Evaporites and siliciclastics of the Permian Nippewalla Group of Kansas, USA: a case for non-marine deposition in saline lakes and saline pans

The mid‐Permian Nippewalla Group of Kansas consists of bedded evaporites, red‐bed siliciclastics and grey siliciclastics deposited in a non‐marine environment. Lithologies and sedimentary features indicate lacustrine and aeolian deposition, subaerial exposure and palaeosol formation. Grey siliciclastic mudstones characterized by planar and convolute laminations, ostracods, peloids and plant material represent a freshwater‐brackish perennial lake facies. Bedded anhydrites containing gypsum‐crystal pseudomorphs, clastic anhydrite grains and grey mud drapes and partings suggest deposition in saline lakes. Bedded halites consist of chevron and cumulate crystals, dissolution surfaces and pipes and mudcracked microcrystalline salt crusts, which were deposited in saline pans dominated by flooding, evaporative concentration and desiccation. Chaotic halite, composed of red‐bed mudstone and siltstone with displacive halite crystals, formed in saline mudflats. Red‐bed mudstone and siltstone with little or no displacive halite, but with abundant cracking, root and plant features, suggest deposition in a dry mudflat. Red‐bed sandstone, composed of well‐sorted, well‐rounded quartz grains cemented with halite, indicate aeolian and rare shallow‐water deposition. Most deposition took place in halite‐dominated ephemeral saline lakes surrounded by saline and dry mudflats, sandflats and sand dunes. Evaporation, desiccation, flooding and wind played significant roles in this environment. The Nippewalla Group siliciclastics and evaporites represent an evolution from a perennial lacustrine system to a non‐marine, acidic saline pan system in the mid‐continent of North America. The problem of distinguishing between ancient marine and non‐marine evaporites, as well as recognizing those evaporites deposited in acid settings, with detailed field, core and petrographical study of both evaporite deposits and associated sedimentary rocks has successfully been addressed. In addition, interpretations of mid‐Permian palaeoclimate data in the form of short‐term air temperature proxies within longer‐term wet–dry trends have been made. These data provide a new palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic model for the mid‐Permian of western Pangaea.     

Gypsum–anhydrites in 1.9 Ga Vempalle Formation,Cuddapah basin,India: A note on the Palaeoproterozoic environment and diagenetic condition

The Cuddapah basin consists of generally well-preserved Palaeoproterozoic–Neoproterozoic sedimentary and associated volcanic rocks. The detailed lithological studies of sedimentary rocks of Vempalle Formation from the narrow linear belt of 15 km, in the southern margin, show the occurrence of layered gypsum in the cherty dolostone–shale intercalated facies, red shale and phosphatic dolostone facies of the Vempalle Formation. The petromineralogical studies reveal that gypsum is in close association with anhydrites. Microscopically, three different types of gypsum and anhydrite are identified, viz., lath-shaped, equant-shaped and anhedral-shaped grains. The equant variety corresponds to a granular gypsum, whereas the anhedral grains of gypsum exist as the granular and fibrous variety as seen in the hand specimen. The presence of gypsum/anhydrite has been confirmed by the petromineralogical, X-ray diffraction and chemical analytical data. The phosphatic dolostone is the host rock for stratabound type of uranium deposit at Tummalapalle, Cuddapah district, Andhra Pradesh, which is one of the most unique types of uranium mineralisation in the world. Abundant pseudomorphs of gypsum and anhydrite relicts and discontinuous gypsum layers within these dolostones, nodules of chert and gypsum indicate the interrelationship between the diagenesis and genesis of uranium mineralisation which indicates the carbonate precipitation in the sulphate-rich hypersaline environments.     

Hydrothermal and resedimented origins of the precursor sediments to banded iron formation: sedimentological evidence from the Early Palaeoproterozoic Brockman Supersequence of Western Australia

