Richton salt dome, located approximately eighteen miles east of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in the southeastern portion of Township 5 North, Range 10 West, and the northeastern portion of Township 4 North, Range 10 West, Perry County, is recognized as the shallowest and largest of the piercement salt diapirs in Mississippi. Confirmed by core hole evaluation during October 1944, the diapir has subsequently been evaluated by thirty-five crestal (cap-rock) tests and four flank tests. The top of caprock penetrates as shallow as 269 feet subsea depth, and the top of the salt penetrates as shallow as 494 feet subsea depth. During the late 1970's and early 1980's, Richton dome was evaluated as a potential site for the storage of high- level radioactive wastes, and a large amount of data was developed and assimilated relating to this potential use.
OFFICE OF GEOLOGY: S. Cragin Knox Stephen L. Ingram, Sr. Jack S. Moody Stanley C. Thieling
OFFICE OF POLLUTION CONTROL: Richard B. Ingram Roy Geoghegan
OFFICE OF LAND & WATER RESOURCES: David L. Hardin, Jr. James H. Hoffmann Stephen P. Jennings Lindsey Stewart
