century, but during the 1950s examples of shallow-water
evaporites began to emerge, interpreted as having been
deposited in restricted marginal-marine estuaries or
basins. Marginal-marine evaporite deposition was further
stimulated with the documentation in the 1960s of
supratidal (“sabkha”) evaporite deposition along the Arabian margin of the Persian Gulf. With no modern analogs
for the thick, extensive evaporite sequences of the Phanerozoic, the Holocene occurrences of marginal-marine
sabkha evaporates have been used to explain ancient evaporite deposits. The application of the “sabkha model” was
accelerated with the recovery of upper Miocene
(Messinian) anhydrite and halite from the floor of the
Mediterranean Sea on Legs 13 and 42A of the Deep Sea
Drilling Project (DSDP). The implication was that these
evaporates were deposited in shallow subaqueous to subaerial environments and that the Mediterranean must have
dried up and refilled several times with a huge waterfall at
the Strait of Gibraltar. This has been called the deep-basin,
desiccation hypothesis, and the event has been called the
“Messinian Salinity Crisis.” Supratidal evaporite deposition in general and the Messinian Salinity Crisis in particular have dominated the evaporite literature in the decades
since the 1960s.
Bibliography
Adams, J. E., 1944. Upper Permian Ochoan series of Delaware
Basin, west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 28, 1592–1625.
Alsharhan, A. S., and Kendall, C. G. S. C., 2003. Holocene coastal
carbonates and evaporates of the southern Arabian Gulf and their
ancient analogues. Earth-Science Reviews, 61, 191–243.
Anderson, R. Y., 2011. Enhanced climate variability in the tropics: a
200,000 yr annual record of monsoon variability from Pangea’s
equator. Climate of the Past, 7, 757–770.
Anderson, R. Y., and Dean, W. E., 1995. Filling the Delaware Basin:
hydrologic and climatic controls on the Upper Permian Castile
Formation varved evaporite. In Scholle, P. A., Peryt, T. M., and
Ulmer-Scholl, D. S. (eds.), The Permian of Northern Pangea.
Berlin: Springer. Sedimentary Basins and Economic Resources,
Vol. 2, pp. 61–78.
Anderson, R. Y., and Kirkland, D. W., 1966. Intrabasin varve correlation. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 77, 241–256.
Anderson, R. Y., Dean, W. E., Kirkland, D. W., and Snider, H. I.,
1972. Permian Castile varved evaporite sequence, West Texas
and New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 83,
59–86.
Barker, J. M., and Austin, G. S., 1993. Economic geology of the
Carlsbad potash district, New Mexico. New Mexico Geological
Society Guidebook, 44th Field Conference, Carlsbad Region,
New Mexico and West Texas, 1993. pp. 283–291.
Borchert, H., and Muir, R. O., 1964. Salt Deposits, The Origin,
Metamorphism and Deformation of Evaporites. London:
D. Van Nostrand.
Butler, G. P., 1969. Modern evaporite deposition and geochemistry
of coexisting brines, the sabkha, Trucial Coast, Arabian Gulf.
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 39, 70–89.
Clarke, F. W., 1924. The Data of Geochemistry, 5th edn.
U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, Vol. 770, p. 841.
Dean, W. E., Davies, G. R., and Anderson, R. Y., 1975. Sedimentological significance of nodular and laminated anhydrite. Geology, 3, 367–372.
Eugster, H. P., 1971. The beginnings of experimental petrology. Science, 173, 481–489.
Garrison, R. E., Schreiber, B. C., Bernoilli, D., Fabricus, F. H.,
Kidd, R. B., and Méliers, F., 1978. In Hsü, K. J., Montadert,
L., et al. (eds.), Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Vol. 42, Part
1, pp. 4571–4612.
Hardie, L. A., and Lowenstein, T. K., 2004. Did the Mediterranean
Sea dry out during the Miocene? A reassessment of the evaporite
evidence from DSDP Legs 13 and 42A cores. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 74, 453–461.
Hay, W. W., Migdisov, A., Balukhovsky, A. N., Wold, C. N., Flögel,
S., and Söding, E., 2006. Evaporites and the salinity of the ocean
during the Phanerozoic: implications for climate, ocean circulation and life. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and
Palaeoecology, 240, 3–46.
Hsü, K. J., Ryan, W. B. F., and Cita, M. B., 1973. Late Miocene desiccation of the Mediterranean. Nature, 24(240), 244.
Hsü, K. J., Montadert, L., Bernoulli, D., Cita, M. B., Erickson, A.,
Garrison, R. E., Kidd, R. B., Méliéres, F., Müller, C., and Wright,
R., 1978. History of the Mediterranean salinity crisis. In Hsü,
K. J., Montadert, L., et al. (eds.), Initial Reports of the Deep
Sea Drilling Project. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Vol. 42, Part 1, pp. 1053–1068.
