Salt glacier

Salt domes (hills) and salt glaciers (dark areas) in the Zagros Mountains of southern Iran.

A salt glacier is a flow of salt (typically halite) that is created when a rising diapir in a salt dome breaches the surface, much like toothpaste from a tube. Gravity causes the salt to flow like glaciers into adjacent valleys. Most of the flow occurs during the winter, when the salt is wet, as the strength of salt is critically dependent on its water content. The resulting tongue-shaped bodies can extend for kilometers, with repeating bow-shaped ridges separated by crevasse-like gullies and with steep sides and fronts. Clays may be brought up with the salt, turning it dark.

References

• "Iran's Salt Glaciers". NASA Earth Observatory. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16435. Retrieved on 2006-04-27. 
• Talbot, C.J. and Rogers, E.A. 1980. Seasonal movements in a salt glacier in Iran. Science, 208, 395-397
• Urai, J.L., Spiers, C.J., Zwart, H.J. & Lister, G.S. 1986. Weakening of rock salt by water during long term creep. Nature, 324, 554-557

This geology article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.