Persistent lack of brine consistent with faults not breaching the mud sealing the evaporites

What is it about?

Many of the deeps along the Red Sea host brine layers but others do not. Our work over Thetis Deep in 2005 with a CTD and geophysical methods failed to find a brine layer there. The study of Pierret et al. is significant because their geochemical study suggests that the deep has persistently lacked a brine layer. We have suggested that this state may have arisen because Thetis Deep has subdued boundary wall faults and movements on them have failed to breach the layer of hemipelagic sediment sealing the surrounding evaporites. The presence or absence of brine layers in the Red Sea deeps may thus at least in part be caused by structural effects.

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