的古环境,并在此基础上对盆地成盐物质的补给方式进行了探讨。结果显示,钻孔中塔贡组下盐段原生石盐岩主要包括人字形和漏斗形晶体两种类型。其中人字形石盐晶体在下盐段中广泛发育,漏斗形晶体数量较少,但通常与人字形石盐晶体产于同一层位,指示了下盐段沉积时盆地处于一种极浅水环境。石盐原生流体包裹体氢氧同位素组成明显偏离全球大气降水线,集中分布于其右下方,反映盆地成盐过程中处于强烈蒸发条件之下。氢氧同位素组成在纵向上的变化,可能揭示了在盐湖演化至钾盐沉积阶段大气温度具有升高趋势。白垩纪中期全球海平面达到极大值,而在呵叻盆地内部,持续的坳陷和强烈的蒸发作用将导致湖平面快速下降。这样,外海与盐盆之间则会产生水位差,由此产生的水力梯度将为外海海水通过障壁向盆地方向进行渗透提供潜在的动力。此外,早白垩世呵叻高原广泛发育的沙漠沉积,则为外海海水大规模的侧向渗透进入盐盆提供了可能的通道。因此,结合现有的资料,本文提出,除海侵补给外,外海通过障壁侧向渗透补给对老挝钾盐盆地成盐物质的供给也具有重要作用。     

Diagenetic K-feldspar pseudomorphs in the Triassic Buntsandstein sandstones of the Iberian Range, Spain

Early diagenetic K-feldspar in the Triassic Buntsandstein of the Iberian Range (Spain) occurs as pseudomorphs after detrital K-feldspar (Or<93) and plagioclase (Ab<96). These pseudomorphs are chemically pure (Or>99), untwinned, commonly heavily clouded by vacuoles and tiny inclusions, dark-luminescing and are composed of numerous fine euhedral crystals of K-feldspar. The latter property suggests that the pseudomorphs form via dissolution of detrital K-feldspar and plagioclase and precipitation of authigenic K-feldspar. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the authigenic K-feldspar is intermediate microcline.     

An explanation for the varves of the Castile evaporites (Upper Permian), Texas and New Mexico, USA

Abstract Extraordinary sequences of conspicuous, pervasive and laterally persistent varves characterize the Castile evaporites. They occur as singlets (calcite laminae), couplets (calcite laminae interstratified with anhydrite laminae), thick couplets (calcite laminae interstratified with thin anhydrite beds) and triplets (calcite and anhydrite laminae interstratified with thin halite beds). The varves accumulated in a deep (initially ≈ 550 m), persistently stratified, saline lake surrounded by an extinct reef. The lake had formed when the reef grew across a channel between an embayment and the ocean. Although located virtually on the palaeo-equator, the lake experienced negligible meteoric influx and extreme seasonality. During the season of high relative humidity, more marine groundwater entered the lake through the permeable reef barrier than exited as reflux and, secondarily, as evaporation. Consequently, the lake level rose by up to several metres to sea level. The ‘refreshening’ decreased salinity and replenished dissolved CO₂– the critical nutrient limiting growth of indigenous phytoplankton. Algae proliferated, pH increased and CaCO₃ precipitated. It mixed with organic matter to form a thin, dark lamina. During the season of low relative humidity, tens of cubic kilometres of water evaporated from and, secondarily, leaked out through the surrounding reef. More water exited than entered, brine level fell below sea level, and salinity of the upper brine layer increased. Gypsum usually precipitated and rained onto the basin floor forming a couplet; infrequently, halite also precipitated forming a triplet. Every few thousand years, for <50 to several hundred years, the lake became unstratified during the dry season, and wind-induced overturn allowed a layer of gypsum crystals up to ≈ 2 cm high to precipitate on the basin floor. Each layer, now thin beds of anhydrite nodules and anhydrite pseudomorphs after gypsum, and an underlying lamina of CaCO₃ and admixed organic matter formed a thick couplet. The different varve types recur with a period of 1800–3000 years reflecting climatic changes on a millennial time scale.     

Halite cementation and carbonate diagenesis of intra-salt reservoirs from the Late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian Ara Group (South Oman Salt Basin)

Late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian carbonates of the Ara Group form important intra‐salt ‘stringer’ reservoirs in the South Oman Salt Basin. Differential loading of thick continental clastics above the six carbonate to evaporite cycles of the Ara Group led to the formation of salt diapirs, encasing a predominantly self‐charging hydrocarbon system within partly highly overpressured carbonate bodies (‘stringers’). These carbonates underwent a complex diagenetic evolution, with one stage of halite cementation in a shallow (early) and another in a deep (late) burial environment. Early and late halite cements are defined by their microstructural relationship with solid bitumen. The early phase of halite cementation is post‐dated by solid reservoir bitumen. This phase is most pervasive towards the top of carbonate stringers, where it plugs nearly all available porosity in facies with initially favourable poroperm characteristics. Bromine geochemistry revealed significantly higher bromine contents (up to 280 p.p.m.) in the early halite compared with the late halite (173 p.p.m.). The distribution patterns and the (high) bromine contents of early halite are consistent with precipitation caused by seepage reflux of highly saturated brines during deposition of the overlying rock salt interval. Later in burial history, relatively small quantities of early halite were dissolved locally and re‐precipitated as indicated by inclusions of streaky solid bitumen within the late halite cements. Late halite cement also seals fractures which show evidence for repeated reopening. Initially, these fractures formed during a period of hydrothermal activity and were later reopened by a crack‐seal mechanism caused by high fluid overpressures. Porosity plugging by early halite cements affects the poroperm characteristics of the Ara carbonates much more than the volumetrically less important late halite cement. The formation mechanisms and distribution patterns of halite cementation processes in the South Oman Salt Basin can be generalized to other petroliferous evaporite basins.     

