Summer 2019

Saltwork Training in evaporite systemsWe are committed to offering up to date and comprehensive understandings in all training related to saline geosystems

intro

A TRAINING MESSAGE FROM THE SALTWORKSThe catalogue outlines the various training modules we offer across all applied aspects of evaporite studies.

Our course structure is modular so you, or your training coordinator, can construct a training program that meets your particular needs.

The recommended program length is three to five days, made up of two to three days of the “under-standings” module (1000 code #’s), followed by a more special-ized one to three days.

Our advanced modules are suit-able for specific interests;1) potash (2100 code #’s)2) oil & gas (2200 code #’s)3) resources (23-2600’s codes)

We can also integrate training with the specific problem sets that your staff are working with, including core, wireline, assay, seismic and other data sets. In-troductory aspects of training by a hands-on use of these data sets are also possible (e.g. an intro-duction to wireline interpreta-tion, followed by wireline inter-pretation in carbonates). Talk to us and we will design a program for you.

EVAPORITES, OIL, GAS, MINERALS & ORESMost geologists and geophysicists working in oil and gas provinces, or base and precious metals systems, where-ever salt or related brines are present, know that salt has played a role in forming the commodity of interest. What they may not fully appreciate is that the role of the various salt and brines can be used as a predictive tool to focus better their exploration and development efforts.

Some salty facts:

• 50% of all giant and supergiant oil and gas fields in carbon-ate-hosted reservoirs are associated with evaporites.

• 70% of all giant stratiform copper deposits are related to evaporites, their brines and associated fluid interfaces.

• Many Pb-Zn and IOCG associations are related to saline brine systems and are tied to dissolving or altering evaporites and their daughter products, along with associated redox interfaces.

• 95% of the world’s annual production of potash salts is used by the fertiliser industry.

Want to know how and why this relatively small group of sediments, their brines and their metamorphic products are so significant to so many aspects across the applied geo-industries? We can share this knowledge and show you how to use it improve exploration and development efficiencies.

Contact us: www.saltworkconsultants.com

http://www.saltworkconsultants.com

Understandings (2 days)

To deal with more specialized commodity-specific topics, the course participant must first gain an understanding of what constitutes an evap-orite, its brine system and its residues, within a tectonic and climatic framework

The four modules listed on this page give participants the comprehensive background and conceptual frame needed to tackle the more advanced topic sets listed on the following pages.

Once these general topic sets are mastered, the client company can choose which of the advanced topic sets best fit their training needs.

Messinian gypsum, Sicily

Cane Creek pans, Utah

Ancient evaporite settings

Naica gypsum, Mexico

What is an evaporite? (half-day)Evaporite beds are deposited and then altered, with charac-teristic textures indicating the original hydrological setting and ocean chemistry, as well as the various diagenetic fluids it was exposed to during buri-al, re-equilibration and uplift.

CODE # TOPIC

1000.01 Evaporation vs. cryogenesis

1000.02 Depositional textures

1000.03 Diagenetic textures

1000.04 Gypsum and anhydrite

1000.05 Halite and trona

1000.06 Saline clay authigenesis

Brine evolution (half-day) Every evaporite sequence min-eralogy and daughter product is controlled by brine evolu-tion pathways. This evolution is preserved in brine chemis-tries and typical isotopic sig-natures (S, O, C, Cl).

CODE # TOPIC

1025.01 Marine, nonmarine & climate

1025.02 Inclusion chemistries

1025.03 Isotopic signatures

1025.04 Surface & nearsurface brine

1025.05 Basinal & metamorphic brine

Ancient basins and tectonics (half day)In evaporite geosystems, the present offers a limited sam-pling of broader evaporite as-sociations in the past. This re-flects the limited climatic and tectonic spectrum seen in to-day’s evaporites. Past systems were more significant.

CODE # TOPIC

1050.00 Eustasy, greenhouse, icehouse

1050.01 Continental basins

1050.02 Marine-margin basins

1050.03 Ancient basinwide systems

1050.04 Tectonic controls

1050.05 Basin evolution across time

Evaporite that was (half day)Although largely unrecog-nized, there are widespread indicators of evaporites in suc-cessions where thick sequenc-es of salt have long since dis-solved in cross-flushing basinal waters.

CODE # TOPIC

1075.01 How and where salts dissolve

1075.01 Saline karst, present & past

1075.02 Breccias, which are salty?

1075.03 Nodules & pseudomorphs

1075.04 Indicators of fluid pathways

This one-day advanced course focuses on the geological controls of potash deposition and diagenesis. It emphasizes the utility of applied geological knowledge in improving efficiencies during exploration and development.

