Geology, geography and global energy

Scientific and Technical Journal

Mineralogical Indications of Sedimentation Evolution within a Potassium-bearing Basin in the Gremyachinskoye Field (Privolzhskaya Monocline)

2012. №4, pp. 61-65

Moskovskiy Georgiy A. - Professor, Saratov State University, 83 Astrakhanskaya st., Saratov, Russian Federation, 410012, MoskovskyGA@info.sgu.ru

Goncharenko Olga P. - Professor, Saratov State University, 83 Astrakhanskaya st., Saratov, Russian Federation, 410012, GoncharenkoOP@mail.ru

The article relates that the primary task in assessing the prospects of the potassium-bearing eastern flank of the Gremyatchinskoye Field (Privolzhskaya Monocline) would be to identify indicators of the horizon’s structure. Experience from earlier field studies has shown that the main factors could serve as a common process during the evolution of halogen-stage cages of potassium and potassium-bearing rocks. The investigations have also covered the mineral composition of the rocks, their textural and structural characteristics and their patterns of localization. The Gremyachinskoye potash deposit, located in the south of the Volga monocline, was discovered and studied at the exploration stage in 1979-1983, by members of the PGE ’Nizhnevolzhskgeologiya’ Volgograd expedition. Since 2006, the deposit has been re-studied by the ’EuroChem VolgaKaliy’ exploration group. Different types of rocks have been found in the halogen deposits, including pogozhskoy, antipovskoy, pigarevskoy and ritmopachek. Of these, the main productive horizon deposits have been associated with pogozhskoy and ritmopachek. But sylvinite has been found in the bottom part of the reservoir alongside carnallite-halite rocks and galititami. On the eastern flank of the deposit (in the Plain and Darganovsky sites), the lowest Lugovskaya ritmopachek was revealed in 2010. It has a 30–40-meter horizon of carnallite and carnallite-halite rocks. The findings have considered the rocks’ main mineralogical and textural-structural features, with the rocks containing halogen and potassium. The findings have also assessed the structure of the productive horizons.

Key words: Gremyachinskoye field,producing horizons,sedimentation,halogenesis stages,salting out,sylvinites

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