Halite depositional facies in a solar salt pond: A key to interpreting physical energy and water depth in ancient deposits?

Research Article| August 01, 1990 Halite depositional facies in a solar salt pond: A key to interpreting physical energy and water depth in ancient deposits? C. Robertson Handford C. Robertson Handford 1ARCO Oil and Gas Company, 2300 West Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas 75075 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information C. Robertson Handford 1ARCO Oil and Gas Company, 2300 West Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas 75075 Publisher: Geological Society of America First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 Geological Society of America Geology (1990) 18 (8): 691–694. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1990)018<0691:HDFIAS>2.3.CO;2 Article history First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation C. Robertson Handford; Halite depositional facies in a solar salt pond: A key to interpreting physical energy and water depth in ancient deposits?. Geology 1990;; 18 (8): 691–694. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1990)018<0691:HDFIAS>2.3.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Subaqueous deposits of aragonite, gypsum, and halite are accumulating in shallow solar salt ponds constructed in the Pekelmeer, a sea-level sauna on Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Several halite facies are deposited in the crystallizer ponds in response to differences in water depth and wave energy. Cumulate halite, which originates as floating rafts, is present only along the protected, upwind margins of ponds where low-energy conditions foster their formation and preservation. Cornet crystals with peculiar mushroom- and mortarboard-shaped caps precipitate in centimetre-deep brine sheets within a couple of metres of the upwind or low-energy margins. Downwind from these margins, cornet and chevron halite precipitate on the pond floors in water depths ranging from a few centimetres to ∼60 cm. Halite pisoids with radial-concentric structure are precipitated in the swash zone along downwind high-energy shorelines where they form pebbly beaches. This study suggests that primary halite facies are energy and/or depth dependent and that some primary features, if preserved in ancient halite deposits, can be used to infer physical energy conditions, subenvironments such as low- to high-energy shorelines, and extremely shallow water depths in ancient evaporite basins. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.