Salt Deposits Their Origin and Composition

Professor OTTO BRAITSCH'S Entstehung und Stoffbestand der Salz lagerstiitten has since its publication in 1962 enjoyed a reputation as the most complete and authoritative treatment, in any language, of the geochemistry of evaporites. The issue of this translation will now make it accessible to a much wider circle of readers. The years since first publica tion of the German edition have seen a great surge of discussion and research on evaporites among English-speaking geologists, and while BRAITSCH'S work was important to some of these it can now no longer be ignored by any. It may be worth pointing out that, title notwithstanding, this volume takes as its subject not only the salts but all evaporite minerals and rocks, but that it makes no attempt to go beyond the geochemical evidence in discussing the origin of these evaporites. The reader should not expect to find here any extensive discussion of paleogeography and stratigraphy, or even petrographic detail. Within its scope of geochemistry and mineral ogy the coverage is extensive.

A. Introduction.- 1. Outline of the Theme and Statement of the Problem.- 2. On the History of Seawater.- 3. The Zechstein Salt Succession.- 4. The Minerals of Salt Deposits.- B. The Stability Conditions of Salt Minerals.- The Graphic Presentation of Solubility Data.- C. Physico-chemical Models.- I. Primary Precipitation.- II. Thermal Metamorphism.- III. Solution Metamorphism.- IV. Dynamic Metamorphism.- V. The Behaviour of Minor Components.- D. Natural Salt Sequences and Physico-chemical Models.- I. The Main Components.- II. Minor Components.- E. Other Components of Salt Deposits.- 1. Boron.- 2. Iron.- 3. Salt Clays and Insoluble Residues.- F. Geological Conclusions and Problems.- 1. Normal and Altered Seawater.- 2. Rhythmic Bedding and Influxes.- 3. Temperature of Primary Precipitation.- 4. Redox Potential and Hydrogen Ion Concentrations.- 5. The Origin of the Metamorphic Solutions.- G. Review.- References.- Author and Subject Index.