The monograph offers a comprehensive discussion of the role of evaporites in hydrocarbon generation and trapping. For the first time, diverse knowledge on exploitable salts has been assembled and organized, along with a summary of evaporate karst hazards as well as a summary of exploitative methods and pitfalls in dealing with evaporites in conventional and solution mining. Written by a field specialist in research and exploration, the book presents a comprehensive synthesis of the low temperature realm of evaporite evolution. It is aimed for earth science professionals, sedimentologists, oil and gas explorers, mining geologists, as well as environmental geologists.

Contenu
Interpreting evaporite texture.- Depositional chemistry and hydrology.- Sabkhas, saline mudflats and pans.- Subaqueous salts: salinas and perennial lakes.- Ancient basins and stratigraphic evolution.- Salt tectonics.- Karst, breccia, nodules and cement: Pointers to vanished evaporites.- Burial hydrology and chemistry.- Halotolerant life in feast or famine (a source of hydrocarbons and a fixer of metals).- Oil and gas associations.- Evaporites as exploited mineral resources.- Solution mining and cavern use.