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Location: 5 km S from Whitby, United Kingdom
Scarborough Office Resolution House Lake ViewScarboroughUnited KingdomYO11 3ZB
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The deposit is part of the Late Permian evaporite succession on the western edge of the Zechstein Basin, which represents multiple influxes and subsequent evaporation of seawater in a palaeo-depression with restricted connection to the Zechstein Sea. This cyclical process of basin flooding and evaporation produced four major evaporite cycles (termed Z1 to Z4, with Z1 being the basal unit) and several locally developed, minor evaporitic cycles. Most of the original evaporitic sediments have undergone subsequent alteration that is most commonly from: limestone to dolomite, gypsum to anhydrite and anhydrite to polyhalite. The polyhalite mineralisation is hosted within the Z2 Fordon Evaporite sequence, a significant basin-infilling cycle. This sequence varies between 30 and 200 m in thickness across the project area, thickening to the east, towards the centre of the basin. The deposit is a stratiform sedimentary unit displaying significant lateral continuity. It is composed of two polyhalitedominant horizons: the Shelf Seam and the Basin Seam. The Shelf Seam exists on the basin margin and thickens in the central part of the project area before pinching out to the east. It is underlain by intergrown halite, anhydrite and polyhalite, and is overlain by anhydrite. On a smaller scale, the deposit is modelled as a series of laterally continuous units within the Shelf Seam, potentially representing variations in the seawater chemistry and depositional environment at the time. Three zones of high-grade polyhalite are distinguished, separated by anhydrite-dominated bands and these have been termed A, B, and D respectively. The Basin Seam is deeper and bound by halite; it terminates against the base of the palaeo-ramp to the west and extends out to the east under the North Sea.The Basin Seam is one of two high-grade polyhalite seams within the Woodsmith deposit. It is deeper than the Shelf Seam, is bound by halite, and terminates against the base of the palaeoramp to the west and extends out to the east under the North Sea.