Modern halite sedimentation processes and depositional environments,Hutt Lagoon,Western Australia

Abstract

Contemporary layered halite in the Hutt Lagoon, Western Australia, forms distinct precipitational and clastic fades, which are ascribed to seasonal ponding and playa development in the lagoon respectively. Field and laboratory documentation of the halite types and monitoring of surface water chemistry for several annual hydrologic cycles indicate that following evaporative concentration of ponded seawater halite layers, characterized by zoned and clear halite crystal varieties, are developed. During early stages of annual playa development, vadose solution and precipitation appear to be most active within and above the capillary fringe zone, causing diagenetic modification of the halite textures, fabrics and structures. Ultimately, clastic halite facies are produced by wind reworking of the earlier deposits, in response to progressive evaporative drawdown of the brine level in the main depression area of the lagoon.

The co-existence of the halite precipitates and clastites is related to a dynamic equilibrium in the water budget of the Hutt Lagoon. This equilibrium is best exemplified by limitation of brine level fluctuations to a narrow repetitive zone. Identification of similar early diagenetic features, such as vadose solution, precipitation, overgrowth, replacement and mechanical reworking of surface halite sediments, in ancient evaporite deposits may aid in a better understanding of the role of brine level fluctuation on genesis and diagenesis of subaqueous/subaerial halite.     

Ikaite: enigmatic crystals of cold waters

Ikaite, found as a constituent of tufa chimneys and mounds in Ikka Fjord, Greenland, is only formed in waters close to freezing point. At higher temperatures it inverts to calcite, forming impressive pseudomorphs which have been found at a large number of locations world‐wide of varying ages, sometimes in association with glacial deposits. The Ikka Fjord deposits, first described by the Danish geologist Hans Pauly, were key to understanding the nature of these widely reported pseudomorphs.     

Facies analysis of the Trypali carbonate unit (Upper Triassic) in central-western Crete (Greece): an evaporite formation transformed into solution-collapse breccias

The Trypali carbonate unit (Upper Triassic), which crops out mainly in central‐western Crete, occurs between the parautochthonous series (Plattenkalk or Talea Ori‐Ida series, e.g. metamorphic Ionian series) and the Tripolis nappe (comprising the Tripolis carbonate series and including a basal Phyllite–Quartzite unit). It consists of interbedded dolomitic layers, represented principally by algally laminated peloidal mudstones, foraminiferal, peloidal and ooidal grainstones, as well as by fine‐grained detrital carbonate layers, in which coarse baroque dolomite crystals and dolomite nodules are dispersed. Baroque dolomite is present as pseudomorphs after evaporite crystals (nodules and rosettes), which grew penecontemporaneously by displacement and/or replacement of the host sediments (sabkha diagenesis). However, portions of the evaporites show evidence of resedimentation. Pre‐existing evaporites predominantly consisted of skeletal halite crystals that formed from fragmentation of pyramidal‐shaped hoppers, as well as of anhydrite nodules and rosettes (salt crusts). All microfacies are characteristic of peritidal depositional environments, such as sabkhas, tidal flats, shallow hypersaline lagoons, tidal bars and/or tidal channels. Along most horizons, the Trypali unit is strongly brecciated. These breccias are of solution‐collapse origin, forming after the removal of evaporite beds. Evaporite‐related diagenetic fabrics show that there was extensive dissolution and replacement of pre‐existing evaporites, which resulted in solution‐collapse of the carbonate beds. Evaporite replacement fabrics, including calcitized and silicified evaporite crystals, are present in cements in the carbonate breccias. Brecciation was a multistage process; it started in the Triassic, but was most active in the Tertiary, in association with uplift and ground‐water flow (telogenetic alteration). During late diagenesis, in zones of intense evaporite leaching and brecciation, solution‐collapse breccias were transformed to rauhwackes. The Trypali carbonate breccias (Trypali unit) are lithologically and texturally similar to the Triassic solution‐collapse breccias of the Ionian zone (continental Greece). The evaporites probably represent a major diapiric injection along the base of the parautochthonous series (metamorphic Ionian series) and also along the overthrust surface separating the parautochthonous series from the Tripolis nappe (Phyllite–Quartzite and Tripolis series). The injected evaporites were subsequently transformed into solution‐collapse breccias.     

Stoichiometric saturation tests of NaCl1−xBrx and KCl1−xBrx

Stoichiometric saturation is examined as a possible control on Br contents of halite and sylvite during precipitation from binary salt solutions of NaCl-NaBr and KCl-KBr, respectively. Experimental data at 25°C, assumed to represent Stoichiometric saturation, were used to predict mole fractions of NaBr in halite and KBr in sylvite in thermodynamic equilibrium with fluids as a function of aqueous activity ratios of Br⁻:Cl⁻. The predictions are based on the additional assumption that the aqueous activity product of the major salt component in the precipitated salt was independent of the trace Br content in the salt lattice. The extension of the predictions to diagenetic pressures and temperatures is discussed.The predicted equilibrium Br content of halite at initial halite saturation of evaporating seawater is in close agreement with that computed from the distribution coefficient of Lutz (1975), measured in slowgrowth single crystal experiments. Fluid recrystallization of halite and sylvite at near-surface temperatures is predicted to generally deplete the Br contents in the solids. Bulk Br contents in halite in cap-rock of Gulf Coast salt domes generally agree with those predicted by the recrystallization of halite in the presence of evaporative-concentrated seawater. At a constant solution composition, increasing temperature results in increasing the equilibrium Br content of halite, making less efficient Br depletion in halite by recrystallization.