The Early Palaeoproterozoic Brockman Supersequence comprises banded iron formation (BIF), bedded chert, limestone, mudrock, sandstone, breccia, tuffaceous mudstone, ashfall tuff and, in sections not reported here, basalt and rhyolite. Density current rhythms are preserved in sandstones, mudrocks, tuffaceous mudstones and limestones. Relics of similar rhythms in BIF imply that its precursor sediments were also deposited by density currents. Hemipelagic deposits are siliciclastic or mixed siliciclastic–volcaniclastic mudstones. Bedded chert, chert nodules and the chert matrix of BIF preserve evidence for formation by diagenetic replacement. For bedded chert (and chert nodules), silica replacement occurred before compaction close to or at the sediment–water interface, indicating that it is siliceous hardground. The chert matrix of BIF formed during compaction but before burial metamorphism. Original sediments were resedimented from two sources: (1) limestone, mudrock, sandstone, breccia and tuffaceous mudstone from a shelf; and (2) BIF from within the basin realm. Shelf sediments were resedimented to basin-floor fans during third-order lowstands. The precursor sediments to BIF are interpreted to have been granular hydrothermal muds, composed of iron-rich smectite and particles of iron oxyhydroxide and siderite that were deposited on the flanks of submarine volcanoes and resedimented by density currents. Resedimentation occurred by either bottom currents or gravity-driven turbidity currents, and the resulting sediment bodies may have been contourite drifts. The concept that BIF records high-frequency alternating precipitation from ambient sea water of iron minerals and silica is negated by this study. Instead, it is postulated that the precursor sediments to BIF originated in much the same way as modern Red Sea hydrothermal iron oxide deposits, implying that at least the particles of iron oxyhydroxide originated from the oxidation of vent fluids by sea water. Several orders of cyclicity in basin filling establish a relationship between rising to high sea levels, episodic sea-floor hydrothermal activity and BIF that is reminiscent of the link between eustacy and spreading-ridge pulses.     

Sulphate–borate relations in an evaporitic lacustrine environment: the Sultançayir Gypsum (Miocene, western Anatolia)

Calcium-borates, mainly pandermite (priceite) and howlite, but also bakerite and colemanite, are intercalated within the Sultançayir Gypsum (Miocene, Sultançayir Basin, western Anatolia). This lacustrine unit, represented by secondary gypsum in outcrop, is characterized by: (1) a clear facies distribution of depocentral laminated lithofacies and debris-flow deposits, a wide marginal zone of sabkha deposits, and at least one selenitic shoal located toward the basin margin; (2) evaporitic cycles displaying a shallowing-upward trend; and (3) a diagenetic evolution of primary gypsum to (burial) anhydrite followed by its final re-hydration. The calcium borates precipitated only in the depocentre of the lake and were partly affected by synsedimentary reworking, indicating that they formed during very early diagenesis. The lithofacies, which are made up of a host gypsum (finely laminated) and borates (nodules, irregular masses and discontinuous bands; also fine laminations), indicate that the borates grew interstitially because of the inflow and mixing of borate-rich solutions with basinal brines. Borate growth displaced and replaced primary gypsum beneath a relatively deep depositional floor. Borate formation as free precipitates was much less common. The anhydritization of primary gypsum took place during early to late diagenesis (burial <250 m deep). This process also resulted in partial replacement of pandermite and accompanying borates (bakerite and howlite) as well as other early diagenetic minerals (celestite) by anhydrite. Final exhumation resulted in the replacement of anhydrite by secondary gypsum, and in the partial transformation of pandermite and howlite into secondary calcite.     

Evaporitic sediments of Early Archaean age from the Warrawoona Group, North Pole, Western Australia

Chemical sediments are common and diverse in the c. 3500 Myr old North Pole chert-barite unit in the Warrawoona Group, Western Australia. Although almost all original minerals were replaced during hydrothermal alteration, metamorphism and deformation, pseudomorphic relics of sedimentary and diagenetic textures and structures show that at least six lithofacies were partly or wholly chemical in origin. These contained five main chemical sedimentary components: primary carbonate mud, diagenetic carbonate crystals, primary sulphate crystals, diagenetic sulphate crystals and diagenetic sulphate nodules. All show a wide range of characteristics consistent only with a marine evaporative origin. Diagenetic carbonate and sulphate crystals, once ferroan dolomite and gypsum, were precipitated within volcanogenic lutites high on littoral mudflats. The other evaporative phases were apparently deposited behind a barrier bar composed of stranded pumice rafts. Primary sulphate crystals, once gypsum and now barite, were precipitated in semi-permanent pools immediately behind the bar. Primary carbonate mud, originally calcitic or aragonitic but now silicified, was deposited in nearby channels and on surrounding mudflats. Within these sediments, diagenetic carbonate crystals (formerly ferroan dolomite) and diagenetic sulphate nodules and crystals (once gypsum) grew during later desiccation. The existence of these evaporites, and more like them in the sediments of other Early Archaean cratons, suggests that shallow marine and terrestrial conditions prevailed over a small but significant portion of the early Earth, contrary to some models of global tectonic evolution. Their overall similarity with more recent evaporitic deposits indicates that there was greater conformity between conditions in modern and primeval sea-shore environments than might be expected, given the great age difference. The attitude implicit in many accounts of Earth's early history, that evaporites were either not deposited or not preserved in Archaean sediments, thus seems to be incorrect.     

