Ancient ‘salt mountains’ in southern Australia once created refuges for early life

By Rachelle Kernen, Research Fellow, Geology, University of Adelaide
Kathryn Amos, Professor, Geology, University of Adelaide

Salt is an essential nutrient for the human body. But hundreds of millions of years before the first humans, salt minerals once shaped entire landscapes. They even determined where early life on Earth could thrive.

Deep in Earth’s past, over millions of years, ancient seas evaporated, leaving behind thick layers of salt. These were eventually buried and turned into rock. These enormous layers of buried rock salt move slowly over time, deforming other layers of rock around them and creating “salt mountains” at Earth’s surface.

Our new research, published…

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