Some 90-95% of the world’s potash annual production is used in the fertil-izer industry. Most of this product is muriate of potash (KCl) with less production of the premium product - sulfate of potash.

Geological sources of potash are either from brine extraction (includ-ing solution mining and processing of playa brines) or from the conven-tional mining of bedded and halokinetic potash.

Geology of potash (1-2 days)

Dead Sea

Lop Nur, China

Wendover feeders

Dead Sea Carnallitite beds Solikamsk sinkhole, Nov. 2014

Lop Nur, China Sylvinite Dead Sea sinkholes

Wendover feeders Zechstein salt Patience Lake mine

Brine extractionBrine extraction is utilized in all current examples of Quaternary production of muriate of potash and sulfate of potash.

Depending on brine inflow propor-tions, which are controlled by ge-ology in the drainage hinterland and the climate (evaporitic versus cryogenic), the product is either carnallite (e.g. the Dead Sea and Wendover Utah) or sulfate of pot-ash (Lop Nur and Great Salt Lake).

CODE # TOPIC

2125.01 Marine vs. nonmarine

2125.02 Tectonics & brines

2125.03 SOP vs. MOP

Geology The greater part of the world’s potash is conventionally mined from ancient salt beds or diapiric salt masses in Canada, Russia, Be-larus, UK, and Germany.

Geological characterisation of all the world’s potash deposits shows that even in the vast bedded de-posits of Canada, early through late diagenesis is a significant control on ore quality.

CODE # TOPIC

2150.01 Potash across time

2150.02 Diagenesis and ore

2150.03 World potash basins

2150.04 Exploration criteria

HazardsThe high solubility of evaporitic salts, especially the potash bit-terns means there are particular problems and hazards associated with the utilization of bedded and halokinetic potash.

Pervasive natural karst typifies all past and present salt deposits. Ef-fects of these natural geohazards can be increased if flood possibili-ties are not accounted for from the sinking of the first shaft and throughout the life of the mine.

CODE # TOPIC

2175.01 Keep it in the “salt”

2175.02 Natural or not?

2175.03 Seeing the problem

Many of the world’s larger oil and gas fields occur in halokinetically-influ-enced structures across many of the world’s salt basins (e.g. Campos Basin, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Lower Congo Basin, Santos Basin and Zagros).

A predictive understanding of the physics of salt and how salt flow influ-ences tectonics, reservoir sedimentation and its evolution is, therefore, critical to effective and efficient petroleum exploration.

This advanced module explores the detail and predictive outcomes involved in gaining an understanding of the hydrocarbon-evaporite asso-ciation.

Oil and gas (1-2 days)

Salt kinetics

Salt kinetics Bitumens in Ara salt Hutt Lagoon

Salt tectonicsMany of the world’s oil and gas fields occur in halokinetically-in-fluenced structures across many of the world’s salt basins (e.g. Campos Basin, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Lower Congo Basin, Santos Basin and Zagros).

The course gives a predictive un-derstanding of salt and how it controls local and regional salt tectonics, reservoir sedimenta-tion and diagenesis (poroperm). This is critical to effective and ef-ficient petroleum exploration and field development.

» Salt tectonics & basin-scales » Predictive salt models » Circum-salt diagenesis.

Saline reservoirs A large proportion of the world’s giant and supergiant oil and gas fields are associated with salt. With carbonate reservoirs, this proportion is more than 50%.

This is especially apparent in the Middle East and in circum-Atlantic Aptian settings. Worldwide, all giant and supergiant gas fields in thrust belts have an evaporite seal.

Salt acts a seal to underlying and adjacent reservoirs. In diagenesis, it supplies brines than can create or enhance reservoir poroperm.

» Physics of salt seals » Bedded associations » Halokinetic associations » Dolomite & evaporites.

Source rocksOil in carbonate reservoirs, sealed by evaporite salts, may have been sourced in earlier less saline, but still related, evaporitic (meso-haline) conditions.

Similar conditions favor evaporite and organic matter preservation.

» Halotolerants tend to flourish in mesohaline waters.

» Why “feast and famine” makes source rocks

» Organic geochemistry of halotolerants and halophiles

» Indicative biomarkers » The four main ancient

evaporitic source rock systems

» Time limits of the modern.

