Sedimentology of Badenian (middle Miocene) gypsum in eastern Galicia, Podolia and Bukovina (West Ukraine)

Primary gypsum is the main evaporite mineral in the middle Miocene (Badenian) of the West Ukraine. The lower part of the gypsum sequence is built of autochthonous gypsum while the upper part is composed of allochthonous gypsum that formed following a major, tectonically induced, change in basin morphology. This change resulted in the destruction of the gypsum deposited on the margins of the basin and formation of redeposition features. Autochthonous gypsum facies were deposited in two main environments: (1) giant gypsum intergrowths precipitated from highly concentrated brines; (2) very shallow subaqueous gypsum deposited in a vast brine pan. The brine pan was characterized by a facies mosaic that reflects an interplay of concentrated brines from the central part of the evaporite basin and diluted brines due to the influx of continental meteoric waters. The facies continuum, microbial gypsum - bedded selenite - massive selenite - sabre gypsum, indicates increasing salinity of the brine with time. This type of facies pattern has been established in recent salinas that are analogous to Badenian gypsum in their lateral facies changes. However, the pattern of facies distribution with respect to the open sea in the Badenian basin is opposite to that found in recent salinas. The pattern of the Badenian gypsum facies in the Ukraine indicates that facies repetition may have been related to climatically controlled salinity changes and not to depth changes, as is commonly used to explain the repetition of sulphate facies in a vertical succession.