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Sedimentology of Acid Saline Lakes in Southern Western Australia: Newly Described Processes and Products of an Extreme Environment

¹ Department of Geology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, U.S.A.; benis1kc{at}cmich.edu
² Department of Geology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, U.S.A.; Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, U.S.A.
³ Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri 65409, U.S.A.
⁴ Department of Geology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, U.S.A.
⁵ Department of Geology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, U.S.A.; present address: Department of Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York 13902, U.S.A.
⁶ Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri 65409, U.S.A.
⁷ Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri 65409, U.S.A.; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri 65409, U.S.A.
⁸ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri 65409, U.S.A.

Naturally acid saline systems with pH values between 1.7 and 4 are common on the Yilgarn Craton of southern Western Australia. A combination of physical and chemical processes here yield a previously undescribed type of modern sedimentary environment. Flooding, evapoconcentration, desiccation, and eolian transport at the surface, as well as influx of acid saline groundwaters, strongly influence these lakes. Halite, gypsum, kaolinite, and iron oxides precipitate from acid hypersaline lake waters. Shallow acid saline groundwaters affect the sediments of the lakes and associated mudflats, sandflats, channels, and dunes by precipitating early diagenetic halite, gypsum, iron oxides, clays, jarosite, and alunite. These modern environments would likely yield a rock record composed mostly of bedded red siliciclastic and reworked gypsum sand, alternating with less common beds of bottom-growth gypsum and halite, with alteration by early diagenetic features diagnostic of acid saline waters. This documentation of sedimentary processes and products of modern acid saline environments is an addition to the comparative sedimentology knowledge base and an expansion of the traditional models for classifying brines. Implications include better interpretations of terrestrial redbeds and lithified martian strata, improved acid remediation methods, new models for the formation and occlusion of pores, and the new setting for finding previously undescribed extremophiles.

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