Interpreting evaporite texture -- Depositional chemistry and hydrology -- Sabkhas, saline mudflats and pans -- Subaqueous salts: salinas and perennial lakes -- Ancient basins and stratigraphic evolution -- Salt tectonics -- Karst, breccia, nodules and cement: Pointers to vanished evaporites -- Burial hydrology and chemistry -- Halotolerant life in feast or famine (a source of hydrocarbons and a fixer of metals) -- Oil and gas associations -- Evaporites as exploited mineral resources -- Solution mining and cavern use. The monograph offers a comprehensive discussion of the role of evaporites in hydrocarbon generation and trapping. For the first time, diverse knowledge on exploitable salts has been assembled and organized, along with a summary of evaporate karst hazards as well as a summary of exploitative methods and pitfalls in dealing with evaporites in conventional and solution mining. Written by a field specialist in research and exploration, the book presents a comprehensive synthesis of the low temperature realm of evaporite evolution. It is aimed for earth science professionals, sedimentologists, oil and gas explorers, mining geologists, as well as environmental geologists.