NEW POTASH SALT BASIN, THE LOWER TUNGUSKA, IN THE IRKUTSK AMPHITHEATER

Abstract

The discovery of the Nepa potash salt basin [1] raised the question of whether analogous basins exist elsewhere in the Irkutsk amphitheater. Therefore, it is especially important to study the formation and subsequent evolution of structures of the Nepa arch, on whose southwest slope this basin lies, and, from the resulting data, to try to find new potassium-bearing salt basins. Potash salts in the Angara formation quite possibly could also occur at stratigraphically higher levels than in the Nepa basin, in the areas west and southwest of the core of the Nepa arch. Such a possibility is indicated, in particular, by the increase in degree of salt concentrations in the upper part of the Angara formation in that direction.