Abstract:In recent years, Shandong Institute of Geological Sciences has made great progress in rock salt prospecting in Shanxian county in Shandong province.. It is predicted that total resources of rock salt deposit will exceed 24.2 billion tons. Shanxian rock salt deposit is located in the south of Huanggang subdepression. The rock salt deposit is located in the middle part of Dawenkou formation of Guanzhuang group in Paleogene. The lithology is a shallow lacustrine sedimentary formation of dark gray mudstone and interbedded stone and salt. The occurrence form of rock salt deposit is simple. It occurs in layers with stable occurrence. Its strike is close to EW direction and inclines to S direction with gentle dip angle. There are 35 layers of exposed rock salt ore in the area. The average thickness of single ore bed is 0.82~32.16m, cumulative average thickness is 240.41m, and average grade of NaCl is 38.91%~90.18%. Through comprehensive study on geological characteristics of rock salt deposit, the shape, occurrence, scale, distribution, thickness,ore characteristics and geophysical characteristics of the rock salt deposit in Shanxian county have been identified. According to genetic types of the deposits, combining with characteristics of rock salt deposit, it is regarded that strata, geophysics and occurrence of ore bodies are main prospecting indicators. There is a large metallogenic potential in the southeast of the study area.