South America Rock Salt Atlas is the regional section of the World Rock Salt Atlas examining genuine geological halite deposits, thick rock-salt formations, subsurface salt structures and historical or modern mining carried out directly from rock-salt bodies across the continent.
Rock Salt and Salars Are Not the Same Thing in South America
South America contains some of the world’s largest salt flats and salars. However, Salar de Uyuni, modern lithium-bearing salars and shallow surface salt crusts are not automatically part of the World Rock Salt Atlas.
This series covers sites where natural halite occurs as a thick geological rock body or sedimentary formation.
Brazil’s Cretaceous Salt Giant
Very large Lower Cretaceous-Aptian evaporite systems occur in sedimentary basins along Brazil’s eastern margin. The system extending from Sergipe-Alagoas to the Santos Basin contains rock salt that reaches kilometre-scale thickness in some offshore areas.
Sergipe-Alagoas Halites
The Ibura Member of the Muribeca Formation in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin is a major evaporite succession containing halite, sylvite, sylvinite, carnallite and tachyhydrite. Halite is one of the most widespread minerals in the system.
Maceió Sal-Gema Mining
Underground rock salt beneath Maceió in the state of Alagoas was exploited for decades by solution mining. A 2019 investigation by the Geological Survey of Brazil linked instability in the mining caverns to subsidence across a large urban area, and production activities were halted in 2019.
Colombia’s Cretaceous Rock Salt
Genuine Cretaceous rock-salt bodies occur in Colombia’s Eastern Cordillera and Bogotá Sabana region. The Zipaquirá, Nemocón and Upín mines expose large subsurface salt systems in which halite and clay-rich halite alternate.
First South America Files
- Brazil Rock Salt Deposits
- Maceió Rock Salt and Sal-Gema Mining
- Colombia Rock Salt Deposits
- Zipaquirá and Nemocón Rock Salt Mines
Next Stage of Research
Halite occurrences in Chile, Peru and Argentina will be classified individually in later research packages. A country article will not be opened until salar or surface-crust deposits have been distinguished clearly from genuine geological rock-salt beds.