Evaporative systems and diagenetic patterns in the Calatayud Basin (Miocene,central Spain)

This paper concerns the evaporite units, depositional systems, cyclicity, diagenetic products and anhydritization patterns of the Calatayud Basin (nonmarine, Miocene, central Spain). In outcrop, the sulphate minerals of these shallow lacustrine evaporites consist of primary and secondary gypsum, the latter originating from the replacement of anhydrite and glauberite. In the evaporative systems of this basin, gypsiferous marshes of low salinity can be distinguished from central, saline lakes of higher salinity. In the gypsiferous marsh facies, the dominant, massive, bioturbated gypsum was partly replaced by synsedimentary chert nodules and siliceous crusts. In the saline lake facies, either cycles of gypsiferous lutite‐laminated gypsarenite or irregular alternations of laminated gypsum, nodular and banded glauberite, thenardite and nodular anhydrite precipitated. Early replacement of part of the glauberite by anhydrite also occurred. Episodes of subaerial exposure are represented by: (1) pedogenic carbonates (with nodular magnesite) and gypsiferous crusts composed of poikilitic crystals; and (2) nodular anhydrite, which formed in a sabkha. Additionally, meganodular anhydrite occurs, which presumably precipitated from ascending, highly saline solutions. The timing of anhydritization was mainly controlled by the salinity of the pore solutions, and occurred from the onset of deposition to moderate burial. Locally, a thick (>200 m) sequence of gypsum cycles developed, which was probably controlled by climatic variation. A trend of upward‐decreasing salinity is deduced from the base to the top of the evaporite succession.     

珠江口盆地惠州凹陷南部珠江组混合沉积作用

珠江口盆地惠州凹陷南部珠江组下部广泛发育陆源碎屑岩与碳酸盐岩的混合沉积。通过测井、地震和岩心等资料综合研究了工区混合沉积的岩石学特征、沉积模式和分布规律。研究认为工区混合沉积可分为相缘混合和原地混合,相缘混合主要是在浅海三角洲相和碳酸盐岩台地相边界的结合部位、在低能水动力环境下的细粒陆源碎屑与泥晶碳酸盐的混合沉积,原地混合主要是在三角洲前缘高能水动力条件下的砂级硅质碎屑颗粒与碳酸盐生物碎屑的混合沉积。原地混合沉积对储层的储集性能和渗流特征有显著影响。描述了原地混合沉积的泥岩—碳酸盐岩—砂岩—碳酸盐岩—泥岩相层序,并讨论了陆源碎屑注入、古地形、海平面升降及三角洲迁移等影响透光带范围的因素是如何控制研究区的混合沉积分布的。     

Palaeogeographic and burial controls on anhydrite genesis: the Badenian basin in the Carpathian Foredeep (southern Poland, western Ukraine)

The Badenian (Middle Miocene) Ca-sulphate deposits of the fore-Carpathian basin – including the shelf and adjacent salt depocentre – have undergone varying degrees of diagenetic change: they are preserved mainly as primary gypsum in the peripheral part of the platform, whereas toward the centre of the basin, where great subsidence occurred during the Miocene, they have been totally transformed into anhydrite. The facies variation and sequence of Badenian anhydrites reflect different genetic patterns of two members of the Ca-sulphate formation. In the lower member (restricted to the platform), anhydrite formed mainly by synsedimentary anhydritization (via nodule formation), whereas in the upper member (distributed throughout the platform and depocentre) the various gypsum/anhydrite lithofacies display a continuum of distinctive anhydrite type-fabrics. These fabrics are based on petrographic features and show from the centre to the margin: (1) syndepositional, interstitial growth of displacive anhydrite; (2) early diagenetic, displacive to replacive (by replacement of former gypsum) anhydrite formation near the depositional surface; (3) early diagenetic, displacive to replacive anhydrite formation during shallow burial; and (4) late-diagenetic (and only partial) replacement of gypsum at deeper burial. The cross-shelf lateral relations of anhydrite lithofacies and fabrics suggest that the diagenesis developed as a diachronous process. These fabrics of the upper member reflect both palaeogeographic (linked to different parts of the basin) and burial controls. Anhydrite growth started very early in the basin centre, presumably related to high-salinity pore fluids; anhydritization prograded updip toward the shelf (landward in a generalized cross-section through the basin). The intensity of gypsum replacement by anhydrite was progressively attenuated landward by a decrease in the salinity of the pore fluids. In each part of the basin, the anhydrite fabric was also controlled by the texture and degree of lithification of the fine-grained primary gypsum lithofacies. Recrystallization of these anhydrite fabrics during late diagenesis, linked to deeper burial conditions, is insignificant, allowing reconstruction of the original anhydritization pattern.     