Kidd, R. B., Bernoulli, D., Garrison, R. E., Fabricus, F. H., and
Méliéres, F., 1978. Lithologic findings of DSDP Leg 42A, Mediterranean Sea. In Hsü, K. J., Montedert, L., et al. (eds.), Initial
Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Vol. 42, Part 1, pp. 1079–1094.
King, R. H., 1947. Sedimentation in the Permian Castile sea. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 31, 470–477.
Kinsman, D. J. J., 1966. Gypsum and anhydrite of Recent age, Persian Gulf. In Second Symposium on Salt. Cleveland: Northern
Ohio Geological Society, pp. 302–326.
Kinsman, D. J. J., 1969. Modes of formation, sedimentary associations, and diagnostic features of shallow-water and supratidal
evaporites. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 53, 830–840.
Kirkland, D. W., 2003. An explanation for the varves of the Castile
evaporates (Upper Permian), Texas and New Mexico, USA. Sedimentology, 50, 899–920.
Kirkland, D. W., and Evans, R. (eds.), 1973. Marine Evaporites:
Origin, Diagenesis, and Geochemistry. Stroudsburg: Dowden,
Hutchinson, and Ross. Benchmark Papers in Geology.
Lowenstein, T. K., 1988. Origin of depositional cycles in a Permian
“saline giant”: the Salado (McNutt zone) evaporates of New Mexico
and Texas. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 100, 592–608.
Masson, P. H., 1955. An occurrence of gypsum in southwest Texas.
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 25, 72–79.
Miller, A. R., Densmore, C. D., Degens, E. T., Hathaway, J. C.,
Manheim, F. T., McFarlin, P. F., Pocklington, R., and Jokela,
A., 1966. Hot brines and recent iron deposits in deeps of the
Red Sea. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 30, 341–359.
Moiola, R. J., and Glover, E. D., 1965. Recent anhydrite from
Clayton Playa, Nevada. American Mineralogist, 50, 2063–2069.
Morris, R. C., and Dickey, P. A., 1957. Modern evaporite deposition
in Peru. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin,
41, 2467–2474.
Ochsenius, K., 1888. On the formation of rock salt and mother
liquor salts. Philadelphia Academic Society Proceedings, Part 2,
181–187.
Richter-Bernburg, G., 1957. Isochrone Warven im Anhydrite des
Zechstein 2: Germany, Geol. Landesanst. Geol. Jb. Bd., 74,
601–610.
Rouchy, J. M., and Caruso, A., 2006. The Messinian salinity crisis
in the Mediterranean basin: a reassessment of the data and an
integrated scenario. Sedimentary Geology, 188–189, 35–67.
432
MARINE EVAPORITES
evaporites began to emerge, interpreted as having been
deposited in restricted marginal-marine estuaries or
basins. Marginal-marine evaporite deposition was further
stimulated with the documentation in the 1960s of
supratidal (“sabkha”) evaporite deposition along the Arabian margin of the Persian Gulf. With no modern analogs
for the thick, extensive evaporite sequences of the Phanerozoic, the Holocene occurrences of marginal-marine
sabkha evaporates have been used to explain ancient evaporite deposits. The application of the “sabkha model” was
accelerated with the recovery of upper Miocene
(Messinian) anhydrite and halite from the floor of the
Mediterranean Sea on Legs 13 and 42A of the Deep Sea
Drilling Project (DSDP). The implication was that these
evaporates were deposited in shallow subaqueous to subaerial environments and that the Mediterranean must have
dried up and refilled several times with a huge waterfall at
the Strait of Gibraltar. This has been called the deep-basin,
desiccation hypothesis, and the event has been called the
“Messinian Salinity Crisis.” Supratidal evaporite deposition in general and the Messinian Salinity Crisis in particular have dominated the evaporite literature in the decades
since the 1960s.
Bibliography
Adams, J. E., 1944. Upper Permian Ochoan series of Delaware
Basin, west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 28, 1592–1625.
Alsharhan, A. S., and Kendall, C. G. S. C., 2003. Holocene coastal
carbonates and evaporates of the southern Arabian Gulf and their
ancient analogues. Earth-Science Reviews, 61, 191–243.
Anderson, R. Y., 2011. Enhanced climate variability in the tropics: a
200,000 yr annual record of monsoon variability from Pangea’s
equator. Climate of the Past, 7, 757–770.
Anderson, R. Y., and Dean, W. E., 1995. Filling the Delaware Basin:
hydrologic and climatic controls on the Upper Permian Castile
Formation varved evaporite. In Scholle, P. A., Peryt, T. M., and
Ulmer-Scholl, D. S. (eds.), The Permian of Northern Pangea.
Berlin: Springer. Sedimentary Basins and Economic Resources,
Vol. 2, pp. 61–78.
Anderson, R. Y., and Kirkland, D. W., 1966. Intrabasin varve correlation. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 77, 241–256.
Anderson, R. Y., Dean, W. E., Kirkland, D. W., and Snider, H. I.,
1972. Permian Castile varved evaporite sequence, West Texas
and New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 83,
59–86.
