Using sedimentology to address the marine or continental origin of the Permian Hutchinson Salt Member of Kansas

Abstract

The Permian Hutchinson Salt Member of the Wellington Formation of the Sumner Group of Kansas (USA) has multiple scientific and industrial uses. Although this member is highly utilized, there has not been a sedimentological study on these rocks in over 50 years, and no study has investigated the full thickness of this member. Past publications have inferred a marine origin as the depositional environment. Here, this marine interpretation is challenged. The goals of this study are to fully document sedimentological and stratigraphic characteristics of the Permian Hutchinson Salt Member in the Atomic Energy Commission Test Hole 2 core from Rice County, Kansas. This study documents colour, mineralogy, sedimentary textures, sedimentary structures, diagenetic features and stratigraphic contacts in core slab and thin sections. The Hutchinson Salt Member is composed of five lithologies: bedded halite, siliciclastic mudstone, displacive halite, bedded gypsum/ anhydrite and displacive gypsum/anhydrite. These lithologies formed in shallow surface brines and mudflats that underwent periods of flooding, evapoconcentration and desiccation. Of note are the paucity of carbonates, lack of marine-diagnostic fossils, absence of characteristic marine minerals and lithofacies, and the stratigraphic context of the Hutchinson with associated continental deposits. The Hutchinson Salt Member was most likely deposited in an arid continental setting. This new interpretation offers a refined view of Pangaea during the middle Permian time.

A missing link in the mid‐late Permian record of north‐eastern Pangea: A sedimentological evaluation of the Permian Belfast Harbour Evaporite Formation of County Antrim, Northern Ireland

“…The transition from neutral to acid saline lake deposits is also present at approximately the same time period in North America. An example of this process is in modern day Kansas, where the clean, halite‐dominated Permian Hutchinson Salt Member, is overlain by the red continental siliciclastics of the upper Sumner Group, and then by the red siliciclastic‐rich and evaporite‐rich Permian Nippewalla Group, formed by extremely acid saline lakes and groundwaters (Andeskie & Benison, 2020; Benison & Goldstein, 2001; Benison et al, 1998; Giles et al, 2013). In both Northern Ireland and Kansas, the lower neutral saline lake deposits are separated from the upper acid saline systems by red bed siliciclastics.…”

Sedimentology and stratigraphy of a modern halite sequence formed under Dead Sea level fall

“…Bedded halite sequences are common throughout the geological record (Anderson & Kirkland, 1966;Hovorka, 1987;Manzi et al, 2012;Neugebauer et al, 2014;Palchan et al, 2017;Andeskie & Benison, 2020). Halite deposits form under dry hydroclimatic conditions, thus they are used in reconstructing palaeohydrology and palaeoclimatology (Anderson, 1982;Li et al, 1996;Manzi et al, 2012;Kiro et al, 2016).…”

“…Halite deposits form under dry hydroclimatic conditions, thus they are used in reconstructing palaeohydrology and palaeoclimatology (Anderson, 1982;Li et al, 1996;Manzi et al, 2012;Kiro et al, 2016). For example, they were used in deducing water depths and lake level trends of the respective hypersaline water body (Li et al, 1996;Schubel & Lowenstein, 1997;Benison & Goldstein, 2001;Bobst et al, 2001;Hovorka et al, 2007;Andeskie & Benison, 2020). These reconstructions commonly attempt to link textural characteristics of the halite deposits with water column properties and the prevailing hydroclimatic conditions during the depositional interval.…”

“…In these environments, halite deposition is hydrologically controlled by flooding and desiccation cycles. Insights gained from such shallow hypersaline environments were used in recognizing and interpreting such environments in the geological record (Li et al, 1996;Benison & Goldstein, 2000;Benison & Goldstein, 2001;Bobst et al, 2001;Andeskie & Benison, 2020). However, halite deposition in deep hypersaline basins is fundamentally different from shallow environments and is enigmatic, due to the lack of modern analogues (Manzi et al, 2012;Roveri et al, 2014;Kiro et al, 2016).…”

Report on ICDP Deep Dust workshops: probing continental climate of the late Paleozoic icehouse–greenhouse transition and beyond

“…However, the rare cores that have been recovered yield a wealth of high-resolution paleoenvironmental, paleoclimatological, and microbiological data about Pangaea (e.g., Benison et al, 1998;Zambito and Benison, 2013;Foster et al, 2014;M. Soreghan et al, 2018;Benison, 2019;Andeskie and Benison, 2020). Similarly, although the Paris Basin has been a target for resources preserved in especially the Mesozoic section, no extensive Permian core exists.…”