The uppermost deposits of the stratigraphic succession of the Farafra Depression (Western Desert,Egypt): Evolution to a Post-Eocene continental event

This paper gives insight into continental sedimentary deposits that occur at the uppermost part of the stratigraphic succession present in the north-eastern sector of the Farafra Depression (Western Desert, Egypt). Using space imagery to complete the field work, the geology of the area has been mapped and the presence of a N–S oriented fault system is documented. The analysis of the morphotectonic features related to this fault system allows reconstructing the structural and sedimentological evolution of the area. The study indicates that the continental deposits were accumulated in alluvial systems that unconformably overlie shale and evaporitic rocks attributable to the Paleocene–Eocene Esna Formation. The deposits of the Esna Formation show soft-sediment deformation features, which include slump associated to dish and pillar sedimentary structures and provide evidence of syndepositional tectonic activity during the sedimentation of this unit. The outcrops are preserved in two areas on separated fault-bounded blocks. Proximal alluvial fan facies crop out in a dowthrown block close to the depression boundary. The proximal facies are made up mostly by polymictic conglomerates which occasionally contain boulders. The conglomerate clasts are mainly quartz, carbonate, anhydrite satin spar vein, mudrock, ironstone and nummulite fossils. The mid-fan facies consist of trough cross-bedded, rippled and cross-laminated quartzarenites with reworked glauconite grains and carbonate rock fragments, interpreted as deposited by distributary streams. The distal alluvial fan deposits consist of sandy marls that evolve toward the top of the sections into root-bioturbated lacustrine limestone beds that are locally silicified. The limestones are biomicrites containing characea, ostracods and gastropods with fenestral porosity.A number of features, including clast provenance (mainly from marine Paleocene and Eocene rocks), the observed fractural pattern (N–S direction related to the opening of the Red Sea), and the sedimentary relationships, suggests that the continental deposits were accumulated during the Oligocene–Miocene interval.     

Sedimentation settings of the Vendian Vanavara formation,the Siberian platform

A model of sedimentation settings is elaborated for siliciclastic deposits of the Vendian Vanavara Formation, the Katanga saddle, inner areas of the Siberian platform. Four lithologic complexes are distinguished in the formation. The lower complex is composed of proluvial continental deposits exemplifying a dejection cone of ephemeral streams. Its eroded surface is overlain by second complex largely represented by sandstones of coastal zone, which grade upward into siltstones and shales of deeper sedimentation settings (third complex). Sea transgression advanced in northeastern direction. The fourth complex resting with scouring on the third one was deposited in settings of a spacious shallow-water sea zone: in a tidal flat, sand shoals and islands. Sedimentological data are used to correlate more precisely the Vendian siliciclastic deposits of the Katanga saddle and northeastern Nepa-Botuoba anteclise, and to verify subdivision of the Vanavara Formation into subformations and character of its boundary with the overlying Oskoba Formation.     

Depositional environments of Upper Miocene (Messinian) evaporite deposits of the Sicilian Basin*

In Sicily, Messinian evaporitic sedimentary deposits are developed under a wide variety of hypersaline conditions and in environments ranging from continental margin (subaerial), to basin-margin supratidal, to intertidal, to subtidal and out into the hypersaline basin proper. The actual water depth at the time of deposition is indeterminate; however, relative terms such as ‘wave base’ and ‘photic zone’ are utilized. The inter-fingering relationships of specific evaporitic facies having clear and recognizable physical characteristics are presented. These include sub-aerial deposits of nodular calcium sulphate formed displacively within clastic sediments; gypsiferous rudites, arenites and arenitic marls, all of which are reworked sediments and are mixed in varying degrees with other clastic materials (subaerial, supratidal, and intertidal to deep basinal deposits). Laminated calcium sulphate alternating with very thin carbonate interlaminae and having two different aspects; one being even and continuous and the other of a wavy, irregular appearance (subtidal, intertidal, and supratidal deposits). Nodular calcium sulphate beds, usually associated with wavy, irregular laminated beds (supratidal, sabkha deposits); very coarsely crystalline gypsum beds (selenite), associated with more even, laminated beds (subaqueous, intertidal to subtidal deposits); wavy anastomozing gypsum beds, composed of very fine, often broken crystals (subaqueous, current-swept deposits); halite having hopper and chevron structures (supratidal to intertidal); and halite, potash salts, etc. having continuous laminated structure (subaqueous, possibly basinal). Evidence for diagenetic changes is observed in the calcium sulphate deposits which apparently formed by tectonic stress and also by migrating hypersaline waters. These observations suggest that the common, massive form of alabastrine gypsum (or anhydrite, in the subsurface) may not always be ascribed to original depositional features, to syndiagenesis or to early diagenesis but may be the result of late diagenesis.     

