Flowage in Rock Salt at Lyons, Kansas

Abstract

In the salt mine of the American Salt Company at Lyons, Kansas, flow of salt in pillars is expressed by buckling and fracturing in the floor. Deformation in the salt floor is facilitated by a lubricating shale layer beneath, which permits sliding of the base of the spreading pillars toward rooms and crosscuts, thus exerting a lateral force on the thin salt layer in the floor.