Barker, J. M., and Austin, G. S., 1993. Economic geology of the
Carlsbad potash district, New Mexico. New Mexico Geological
Society Guidebook, 44th Field Conference, Carlsbad Region,
New Mexico and West Texas, 1993. pp. 283–291.
Borchert, H., and Muir, R. O., 1964. Salt Deposits, The Origin,
Metamorphism and Deformation of Evaporites. London:
D. Van Nostrand.
Butler, G. P., 1969. Modern evaporite deposition and geochemistry
of coexisting brines, the sabkha, Trucial Coast, Arabian Gulf.
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 39, 70–89.
Clarke, F. W., 1924. The Data of Geochemistry, 5th edn.
U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, Vol. 770, p. 841.
Dean, W. E., Davies, G. R., and Anderson, R. Y., 1975. Sedimentological significance of nodular and laminated anhydrite. Geology, 3, 367–372.
Eugster, H. P., 1971. The beginnings of experimental petrology. Science, 173, 481–489.
Garrison, R. E., Schreiber, B. C., Bernoilli, D., Fabricus, F. H.,
Kidd, R. B., and Méliers, F., 1978. In Hsü, K. J., Montadert,
L., et al. (eds.), Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Vol. 42, Part
1, pp. 4571–4612.
Hardie, L. A., and Lowenstein, T. K., 2004. Did the Mediterranean
Sea dry out during the Miocene? A reassessment of the evaporite
evidence from DSDP Legs 13 and 42A cores. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 74, 453–461.
Hay, W. W., Migdisov, A., Balukhovsky, A. N., Wold, C. N., Flögel,
S., and Söding, E., 2006. Evaporites and the salinity of the ocean
during the Phanerozoic: implications for climate, ocean circulation and life. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and
Palaeoecology, 240, 3–46.
Hsü, K. J., Ryan, W. B. F., and Cita, M. B., 1973. Late Miocene desiccation of the Mediterranean. Nature, 24(240), 244.
Hsü, K. J., Montadert, L., Bernoulli, D., Cita, M. B., Erickson, A.,
Garrison, R. E., Kidd, R. B., Méliéres, F., Müller, C., and Wright,
R., 1978. History of the Mediterranean salinity crisis. In Hsü,
K. J., Montadert, L., et al. (eds.), Initial Reports of the Deep
Sea Drilling Project. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Vol. 42, Part 1, pp. 1053–1068.
Kidd, R. B., Bernoulli, D., Garrison, R. E., Fabricus, F. H., and
Méliéres, F., 1978. Lithologic findings of DSDP Leg 42A, Mediterranean Sea. In Hsü, K. J., Montedert, L., et al. (eds.), Initial
Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Vol. 42, Part 1, pp. 1079–1094.
King, R. H., 1947. Sedimentation in the Permian Castile sea. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 31, 470–477.
Kinsman, D. J. J., 1966. Gypsum and anhydrite of Recent age, Persian Gulf. In Second Symposium on Salt. Cleveland: Northern
Ohio Geological Society, pp. 302–326.
Kinsman, D. J. J., 1969. Modes of formation, sedimentary associations, and diagnostic features of shallow-water and supratidal
evaporites. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 53, 830–840.
Kirkland, D. W., 2003. An explanation for the varves of the Castile
evaporates (Upper Permian), Texas and New Mexico, USA. Sedimentology, 50, 899–920.
Kirkland, D. W., and Evans, R. (eds.), 1973. Marine Evaporites:
Origin, Diagenesis, and Geochemistry. Stroudsburg: Dowden,
Hutchinson, and Ross. Benchmark Papers in Geology.
Lowenstein, T. K., 1988. Origin of depositional cycles in a Permian
“saline giant”: the Salado (McNutt zone) evaporates of New Mexico
and Texas. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 100, 592–608.
Masson, P. H., 1955. An occurrence of gypsum in southwest Texas.
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 25, 72–79.
Miller, A. R., Densmore, C. D., Degens, E. T., Hathaway, J. C.,
Manheim, F. T., McFarlin, P. F., Pocklington, R., and Jokela,
A., 1966. Hot brines and recent iron deposits in deeps of the
Red Sea. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 30, 341–359.
Moiola, R. J., and Glover, E. D., 1965. Recent anhydrite from
Clayton Playa, Nevada. American Mineralogist, 50, 2063–2069.
Morris, R. C., and Dickey, P. A., 1957. Modern evaporite deposition
in Peru. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin,
41, 2467–2474.
Ochsenius, K., 1888. On the formation of rock salt and mother
liquor salts. Philadelphia Academic Society Proceedings, Part 2,
181–187.
Richter-Bernburg, G., 1957. Isochrone Warven im Anhydrite des
Zechstein 2: Germany, Geol. Landesanst. Geol. Jb. Bd., 74,
601–610.
Rouchy, J. M., and Caruso, A., 2006. The Messinian salinity crisis
in the Mediterranean basin: a reassessment of the data and an
integrated scenario. Sedimentary Geology, 188–189, 35–67.
432
MARINE EVAPORITES