Deposit types/Potash

Evaporite potash

Potassium salt beds in thick evaporite basins.

What it is

Potassium salt beds in thick evaporite basins.1

How it forms

Potassium-bearing salt formed in evaporite basins. USGS describes two models, stratabound potash-bearing salt and halokinetic (moved) salt.1

Host rocks

Evaporite salt sequences.1

Where it forms

Evaporite basins (Elk Point, Pripyat, Solikamsk, Zechstein).1

Typical size

Occurrences range from millions to more than 100 billion t K2O contained1

Story cards

Sources

  1. Potash: A Global Overview of Evaporite-Related Potash Resources (SIR 2010-5090-S) US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

History of miningDiamonds and deep gold: Kimberley and the Rand1867-1946Lessons from historyFrom discovery to production: the long road to a mine1922-2027Lessons from historyThe deposits that made fortunes, and who kept them1485-2008The Super Pit gold mine at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, at sunsetMining historyGold rushes, then and nowGold and lithium · Worldwide

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Kimberley, South Africa: the Kimberley mine and town. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Elektrisk malmletning. Undersökningar på Billiton, 1920., Okänd / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).