Plio-Pleistocene lacustrine evaporites of the Baza Basin (Betic Chain, SE Spain)

The Baza Basin (the eastern part of the Guadix–Baza Basin, in SE Spain) underwent a significant evaporitic sedimentation in non-marine settings during the Plio-Pleistocene. The largest of these settings developed in the central part of the basin as a shallow, saline lake system, where abundant gypsum deposits occur (Benamaurel and Galera Gypsum units). This paper studies these deposits from the cartographic, stratigraphic, sedimentologic, petrographic and isotopic points of view. All the gypsum has been preserved as primary enabling a good characterization of the environmental conditions of the original precipitates. Three interconnected subenvironments or zones –inner, intermediate and marginal– are differentiated in this saline lake system. In the inner zone (shallow to relatively deeper central lake), a regular alternation of gypsum and carbonate laminae accumulated suggesting a seasonal regime. Many of the gypsum laminae display size-gradation (both reverse and symmetrical) indicating free precipitation in a stable brine body. In the intermediate zone (mosaic of shallow lakes), carbonate (dolomitic) beds formed in association with dark lutite levels, gypsum beds, and gypsum nodules and micronodules. Moreover, anoxic conditions developed in this zone, which resulted in the formation of native sulphur occurrences of economic value. In the marginal zone, the evaporitic deposits are developed only locally (the Galera Gypsum unit, in particular). The various gypsum lithofacies in these marginal deposits suggest the presence of a number of shallow to exposed settings (saline mudflat, saline marsh and gypsiferous pond). The isotopic composition (δ34S, δ18O) of the gypsum samples is consistent with a Triassic origin of the sulphate as a result of chemical recycling. These data also suggest that a similar recycling mechanism operated in the saline lake system, where the gypsum sediments from the margins were coevally recycled towards the inner part. Both the evaporitic mineralogy and the gypsum and carbonate lithofacies suggest that semiarid conditions prevailed in this basin during the accumulation of the evaporite units.