Subtropical to temperate facies from a transition zone, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic system, Palaeogene, North Carolina, USA

Palaeogene passive margin sediments on the US mid‐Atlantic coastal plain provide valuable insight into facies interaction and distribution on mixed carbonate–siliciclastic shelves. This study utilizes well cuttings, outcrop, core, and seismic data to document temporal and spatial variations in admixed bryozoan‐rich skeletal carbonates and sandy siliciclastic units that were deposited on a humid passive margin located in the vicinity of a major marine transition zone. This zone was situated between north‐flowing, warm waters of the ancestral Gulf Stream (carbonate dominated settings) and south‐flowing, cold waters of the ancestral Labrador Current (siliciclastic dominated settings). Some degree of mixing of carbonates and siliciclastics occurs in all facies; however, siliciclastic‐prone sediments predominate in nearshore settings, while carbonate‐prone sediments are more common in more open marine settings of the inner shelf break and deep shelf. A distinctive dual‐break shelf depositional profile originated following a major Late Cretaceous to Palaeocene transgression that drowned the earlier shallow platform. This profile was characterized by prominent mid‐shelf break dividing the shallow shelf from the deep shelf and a major continental shelf/slope break. Incomplete filling of available accommodation space during successive buildup of the shallow shelf preserved the topographic break on this passive margin. Storm wave base also contributed to the preservation of the dual‐break shelf geometry by beveling shallow shelf sediments and transporting them onto and seaward of the mid‐shelf break. Sediment fines in deep shelf facies were produced in place, transported downdip from the shallow shelf by storm ebb currents and boundary currents, and reworked from adjacent areas of the deep shelf by strike‐parallel boundary currents. Regional climate and boundary currents controlled whether carbonate or siliciclastic material was deposited on the shelf, with warmer waters and more humid climates favouring carbonate deposition and cooler, more arid conditions favouring glaucony and siliciclastic dominated deposition. Continuous wave and current sweeping of the shallow shelf favoured deposition of mud‐lean facies across much of the shallow shelf. Skeletal components in much of the carbonate‐rich strata formed in warm, nutrient‐rich subtropical waters, as indicated by widespread occurrences of larger benthic foraminifera and molluscan assemblages. These indicators of warm water deposition within the bryozoan‐mollusk‐rich carbonate assemblage on this shelf provide an example of a warm water bryomol assemblage; such facies generally are associated with cooler water depositional settings.     

Contourites associated with pelagic mudrocks and distal delta-fed turbidites in the Lower Proterozoic Timeball Hill Formation epeiric basin (Transvaal Supergroup), South Africa

Five genetic facies associations/architectural elements are recognised for the epeiric sea deposits preserved in the Early Proterozoic Timeball Hill Formation, South Africa. Basal carbonaceous mudrocks, interpreted as anoxic suspension deposits, grade up into sheet-like, laminated, graded mudrocks and succeeding sheets of laminated and cross-laminated siltstones and fine-grained sandstones. The latter two architectural elements are compatible with the Te, Td and Tc subdivisions of low-density turbidity current systems. Thin interbeds of stromatolitic carbonate within these first three facies associations support photic water depths up to about 100 m. Laterally extensive sheets of mature, cross-bedded sandstone disconformably overlie the turbidite deposits, and are ascribed to lower tidal flat processes. Interbedded lenticular, immature sandstones and mudrocks comprise the fifth architectural element, and are interpreted as medial to upper tidal flat sediments. Small lenses of coarse siltstone–very fine-grained sandstone, analogous to modern continental rise contourite deposits, occur within the suspension and distal turbidite sediments, and also form local wedges of inferred contourites at the transition from suspension to lowermost turbidite deposits. Blanketing and progressive shallowing of the floor of the Timeball Hill basin by basal suspension deposits greatly reduced wave action, thereby promoting preservation of low-density turbidity current deposits across the basin under stillstand or highstand conditions. A lowstand tidal flat facies tract laid down widespread sandy deposits of the medial Klapperkop Member within the formation. Salinity gradients and contemporaneous cold periglacial water masses were probably responsible for formation of the inferred contourites. The combination of the depositional systems interpreted for the Timeball Hill Formation may provide a provisional model for Early Proterozoic epeiric basin settings.     

