--> Comparative Anatomy of Large Evaporite Basins: the Zechstein Basin of Central Europe and the Delaware Basin of Texas and New Mexico, by W. E. Dean, T. M. Peryt, G. Czapowski, J. Paul, and S. Williams-Stroud; #90986 (1994).

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Abstract: Comparative Anatomy of Large Evaporite Basins: the Zechstein Basin of Central Europe and the Delaware Basin of Texas and New Mexico

Walter E. Dean, Tadeusz M. Peryt, Gregorzcz Czapowski, Josef Paul, Sherilyn Williams-Stroud

During the Late Permian, cyclic sequences of evaporites comprising the full range of lithologies--from carbonates, through anhydrite, to halite, and finally potash salts--were deposited in the Zechstein and Delaware basins on opposite sides of the supercontinent Pangea. Although stratigraphic thicknesses of evaporites in the two basins are comparable, the Delaware basin was already a deep tectonic basin in Late Carboniferous time, long before evaporite deposition began, whereas the rapid subsidence of the Zechstein basin must have begun during deposition of the first-cycle evaporites (the Werra Cycle). The laminated basinal facies of the Werra Anhydrite is relatively thin (mostly <50 m) and consists of beds of laminated anhydrite that originated in deep water. These laminated anhyd ite units are very similar to the laminated anhydrite sequences that dominate the Castile Formation of the Delaware basin.

The early Delaware basin apparently was an open marine basin in early Late Permian (Guadalupian) time, inasmuch as it was rimmed by the Capitan Reef, but it was sediment starved. The silt and fine sand that make up the

sandstone formations of the Delaware Mountain Group accumulated slowly in the deep (ca. 550 m) central part of the basin, eventually exceeding 1,000 m thickness, while the carbonate and minor sulfate units of the Artesia Group accumulated on the shallow shelf behind the reef. The Delaware basin became restricted in the latest Permian (Ochoan), and evaporites of the Castile and Salado Formations rapidly filled the deep basin with little further subsidence.

The Delaware basin was located in an arid equatorial zone on the western margin of Pangaea and was subjected to the storm patterns of the vast Panthalassa Ocean to the west. In contrast, the Zechstein basin was on the eastern margin of Pangea in an arid belt on the western margin of the Tethys sea.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994