Chapter 3 Depositional Environments of Non-Marine Evaporites

This chapter summarizes the sedimentary characteristics of non-marine environments. Non-marine evaporite deposits are common features of modern arid closed basins, but relatively few have been recognized in the geologic record. These evaporites are important because their depositional setting reflects both climatic and tectonic conditions and they may contain economically important mineral resources. Most modern non-marine evaporites and almost all ancient non-marine evaporates occur in saline lake deposits or their associated facies. The term saline lake includes perennial lake, ephemeral lake, playa-lake, playa, salina, salar, chott, salt pan, inland sabkha, and any other terms used to refer to areas that, at least intermittently, hold standing bodies of water. The general distribution of modern non-marine evaporites is shown in a diagram and references are presented in a table in the chapter. The distinction between marine and non-marine evaporites is not trivial and many ancient evaporites that are literally assumed to be marine may be, at least in part, non-marine in origin Furthermore, some of the deposits interpreted as non-marine may actually be marine (for instance, the evaporites of the Precambrian McArthur Basin, Australia).