Glossary

biosphere = the sum of the organisms populating an area; the totality of ecosystems (e.g. earth biosphere). 

brine = water with a high concentration of salt.

calcite = carbonate mineral with chemical formula CaCO3. It forms by precipitation from solutions saturated in Ca2+. Common in marine environments.

calcifier = organism that produces and deposits calcium carbonate minerals into its skeletal structure or tissues. 

connectivity = it refers to basinal connectivity.  A temporal or long term connection between two water bodies (e.g., seas, oceans, lakes)

continental collision = the tectonic process through which two tectonic plates collide. It is a long term process that takes millions of years.

continental breakup = tectonic process through which a continental plate or a super-continent is broken. The new broken pieces then drift away forming oceanic and marine basins in between.

deep biosphere = the totality of organisms populating the deep sea waters (marine or oceanic). It extends from the photic one to the oceanic trenches.

desiccation = it refers to a basin. It represents the process through which a basin loses its water. It can be an evaporative process (i.e., during very warm or very cold periods) or tectonic (i.e., a breakage in a sill, margin or dam).

diachronous = it refers to a feature, phenomenon or process that occurs at different time lines in different areas or across a region.

endemism =  it refers to biota. A situation in which a taxonomic group or a species is restricted to a particular geographic region or basin.

endorheic basin/system = a drainage basin that retains high amounts of water and is not connected to other basin. 

evaporite = a mineral that results from the concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution.

evaporitic basin = an aquatic basin that undergoes enhanced evaporation.

evaporitic sequence = a stratigraphical succession which follows a sequence of mineral precipitation due to evaporation. In marine environments, the first minerals that precipitates from a solution are carbonates, then gypsum, anhydrite, then halite and other salts.

exhumation = it refers to geology. It's the tectonic process through which a piece of crust or a rock formation is uplifted and brought to the surface.

fault = a rupture or disruptive area in the crust, marked by displacement and discontinuity of strata on either side of a particular plane.

fault scarp = the topographic expression or offset of a fault, where the ground surface in one side has shifted  vertically in relation to the other. It's characteristic to extensional regimes.

fault wedge = intersection of a fault line with another fault due to slipping. 

photic zone = the area from the surface of the seas or oceans penetrated by light. It can extend from few meters up to -200 m depth. Most marine organisms live here. 

geohazard = type of natural hazard that involve long-term or short-term geological processes. Salt related geohazards include landslides (both marine and terrestrial), salt caverns due to dissolving (natural and mining), cavern collapse, subsidence, etc.

gypsum = evaporitic mineral. It is a sulfate with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O.

halite = evaporitic mineral. Commonly known as rock salt or table, is a type of salt with the chemical formula NaCl.

ICDP = International Continental Scientific Drilling Program

IODP = International Ocean Discovery Program

karst = system of caves or caverns produced by water infiltration and circulation through rocks. It usually forms on carbonates and evaporites. 

lithology = it refers to rocks and sediments. It represents the physical characteristics visible in outcrops, cores or small samples.

lithosphere = the rigid outer layer of Earth, that includes the crust and parts of the upper mantle (i.e., the lithospheric mantle).

marine gateway = narrow area of a marine basin that allows connection and water exchange with another basin (e.g., Gibraltar strait).

orogen = mountain range. 

orogenesis = the tectonic process in which a crust fragment is folded and deformed by lateral compression to form a mountain range.

outburst = It refers to the aquatic domain. The rapid or sudden outflow of a basin caused by tectonic activity or the erosion of a sill.

phenotypic adaptation =  the totality of changes in the appearance of an organism as a result of genetic mutation induced by environmental conditions.

plate tectonics = the scientific theory that Earth's crust comprises a number of large tectonic plates and a number of smaller ones, that move one in report with the others. The earth's tectonic configuration varied through geological time, with crust being consumed or formed over the last almost four billion years.

restricted basin = basin with low water input and enhanced evaporation. 

rift = zone where the crust is being pulled apart and broken. Is characteristic to extensional areas/regimes, where continents are drifted  apart.

rheology = the response of rocks when force is applied. 

salt cavern = a cavern created artificially in salt for mining or depositing chemical substances.

salt giant = large scale evaporitic deposits formed through geological history.

salt tectonics = the totality of tectonic processes that are associated with salt and evaporitic deposits (including movement, geometries and secondary processes).

sinkhole = hole or depression caused by partial collapse of caverns. 

speciation = the biologic evolutionary process through which separate populations evolve to become distinct species. 

termohaline circulation =  It refers to marine or oceanic water. The movement of water driven by differences in temperature and salinity, which in turn affect density.

turnover = It refers to biota and biotic events.  The replacement of a species or group of animals with another new one, as consequence of important environmental and/or climatic changes.

weathering = the alteration of rocks, soils and minerals under the action of water, atmospheric exposure and biological organisms.

Wilson cycle =  tectonic model that describes the opening and closing of oceanic basins, under the subduction and divergence of tectonic plates during the assembly and disassembly of supercontinents.

Zechstein = major evaporitic unit of Late Permian age (Lopingian), located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the eastern England to northern Poland.