Distribution patterns of gypsum and kalistrontite in a dry lake basin of the southwestern Kalahari (Omongwa pan, Namibia)

Abstract

The deposits of the Omongwa pan, southwestern Kalahari, Namibia, are partly gypsiferous and locally contain small amounts of kalistrontite. The distribution patterns of gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) and kalistrontite (K2Sr(SO4)2) are mainly determined by groundwater depth and by the lithological composition of the deposits. The latter determines the hydraulic conductivity for saturated and unsaturated flow and therefore controls the depth of the interval within the deposits where evaporation and mineral precipitation can take place. Other factors that affect the distribution of the evaporite minerals are the patterns of groundwater flow within the basin and the occurrence of a redistribution of salts during short flooding stages. Gypsum occurs as crystals of four distinct morphological types, which each developed in different conditions: prismatic crystals formed both as subaqueous precipitates and as crystals that developed within the sediment matrix of a brine-saturated surface layer; sub/euhedral tabular crystals formed within brine-filled macropores; hemi-bipyramidal crystals formed in a nearly permanently brine-saturated part of a subsurface horizon (phreatic zone), as the product of recrystallization of an older gypsum occurrence; and lenticular crystals formed by intrasediment growth in the vadose zone. The development of these morphological types of gypsum crystals is marked by differences in the differential inhibition of growth of the various crystal forms. The further growth of lenticular crystals, which are most strongly affected by differential growth inhibition, is still characterized by a difference in degree of inhibition between the {111} and {103} forms, expressed as a change in orientation of the plane of flattening. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.