Salt flows and so creates traps and

fluid foci

Salt maintains its seal integrity

Saline systems en-courage the preser-vation of organics

CODE # TOPIC

2225.01 Physics of salt

2225.02 Extensional systems

2225.03 Compressional

2225.04 Circum-salt systems

CODE # TOPIC

2250.01 Salt seal integrity

2250.02 Beds, plays & plumes

2250.03 Halokinetic reservoir

2250.04 Dolomitisation & salt

CODE # TOPIC

2275.01 Salinity tolerances

2275.02 Halotolerant & philes

2275.03 Organic indicators

2275.04 Depositional settings

many sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits are closely associated with evaporites, or indicators of former evaporites, as are a number of SedEx and MVT deposit

Many sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits are closely associ-ated with evaporites, or indicators of former evaporites, as are many-SedEx and MVT deposits. This is because most subsurface evaporites ulti-mately dissolve and, through their ongoing dissolution and alteration, can create subsurface carriers and conditions suitable for metal enrich-ment and entrapment. This occurs in subsurface settings ranging from the burial diagenetic through to the metamorphic and igneous realms. It means various metal accumulations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Au and U, with an evaporite association, tend to plot at the larger end of their respective deposit groupings.

Within this framework, this advanced module explores relationships between evaporites and ore deposits, where ore is defined as a mineral, or an aggregate of minerals, from which a valuable constituent, espe-cially a metal, can be profitably mined or extracted. As well as lower temperature deposits we also explore the significance of dissolving and altering evaporites in ore deposits formed within the higher tempera-ture igneous and metamorphic realms.

Metals and salts (1-2 days)

Salt anticline focus

Corocoro Copper

Atlantis II Deep

Salt anticline focus Cadjebut galena

Corocoro Copper Ref: 6800.00

Atlantis II Deep Re

Stratabound CuSediment-hosted stratiform cop-per (SSC) deposits worldwide rank second only to porphyry copper deposits in terms of copper pro-duction and are the most impor-tant global source of cobalt.

Locally, most of these deposits are stratabound (confined to a particu-lar stratum), and are more or less concordant or peneconcordant, either with saline beds, or with the edge of a salt mass or its residues.

CODE # TOPIC

2325.01 Low T Cu carriers

2325.02 Giant bedded ore

2325.03 Giant halokinetic ore

2325.04 Predictive textures

Pb and ZnMany of the larger carbonate-host-ed Pb-Zn deposits within the MVT and SedEx groups of deposits are associated with salt-sourced hy-persaline ore fluids.

They tie to dissolving halokinetic salt supplying and focusing metallif-erous Cl-rich waters. Precipitation sites are typically former platform sulfate levels that altered in buri-al, so supplying CaSO4 to sulfate reduction fixation loci (BSR or TSR).

CODE # TOPIC

2350.01 Low T Pb & Zn carriers

2350.02 Evaporitic MVT deposits

2350.03 Evaporitic SedEx deposits

2350.04 Base metals & diagenesis

High-T saline ores Metalliferous fluid indicators and ore deposits due to direct and indi-rect interactions between magma, evaporites, and their hydrothermal and metamorphic daughters, which at regional and local scales are nei-ther well documented, nor well un-derstood.

Mostly, this is because little or no actual salt remains once these high-temperature interactions run their course.

CODE # TOPIC

2375.01 High-T saline systems

2375.02 Meta-evaporite gems

2375.03 Orthomagmatic ores

2375.03 Paramagmatic ores

McArthur HYC

The greater majority of nonpotash bedded salt resources (borates, sodium carbonates, sodium sulfates and lithium brines) accumulated in continen-tal lacustrine or playa settings. They owe their existence to the unusual ionic compositions that come from groundwater leaching under highly arid conditions, in appropriate bedrock terrains.

Borates, for example, form via the lacustrine concentration of spring inflows that have passed through the active volcanogenic terrain. Likewise, the trona beds of Lake Magadi reflect non-acidic groundwater and hydro-thermal/basin brine leaching (low sulfate, high bicarbonate waters).

In contrast, the largest sodium-chloride chemical feedstock plants tend to be at their most efficient in modern marine-margin arid settings in Mexico and Australia.

Non-potashsalines (1-2 days)

Non-potashsalines (1-2 days)

blue halite howlite nodules Atacama lithium pans

Lake Magadi Ulexite-colemanite Zabuye lake, china

Trona mine, Wyoming Kramer Mine, USA Salar de Atacama

Sodic saltsNatural sodium bicarbonate and sodium sulfate salts, as well as sodium chloride, supply signifi-cant volumes of feedstock to the world’s industrial chemicals in-dustries.

The various salts precipitate with textures and mineral suites indic-ative of their formative hydrology and tectonic settings. Utilizing this knowledge enables the con-struction of predictive models.

CODE TOPIC

2425.01 Soda-ash geology

2425.02 Salt-cake geology

2425.03 Sodium chloride plants

2425.04 Climate & brine state

BoratesMajor commercial borate deposits occur in a limited number of Neo-gene to Holocene non-marine evap-oritic settings, related to volcanic rocks and pyroclastic deposits in closed-basin alkaline lakes fed by hydrothermal waters.

