The deposits of Permian salt, anhydrite, and potash which occur in the southwestern Mid-Continent region are of considerable importance from both the economic and the scientific viewpoints. Although their presence has been known and their substance mined for years, there is no available comprehensive account of their occurrence and origin. It has been decided that a section of the Permian Volume be given over to a discussion of problems coming under the above title. This note is a report of progress on the preparation of the section on evaporites.

Procedure to date has been as follows. All pertinent articles on the subject at hand have been read and summarized by the writer of this note; these summaries have been assembled and synthesized; and a number of copies of the assembled summaries have been made. It is now hoped that all geologists interested in this subject will procure copies of the digested abstracts, read them with care, and then let the present writer have their ideas, opinions, suggestions, hypotheses, theories, recommendations, and criticism in general. The purpose of all this will be, first, to summarize accurately the occurrence of Permian saline residues, and second, to test the published theories and hypotheses of evaporite formation against the facts as they are known by qualified workers in the field. If th theories now in existence explain everything satisfactorily, it will be worth while to know that; if not, then an attempt will be made to evolve something more generally applicable. The ultimate report will be the result of cooperation on the part of many geologists interested in evaporites. It is hoped that the report can be completed in a few months.

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