A new find of carbonized wood in salt of the Verkhnekamskoe Deposit

Abstract

A study of carbonized wood found in the salts of the Verkhnekamskoe Deposit showed that it was carried into the basin during the period when turbidity currents arrived from the land, interrupting potassium sedimentation. The crystallization of glauberite here is associated with the sweet (HCO3–Ca) composition of the waters. Diagenetic processes manifested themselves in the formation of nodules of anhydrite and sulfate-reduced pyrite. The formation of vein sylvite, which composes contraction cracks in carbonized wood, is associated with folding. The highest value of the gas dryness coefficient in carbonized wood indicates that it is a source of methane. Consequently, the host silvinites of the Verkhnekamskoe Deposit, richer in heavy hydrocarbons, inherited their gas composition mainly from organic matter of animal (sapropelic) nature.