Celestite replacements of evaporites in the Salina Group

Abstract

Replacements of evaporites by celestite were discovered recently at three sites in northwestern Ohio. These replacements are more durable than the original evaporites and provide new paleoenvironmental data for the upper Silurian rocks of the region. The occurrences are situated along the western margin of the Ohio (Cayugan) Basin and appear in the Greenfield Dolomite and in undifferentiated Salina dolostones. The replacements include: lenticular and prismatic crystals of gypsum, nodules of anhydrite and laminar evaporites. The lenticular crystals contain inclusions of carbonate and anhydrite, and are believed to have altered to anhydrite prior to replacement. The prismatic crystals are exceptionally well-preserved, with euhedral, deeply embayed outlines and internally zoned growth bands containing large numbers of inclusions of dolostone and anhydrite. Optical data for the latter crystals indicate that they are oriented replacements of gypsum, and suggest that the original gypsum was unchanged prior to replacement. The nodular and laminar occurrences display features such as chicken-wire and enterolithic structures, and were comprised of anhydrite prior to replacement. Replacement postdates the dolomitization and cementation of the Salina sediments enclosing the evaporites, but occurred prior to deep burial. The rocks hosting the replacements, therefore, did not provide the strontium. The strontium may have been released from dolomitization of the underlying Lockport (Niagaran) beds or from dissolution of subaerially exposed Salina gypsum prior to the middle Devonian.