They are open-pit mined at the Kramer mine in Boron California, in the Kirka ore district of Turkey, and Tincalayu in northern Argentina.

CODE # TOPIC

2450.01 Boron chemistry

2450.02 Sites of enrichment

2450.03 Tectonic association

2450.04 Predictive models

Lithium brinesIn the last two decades, Chile has emerged as the world’s largest lithium-carbonate producer from a lake brine, largely through the exploitation of Salar de Atacama, Chile, followed by China with op-erations focused in the Qaidam Basin and small-scale operations at Lake Zabuye.

Quaternary lithium brines accumu-lations are latitudinally restricted to cool arid belts within endorheic continental brine sumps.

CODE # TOPIC

2475.01 Brine chemistry

2475.02 Porosity limitations

2475.03 Predictive models

Evaporite salts and their mineralogical variations tend to construct complex zones of subsurface chemical reactivity, which evolve from the time of the first precipitate until they are exploited or extracted.

This section list a number of salty topics that may be of interest to some explorationists, developers, and engineers working in particular types of deposits with problems related to saline systems. The various topics can be expanded to meet the clients interests, or added and included within a more conventional three-day course designed for either the oil or minerals industries

Related topics (half day each)

halite Wink Sink 2, Texas

Well group Tourmaline, Namibia

Gallencourt induced sink

Solution miningSalt solution mining is the mining of various salts, via dissolution, to create a purpose-built extrac-tion or storage cavity. It requires pumping the brine liquor to the surface. There, the extracted brine can be concentrated or pro-cessed.

For example, solution mining for potash exploits folded and dis-turbed beds or deep-lying salt strata, situations not easily mined using conventional techniques.

CODE # TOPIC

2525.01 Mining techniques

2525.02 Residues and blinding

2525.03 Operations & geology

2525.04 Monitoring

Meta-evaporitesEvaporite salts can survive well into the metamorphic realm, but are altered, recrystallised or trans-formed into new minerals and brine solutions.

And so, beyond the early green-schist phase, little of the original sedimentary mineral phase remains (except anhydrite), but scapolites. tourmalines, albitites, etc., do, along with various indicator tex-tures.

CODE # TOPIC

2550.01 Metamorphism

2550.02 Indicator minerals

2550.03 Gems from brine

2550.04 Case histories

Salty ProblemsAll evaporites tend to dissolve and, when salt beds or a haloki-netic masses are uplifted and so approach the surface, the rate of this dissolutions tends to increase considerably.

Hence, salt in regions where it is mined, or used to create cavities for liquid or waste storage, can occasionally be susceptible to un-expected cavity enlargement, col-lapse and ground subsidence.

CODE # TOPIC

2575.01 Collapsing brinefields

2575.02 Leaky oilfield wells

2575.03 Leaky caverns

2575.04 Safety issues

2575.01 Solving the problem

Solikamsk collapse, 2014

lapis lazuli

At SaltWorks, we are committed to offering up-to-date and comprehen-sive training in all matters evaporitic.

We also offer a full range of related consultancy services and a compre-hensive GIS database that encompasses all of the examples provided in any of our training modules. All data plots and polygons are cross-refer-enced to their source data.

Refer to our web page to see the complete range of services that we offer.

Our promise

www.saltworkconsultants.com

http://www.saltworkconsultants.com

Principal instructorDr. John Warren is the leading expert and technical coordinator for Saltworks. His career spans more than 30 years in salty systems.

Interests include; Wireline Analysis, Car-bonate and Evaporite Systems, Oil and Gas, Economic Geology and Potash explo-ration and development.

He has written four books on economic aspects of evaporites, has contributed re-lated chapters in a number of books and has published more than 60 scientific ar-ticles in applied aspects of saline geology.

Course materials Each participant in the course receives a complete set of digital course notes. This material is a series of hi-resolution pdf files that give the participant a copy of every slide presented during their train-ing course.

In addition, each participant receives a digital copy of Dr. Warren’s 2016 book “Evaporites: A compendium” published by Springer (ISBN978-3-319-13512-0). This all-color edition runs to more than 1800 pages and has been cited as the most complete summary of evaporites current-ly available.

© SaltWork Consultants 2015 (ACN 068 889 127)

Kingston Park, Adelaide 5049 AUSTRALIA

Telephone: +61 8 121 5710 (Australia) +66 8 9498 1512 (roaming/SMS)

Web page: www.saltworkconsultants.com

Email: jkwarren@saltworkconsultants.com

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