Synonyms
Salina; Salt flat; Salt pan
Definition
This is an Arabic term for salt flats found in the deserts and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. The type locality is the Sabkha Matti, at the boundary of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Similar environmental conditions are recognized in other arid regions where evaporite minerals are deposited.
Characteristics
The sabkha landscape includes salt flats, salty soils (halosols), scoured sand plains, and sand dunes. Wind erosion commonly forms a sabkha plain, known as a Stokes surface (Fryberger et al. 2006), where the strength of cohesion from water or crystalline salt is sufficient to bind sand grains in place. Windblown sand deposits may contain significant portions of salt-cemented silt-sand pellets and crystalline salt. Lag deposits of deflated soil may contain larger salt crystals, including clustered gypsum crystals known as desert roses. Below stable sabkha surfaces, salts may accumulate within the...
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References
Azam S (2007) Study on the geological and engineering aspects of anhydrite/gypsum transition in Arabian Gulf coastal deposits. Bull Eng Geol Environ 66:177–185
Banat KM, Howari FM, Kadi KA (2005) Water chemical characteristics of the Red Sea coastal Sabkhas and associate evaporite and carbonate minerals. J Coast Res 21(5):1068–1081
Fryberger SG, Schenk CJ, Krystinik LF (2006) Stokes surfaces and the effects of near-surface groundwater-table on Aeolian deposition. Sedimentology 35(1):21–41
Glennie K (1998) The desert of southeast Arabia: a product of quaternary climate change. In: Alsharhan AS, Glennie KW, Whittle GL, Kendall GGSC (eds) Quaternary climate change. Balkema, Rotterdam
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Patterson RJ, Kinsman DJJ (1982) Formation of diagenetic dolomite in Coastal Sabkha along Arabian (Persian) Gulf. AAPG Bull 66(1):28
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McMackin, M., Godwin, W.H. (2018). Sabkha. In: Bobrowsky, P.T., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_248
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_248
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