What is halokinesis in geology?
1. The movement of salt and salt bodies. The study of halokinesis includes subsurface flow of salt as well as the emplacement, structure, and tectonic influence of salt bodies. Another term used to refer to the study of salt bodies and their structures is “salt tectonics.”
What is halokinetic?
The term halokinesis covers all those processes that are connected with the movements of salt under the influence of gravity. The term halotectonics covers all those processes where compressive (ortho-) tectonic forces are also involved. Every gradation is to be found between halokinetic and halotectonic processes.
What is salt in geology?
A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered using techniques such as seismic reflection.
Where do salt structures form?
Salt surface structures are extensions of salt tectonics that form at the Earth’s surface when either diapirs or salt sheets pierce through the overlying strata. They can occur in any location where there are salt deposits, namely in cratonic basins, synrift basins, passive margins and collisional margins.
How do salt diapirs form?
A mushroom-shaped or plug-shaped diapir made of salt, commonly having an overlying cap rock. Salt domes form as a consequence of the relative buoyancy of salt when buried beneath other types of sediment. The salt flows upward to form salt domes, sheets, pillars and other structures.
What is a salt canopy?
A salt canopy is a composite structure, formed through the coalescence of two or more salt sheets (Figure 6.1). Figure 6.1. A salt canopy is composed of two or more salt sheets that have coalesced to make a large composite allochthonous structure.
What type of rock is halite?
sedimentary rocks
Halite dominantly occurs within sedimentary rocks where it has formed from the evaporation of seawater or salty lake water. Vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals, including halite, can result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, and restricted seas.
What color is Rocksalt?
colorless
Pure rock salt is colorless, but natural occurrences are often discolored.
What is the geology like where salt is found?
Halite dominantly occurs within sedimentary rocks where it has formed from the evaporation of seawater or salty lake water. Vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals, including halite, can result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, and restricted seas.
Where are salt domes located?
Where Do Salt Domes Occur? Salt domes can occur in sedimentary basins where thick salt deposits have been buried by at least 500 feet of other types of sediment. One of the world’s largest salt dome regions is the Gulf of Mexico. Over 500 salt domes have been discovered onshore and under the Gulf of Mexico seafloor.
What country did salt originate from?
The earliest evidence we have for people producing salt comes from northern China, where people seem to have been harvesting salt from a salt lake, Lake Yuncheng, by 6000 BC and maybe earlier.
Where do the trapped salts go?
The salt migrates into the dome because it is compressed by the weight of overlying sediments.