Evolution of late Triassic rift basin evaporites (Passaic Formation): Newark Basin, Eastern North America

The Passaic Formation of the late Triassic Newark Supergroup is 2700 m thick and was deposited in series of wide, deep to shallow lacustrine environments in the Newark rift basin (eastern North America). The Passaic Formation can be divided into lower, middle, and upper sections based on depositional structures, composition and the distribution and morphology of its evaporites. Evaporites formed as a result of syndiagenetic cementation and/or displacive processes. Evaporitive minerals now include gypsum and anhydrite, although other mineral species, such as glauberite, may have originally existed. Most of the evaporites of the Passaic Formation occur within massive red mudstone and siltstone lithologies in the form of diffuse cements, void-fillings, euhedral crystals, crystal clusters and nodules. These evaporites grew displacively within the fine siliciclastic matrix as a result of changes in the hydrochemical regimes of the rift basin. A well-developed upward increase in the amount of evaporite material is present in the Passaic Formation. This resulted from: (1) long-term, progressive increase in aridity, and (2) significant increase in evaporation surface area of the basin during its tectonic evolution. A nonmarine source for the evaporites is evident from the isotopic data. Sulphate δ³⁴S ranges from 11%. to 3.3%. CDT, while δ¹⁸O ranges from + 15.1%. to + 20.9%. SMOW, indicating derivation from early diagenetic oxidation of organic sulphur and pyrite within the organic-rich, lacustrine deposits. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios in sulphate are radiogenic (average 0.71211), showing the interaction of basin waters with detrital components and that the Newark Basin was isolated from the world ocean. Most of the original evaporites show evidence of diagenetic change to polycrystalline and polymineralic pseudomorphs now filled with recrystallized coarse-grained anhydrite (1–3 mm size) and low-temperature albite. Homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions within the coarse-grained anhydrite indicate crystallization temperatures for anhydrite in the range of 150° to 280°C. Such elevated temperatures resulted from circulation of hot water in the basin. Later exhumation of these rocks caused partial to total replacement of anhydrite by gypsum in the upper part of the section. The resulting increase in volume due to hydration of anhydrite at shallow depths also emplaced non-evaporative satin-spar veins (fibrous gypsum) along bedding planes and in fractures. While the local geology of the Newark rift basin controlled the distribution of facies, the sedimentological development of the Passaic Formation evaporites resulted from the world-wide climatic aridity that prevailed during the late Triassic. because the Newark Basin sequence was only covered with about 3 km of sedimentary overburden that correspond to about 100°C and hence suggests that evaporites have experienced alteration by hot fluids. 5 As the Triassic marks the greatest evaporite formation world-wide and profound sense of parched continentality throughout the world existed before the final break-up of the Pangea, the Passaic Formation evaporites are an example of the influence of these palaeoclimatic conditions at the eastern margin of North America.     

Deep-water clastic evaporites deposition in the Messinian Adriatic foredeep (northern Apennines,Italy): did the Mediterranean ever dry out?

A new genetic facies model for deep-water clastic evaporites is presented, based on work carried out on the Messinian Gessoso-solfifera Formation of the northern Apennines during the last 15 years. This model is derived from the most recent siliciclastic turbidite models and describes the downcurrent transformations of a parent flow mainly composed of gypsum clasts. The model allows clearer comprehension of processes controlling the production and deposition of clastic evaporites, representing the most common evaporite facies of the northern Apennines, and the definition of the genetic and stratigraphic relationship with primary shallow-water evaporites formed and preserved in marginal settings. Due to the severe recrystallization processes usually affecting these deposits, petrographic and geochemical analyses are needed for a more accurate interpretation of the large spectrum of recognized gravity-driven deposits ranging from debrisflow to low-density turbidites. Almost all the laminar ‘balatino’ gypsum, previously considered a deep-water primary deposit, is here reinterpreted as the fine-grained product of high to low-density gravity flows. Facies associations permit the framing of the distribution of clastic evaporites into the complex tectonically controlled depositional settings of the Apennine foredeep basin. The Messinian Salinity Crisis occurred during an intense phase of geodynamic reorganization of the Mediterranean area that also produced the fragmentation of the former Miocene Apennine foredeep basin. In this area, primary shallow-water evaporites equivalent to the Mediterranean Lower Evaporites, apparently only formed in semi-closed thrust-top basins like the Vena del Gesso Basin. The subsequent uplift and subaerial exposure of such basins ended the evaporite precipitation and promoted a widespread phase of collapse leading to the resedimentation of the evaporites into deeper basins. Vertical facies sequences of clastic evaporites can be interpreted in terms of the complex interplay between the Messinian tectonic evolution of the Apennine thrust belt and related exhumation–erosional processes. The facies model here proposed could be helpful also for better comprehension of other different depositional and geodynamic contexts; the importance of clastic evaporites deposits has been overlooked in the study of other Mediterranean areas. Based on the Apennine basins experience, it is suggested here that evaporites diffused into the deeper portions of the Mediterranean basin may consist mainly of deep-water resedimented deposits rather than shallow-water to supratidal primary evaporites indicative of a complete basin desiccation.     

