Salt Systems of the Earth

Salt Systems of the Earth

Like water, salt is one of the most commonplace items in our everyday lives. From the omnipresent shaker that you see on every table in every restaurant, to the ocean water we swim in, salt is something that we rarely think about. But there is much more to the story of salt than most people think. Salt, not only a natural resource requiring capture and refinement for public consumption, but also crucial for finding and drilling petroleum and natural gas, forms large deposits known as ‘salt domes’ underground. In ancient cultures, salt held such significance that it served as currency and functioned as a food preservative well before the invention of refrigeration. Salt is something we rarely think about, but it is one of the most important natural resources that exists.

This is the first integrated study of salt’s global development in the Earth’s subsurface, its tectonic history and kinematic evolution, “live” salt-naphtide interconnections, and their geological recycling. The Earth’s salt is shown as a peculiar umbilical thread in the analysis of numerous geological processes of salt formation, transformation, migration, discharge and regeneration, and their association with hydrocarbons. Presented here is the science of salt, including the active salt bodies’ “live” in Earth’s subsurface, their fate and influence over the other geological processes, including grandiose systems of kinetically interrelated allochthonous nappe-like and sub-vertical bodies formed by the migrating salt.

The content also encompasses a description of sub-conformable sheet-like salt bodies, formed not through evaporation but by the emigration of buried brine-salt masses, discharging at new, younger stratigraphic levels. It explores the phenomenon of ‘halo-volcanism,’ resulting from depth breakthroughs and explosive discharges of hydrocarbon-brine-salt masses, in addition to an examination of over-diapir surfaces, brine lakes with fluctuating levels, and various other aspects.

The “Salt Systems of the Earth” book provides new interpretations of numerous issues reflecting the salt “life” manifestations and gives a key to a broad circle of the geological enigmas, from global events like the Messinian crisis in the Mediterranean to Biblical legends and enigmas of the Dead Sea-lake.

Whether you are a scientist or student working in the natural or Earth sciences, a geologist, an anthropologist, a petroleum engineer, a petrophysicist, or any other engineer or student working in petroleum engineering, this groundbreaking work is a must-have. Perfect for any scientist or engineer’s library, this volume can be a must-read page-turner or a valuable reference work.