THE ORIGIN OF THE PERMIAN MIDDLE AND UPPER POTASH DEPOSITS OF YORKSHIRE: AN ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS

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Abstract
Summary: The Upper Permian evaporites of Yorkshire previously have been regarded as precipitates on the floor of a barred basin. However, many of them are closely associated with carbonate and clastic deposits which bear unambiguous evidence of shallow-water origin, and some of the evaporites themselves have features now widely regarded as indicative of deposition at or near mean sea level. It is therefore inferred that the Middle and Upper Potash deposits of the region were also formed close to sea level, and the paper puts forward a mechanism, based on Recent partial analogues, by which bitterns could have reached sufficiently high concentrations to lead to large-scale deposition of potassium and magnesium salts in a salt flat environment. The suggested mechanism is based on a hypothesis of repeated precipitation and solution of such salts in a stable one-way system which permitted long-continued concentration of bitterns. It appears to be equally applicable to many other ancient potash deposits.

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