The enigma of fine-grained alluvial basin fills: the Permo-Triassic (Cumbrian Coastal and Sherwood Sandstone Groups) of the Solway Basin,NW England and SW Scotland)

The late Permian to Triassic sediments of the Solway Basin consist of a layer-cake succession of mature, predominantly fine-grained red clastics laid down in semi-arid alluvial plain to arid sabkha and saline marginal marine or lacustrine environments. The Cumbrian Coastal Group consists of Basal Clastics and Eden Shales. The Basal Clastics are thin regolith deposits resting unconformably on all-underlying units and are composed of mixtures of angular local gravel and far-transported fine to very fine-grained sands deposited as basal lag. The Eden Shales are predominantly gypsiferous red silty mudstones, with thin very fine-grained sandstone beds, and with thick marine gypsum beds at the base, deposited at a saline lake margin. The overlying Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group consists of the Annan and Kirklinton Sandstones. The Annan Sandstones are predominantly thick-bedded, multi-storied, fine-grained mature red quartz sandstones in which coarse sand is practically absent despite channels with clay pebbles up to 30 cm in diameter. The overlying, predominantly aeolian, Kirklinton Sandstones consist of festoon cross-bedded and parallel-laminated fine-grained sandstones, almost identical to the Annan Sandstones except that mica and clay are absent. The Stanwix Shales, located above, consist of interbedded red, blue and green mudstones, siltstones, and thin very fine-grained sandstones, with gypsum layers. Although the entire succession can plausibly be interpreted as deposited in a large desert basin opening into a hypersaline marine or lacustrine embayment to the southwest, the uniformly fine-grained nature of the succession is unusual, as is the absence of paleosols, and body and trace fossils. There is almost no coarse sand even in the river channel units, and it seems likely that the basin was not only extremely arid but supplied predominantly by wind rather than water.     

Depositional environments of the Triassic system in central Saudi Arabia

Facies analysis of Triassic rocks in central Saudi Arabia indicates a wide expanse of interfingering siliciclastic and carbonate rocks with some evaporites. Eight distinctive sedimentary facies have been recognized. The distribution of these facies show a systematic gradual change in their presumed depositional environments, laterally as well as vertically. The Lower Triassic Sudair facies represents a widespread regressive condition where the Upper Permian marine conditions gave way to the Lower Triassic with predominantly fine clastic deposits representing a restricted shallow marine shelf. This fine-grained clastic facies consists mainly of unfossiliferous, laminated or massive, varicoloured shale with some silty shale, siltstone and very fine-to fine-grained sandstone. The facies is highly calcareous and gypsiferous in the northern area. A belt of Middle Triassic rocks of mostly non-marine sandstone with some shale is present in the southern area passing into mixed siliciclastic-carbonate facies of continental aspect with some intermittent emergence and nearshore conditions in the central area. This facies grades in the northern area into carbonate-evaporite facies of restricted to more open marine shelf conditions. Thick siliciclastic deposits characterize the Upper Triassic Minjur facies, where a uniform repeated fining-upward sequence of mainly sandstone and some shale developed in a non-marine environment with some intermittent emergence in the northern area.     

The origin and significance of groundwater-seepage gypsum from Bristol Dry Lake, California, USA

