Review of the Ochsenius Theory for Salt Generation in the Transylvanian Basin, Romania
Source: By:Unger, Z., LeClair, D.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30564/agger.v4i1.4307
Abstract:This short study aims to highlight contradictions in Ochsenius’s model for the basin-wide salt generation (Kara-Bogas bay desiccation). Without claiming completeness, and through numerous records cited from the specific literature, we attempt to point at crucial incoherencies in the classical evaporitic model. In our presupposition, these might have led our ancestors to conclude that basin-wide salt generation needs theoretically well-based models. This is emphatically true for the Transylvanian Basin,Romania.The selected records are basic for the specific topic. We checked their validity by logical reasoning and by literature references.As for salt generation, the classical Ochsenius model has been upheld for the generation of evaporates even though it has been known that there are records denying the exclusivity of the evaporation model. It has also been proven that deep-sea salt exists, yet terminology is reluctant to follow the new discoveries. If non-evaporitic salt generation exists, it entails that huge salt deposits may exist, which are not remnants of a desiccation process.These cannot be considered as part of the classical theory of evaporation.Former researchers left important but neglected records, which should have updated the model of Ochsenius by now. Well-documented historical observation uncovered some contradictions in the salt generation of the Transylvanian Basin, Romania.Hereby we list 10 important contradictions,which may reveal that the well-known theory of Ochsenius (i.e. drying of Kara Bogaz bay) ought to be challenged for the Transylvanian Basin.
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