CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Anderson, N. L.; and Hinds, R. C.
Date : 1997
Title : Glacial loading and unloading: A possible cause of rock-salt dissolution in the Western Canada Basin
Publication : Carbonates and Evaporites
Issue : 12(1):
Page(s) : 43-52
Abstract
Each of the five main bedded Devonian rock salts in the Western Canada Basin has been leached in places more-or-less continuously since shortly after deposition. For the most part, salt dissolution has been self-sustaining and relatively slow. At various times however, leaching has been significantly accelerated by large-scale external processes such as regional uplift and erosion (during the Cretaceous hiatus), and regional faulting (during the mid-Late Cretaceous). The most recent phase of accelerated leaching occurred during the Quaternary, probably as a result of glacial loading and unloading. Two principal lines of evidence support the thesis that accelerated rates of salt dissolution occurred during the Quaternary. First, there is an apparent correlation between surface drainage patterns and the active dissolution margins of the Devonian rock salts. Second, salt-related subsidence features at the pre-Quaternary subcrop level have been mapped on seismic data in the immediate proximity of active salt dissolution margins.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology