Dissolution-precipitation-driven upward migration of a salt crust

Abstract

Salt crusts forming at the surface of a porous medium can dynamically evolve with crust displacements leading to the formations of domes and blisters or simply to the upward migration of the crust. However, the mechanisms explaining the displacements are unclear. It has been conjectured that they could be related to dissolution precipitation phenomena and/or to mechanical effects associated with the concept of crystallization pressure. We present a simple experiment where the crust upward migration is significant and can be entirely explained from the consideration of dissolution-precipitation phenomena. Equations governing the crust displacement are derived, leading to quite good agreement with the experimental results.