(Table 2B) Geochemistry of Ariadne II sediments corrected for dilution by salt from pore waters and are carbonate free in the eastern South Pacific

Sediment depth is given in mbsf.

Tab.1: Composition of salt crusts and host rocks

Gypsum and calcite crusts were found on many outcrops of the metamorphic basement and on moraines in Dronning Maud Land. For the first time the copper mineral connellite was found in such crusts. Salt crust and efflorescences indicate an important role of chemical weathering even in a cold and arid climate such as the Antarctic interior. Findings of salt efflorescenees few centimetres beneath the rock surface suggest the contribution of salt crystallization to the formation of the typical Antarctic cavernous or honeycomb weathering features.

Petrographical investigation of the Salt Wash sediments : final report /

This report represents an attempt to use quantitative petrography to elucidate criteria for differentiating ore-bearing from barren sediments in the Salt Wash member of the Morrison formation of the Colorado Plateau. The main premise upon which this approach is based is that the factors which determine whether a sediment contains ore or not is a function largely, if not solely, of the characteristics of the sedimentary rock. It follows that if this premise is true, then the petrographic characteristics of a sediment containing ore should differ from those of the sediments which are barren.