Sabkha

"Sebkha" redirects here. For the city in Mauritania, see Sebkha, Mauritania.
Sebkhat (or Sebkha) El Melah, Tunisia in 2001, mostly dry. Note rectangular industrial evaporite pans, probably for sea-salt production, upper right. Landsat 7 image.
Sebkhat El Melah in 1987, flooded. Landsat 5 image.

A sabkha (Arabic: سبخة) is a coastal, supratidal mudflat or sandflat in which evaporite-saline minerals accumulate as the result of semiarid to arid climate. Sabkhas are gradational between land and intertidal zone within restricted coastal plains just above normal high-tide level. Within a sabkha, evaporite-saline minerals sediments typically accumulate below the surface of mudflats or sandflats. Evaporite-saline minerals, tidal-flood, and aeolian deposits characterize many sabkhas found along modern coastlines. The accepted type locality for a sabkha is at the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, in the United Arab Emirates.[1][2][3][4] Evidence of clastic sabkhas are found in the geological record of many areas, including the UK and Ireland.[5] Sabkha is a phonetic transliteration of the Arabic word used to describe any form of salt flat. A sabkha is also known as a sabkhah, sebkha, or coastal sabkha.[4]

The term sabkha has also been used as a general term for any flat area, coastal or interior, where, as the result of evaporation, salt and other evaporite minerals precipitate near or at the surface.[1] The term continental sabkha is used for such environments found within deserts. Because of the confusion created by using sabkha for salt flats and playas, it has been proposed that the usage of this term be abandoned for playas and other intracontinental basins and flats.[6]

  1. ^ a b Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) Glossary of Geology (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia, American Geological Institute. 779 pp. ISBN 0-922152-76-4
  2. ^ Tucker, M.E. and Wright, V.P., 2009. Carbonate sedimentology. John Wiley & Sons. and Warren, J.K., 2006. Evaporites: sediments, resources and hydrocarbons. Springer Science & Business Media.
  3. ^ Warren, J.K., 2006. Evaporites: sediments, resources and hydrocarbons. Springer Science & Business Media.
  4. ^ a b Al-Sayari, S.S. and Zötl, J.G. eds., 2012. Quaternary period in Saudi Arabia: 1: sedimentological, hydrogeological, hydrochemical, geomorphological, and climatological investigations in central and eastern Saudi Arabia. Springer Science & Business Media.
  5. ^ Thompson, Jillian; Meadows, Neil S. (1997). "Clastic sabkhas and diachroneity at the top of the Sherwood Sandstone Group: East Irish Sea Basin". Geological Society of London, Special Publications. 124 (1): 237–251. Bibcode:1997GSLSP.124..237T. doi:10.1144/gsl.sp.1997.124.01.15. ISSN 0305-8719.
  6. ^ Briere, P.R., 2000. Playa, playa lake, sabkha: Proposed definitions for old terms. Journal of Arid Environments, 45(1), pp.1-7.