salt domes

Explorations of 1979–1982 and 2006–2009 have made the field ready for industrial development and have revealed peculiar manifestations of internal salt tectonics within the subhorizontal halogenic bodies. The degree and the character of intrasalt tectonics are estimated according to boudinage, i. e. the response of the rigid dolomite- anhydrite interlayers within the salts to arising tectonic stresses. Upon folding, the interlayers are torn into separate fragments and stretched along the bedding.

In 1960–1980, the Elton and the Gremyachka deposits of potassium salts were discovered within the Permian halogen sequences in the Lower Volga Region, bischofite presence was recorded in the Privolzhskaya monocline, the conditions of halogen-bed formation were defined as those peculiar for typical evaporites. But in 1980-2010, halogenesis hypotheses emerged that denied the principal importance of climatic factor and the dominant role of oceanic waters in the brine composition of the salt-generating basin.