Gypsum and anhydrite fabrics observed in trenches and deep (500 m) cores from Bristol Dry Lake, California, USA, exhibit a vertical alignment of crystals similar to the fabric seen in bottom-nucleated brine pond gypsum. However, geochemical and sedimentological evidence indicate that the gypsum formed in Bristol Dry Lake precipitated displacively within the sediment where groundwater saturated with respect to gypsum recharges around the playa margin (groundwater-seepage gypsum). Evidence for displacive growth of gypsum is: (i) the geometry of the deposit, (ii) stable isotopic data and the water chemistry of the brine, and (iii) inclusions of matrix which follow twin planes and completely surround crystals as they grow. The bulk of the gypsum precipitated in the playa occurs around the edges of the playa in the playamargin facies and completely rings the lake. Sulphate concentrations in the groundwater increase toward the gypsum zone in the playa margin. Basinward of this zone, sulphate concentrations decrease sharply to trace element levels in the basin centre brine. Authigenic gypsum is rare in the centre of the playa. Stable (δ¹⁸O values measured for gypsum waters of crystallization (GWC) are similar to the values calculated for groundwater in the playa margin and alluvial fan sediments (?– 6%0), whereas measured brine δ¹⁸O values range from + 0·5 to + 3·7%0. Deuterium values measured for groundwater are ?– 70%0, GWC are ?– 60 to – 65%0 and brine values are ?– 57%0. The geometry of the deposit and the chemical data suggest that the water precipitating the gypsum is more closely associated with the groundwater than the brine. However, some mixing between groundwater and brine is likely. Within 100 m of the surface, the gypsum dehydrates to anhydrite, although the same vertically aligned fabric is retained through the diagenetic process. The similarity of displacive vertically aligned gypsum and anhydrite fabrics seen in Bristol Dry Lake to subaqueously deposited gypsum in modern brine ponds indicates that the criteria used to define subaqueous fabrics must be better constrained.     

鄂尔多斯盆地西部奥陶系风化壳岩溶作用模式

鄂尔多斯盆地下古生界马家沟组顶部遭受长期风化剥蚀,形成了以膏云岩为主的风化壳岩溶储层。通过偏光显微和超微扫描电镜深入观察了（含）膏云岩的孔隙类型及充填规律,分析了其岩溶作用特点,研究了以膏云岩为主的岩溶作用特征与传统碳酸盐岩岩溶作用特征的区别,探讨了膏云岩发育区的岩溶作用模式。结果表明:硬石膏结核和石膏晶体以其强亲水性和远高于白云石、方解石的溶解度,极易率先吸水发生溶解形成组构选择性溶蚀孔隙,导致膏云岩层蜂窝状溶孔的形成。硬石膏的高溶解度和力学不稳定性使得研究区以膏云岩、白云岩和灰云岩互层的风化壳储层以膏模孔、扩溶膏模孔及与之伴生的胀缩微裂缝为主要储集空间,孔隙大小具有明显的自限性。岩性—（含）膏云岩和沉积微相—海平面低位期潮上带（含）膏云坪沉积是储层形成的先天物质基础和环境条件,并因此直接导致（含）膏云岩储层的成层分布特征。表层膏云岩首先遭受淡水淋滤形成蜂窝状溶孔,多层成层分布膏云岩这种独特的物理化学性质使风化壳内的岩溶水以弥散性渗透为主,这是膏云岩发育区岩溶作用特征和模式与碳酸盐岩产生重要差异的根本原因。     

Sedimentology and evaporite genesis in a Holocene continental-sabkha playa basin—Bristol Dry Lake, California

Bristol Dry Lake, a 155 km² continental-sabkha playa basin in the Mojave Desert of south eastern California, is filled with at least 300 m of interbedded terrigenous clastics, gypsum, anhydrite, and halite. Evaporite facies conform approximately to a bull's eye pattern with gypsum and anhydrite surrounding a basin centre accumulation of halite. Transects through Bristol Dry Lake, from the alluvial fan to the centre of the playa, reveal: (1) crudely-bedded, alluvial fan clastics interfingering with (2) playa-margin sand flat and wadi sand and silt, followed by (3) gypsum, anhydrite, chaotic mud halite, and clay of the saline mud flat, and (4) salt-pan halite beds. Terrigenous clastics were deposited in Bristol Dry Lake by sheetflow and by suspension settling from ponded floodwater. Some sediment has been reworked by aeolian processes to form barchan dunes around the playa margin. Thin nodular-like beds of anhydrite and several types of gypsum occur across most of the playa. Giant hopper-shaped halite cubes are suspended in saline mud flat facies, suggesting that they grew displacively in brine soaked sediment just below the surface. Thick beds (4 m) of halite, in the playa centre, may have formed through a complex alternating history of subaqueous and intrasedimentary precipitation under the influence of periodic floods, intense evaporation and brine-level lowering, and capillary discharge of brines. The stratigraphy in the playa centre is cyclic. An ideal cycle consists of: (1) chaotic mud halite at the base overlain by (2) green to red clay with abundant, giant hoppers, and at the top (3) red clay, gypsum, and anhydrite with flaser- to wavy-bedded sand and silt. This type of cycle probably records a gradual progradation of mud-flat facies over salt pans. Bristol Dry Lake sediments are nearly identical to some of the Permian evaporites of the Permian Basin region, U.S.A. and they can serve as modern analogues for ancient-sabkha facies analysis.