Geological Quarterly, 1999,43 (4): 405--428 Facies and depositional environments of the Nida Gypsum deposits (Middle Miocene, Carpathian Foredeep, southern Poland)

Seven facies (five primary and two diagenetic) and 12 sub facies are distinguished within the Nida Gypsum deposits which are a part of the widespread Middle Miocene (Badenian) evaporites of the Carpathian Foredeep cropping out in vicinity of Busko in southern Poland. Facies are defined as products of specific mechanisms of evaporitic deposition: syntaxial bottom growth of gypsum crystals, microbial gypsum deposition (mainly gypsification of organic mats), mechanical deposition and diagenetic and weathering processes. Primary facies and subfacies, and their uncommon sedimentary structures (such as: up to 3.5 m high bottom-grown gypsum crystals, several metres high selenitic domes, gypsum stromatolite domes, halite-solution collapse breccias) record a varied shallow water (0-5 m) evaporitic environment, controlled mainly by depth, salinity and climate