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Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks pp 16–19Cite as

Anhydrite and gypsum

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Anhydrite (CaSO4) and gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) are the two most abundant minerals of ancient marine evaporite deposits and are also common in non-marine evaporite deposits. Sedimentary gypsum forms by direct precipitation out of evaporating seawater under arid climatic conditions in hydrologically restricted marine and marginal marine environments (e.g., tidal flats, coastal lagoons, “inland seas”, etc.). In non-marine, arid closed basin systems, gypsum precipitates from evaporating meteoric waters with chemical compositions dependent on the bedrock types and their proportions in the drainage areas. In contrast, at temperatures and pressures typical of sedimentary environments, anhydrite does not precipitate directly from evaporating waters but, as discussed in the next section, forms by dehydration of precursor gypsum precipitates. Sedimentary anhydrite is, in essence, a diagenetic mineral.

Stability fields of anhydrite and gypsum

In modern arid sedimentary environments gypsum readily...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21218-2681, USA

    Lawrence A. Hardie

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  1. Lawrence A. Hardie
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Gerard V. Middleton

  2. Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T IZ2, Canada

    Michael J. Church

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G I, Canada

    Mario Coniglio

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA

    Lawrence A. Hardie

  5. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Frederick J. Longstaffe

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© 1978 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.

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Hardie, L.A. (1978). Anhydrite and gypsum. In: Middleton, G.V., Church, M.J., Coniglio, M., Hardie, L.A., Longstaffe, F.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3609-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3609-5_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-0872-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3609-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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