Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Geology

International Journal of Speleology

Journal

Cave minerals

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Secondary Minerals From Salt Caves In The Atacama Desert (Chile): A Hyperarid And Hypersaline Environment With Potential Analogies To The Martian Subsurface, Jo De Waele, Cristina Carbone, Laura Sanna, Marco Vattano, Ermanno Galli, Francesco Sauro, Paolo Forti Jan 2017

Secondary Minerals From Salt Caves In The Atacama Desert (Chile): A Hyperarid And Hypersaline Environment With Potential Analogies To The Martian Subsurface, Jo De Waele, Cristina Carbone, Laura Sanna, Marco Vattano, Ermanno Galli, Francesco Sauro, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

Over the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have unveiled over 50 caves in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Many of these caves contain a variety of speleothems and minerals, some of which have rarely been observed within karst systems. Most of the secondary deposits in these caves are composed of halite, but also other halide, carbonate, sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate minerals have been found. Among the sixteen cave mineral species recognized, atacamite, darapskite, blödite, leonite, anhydrite, and especially antarcticite are worth mentioning. In one of the samples an …


Linking Mineral Deposits To Speleogenetic Processes In Cova Des Pas De Vallgornera (Mallorca, Spain), Bogdan P. Onac, Joan J. Fornós, Antoni Merino, Joaquín Ginés, Jacqueline Diehl May 2014

Linking Mineral Deposits To Speleogenetic Processes In Cova Des Pas De Vallgornera (Mallorca, Spain), Bogdan P. Onac, Joan J. Fornós, Antoni Merino, Joaquín Ginés, Jacqueline Diehl

International Journal of Speleology

Cova des Pas de Vallgornera (CPV) is the premier cave of the Balearic Archipelago. Over 74 km of passages develop within two carbonate lithofacies (reef front and back reef), which ultimately control the patterns of the cave and to some degree its mineral infilling. The diversity of speleothem-forming minerals is four times greater around or within hypogene-related features (vents, rims, cupolas), compared to any other vadose passages in the cave. The mineralogy of speleothems (crusts, nodules, crystals, earthy masses) associated with hypogene features in the seaward upper maze of Sector F is characterized by the presence of aragonite, ankerite, huntite, …


Mineralogy Of Iza Cave (Rodnei Mountains, N. Romania), Tudor Tămaş, Ferenc Kristály, Lucian Barbu-Tudoran Jan 2011

Mineralogy Of Iza Cave (Rodnei Mountains, N. Romania), Tudor Tămaş, Ferenc Kristály, Lucian Barbu-Tudoran

International Journal of Speleology

The secondary minerals from Iza Cave result from the interactions of karst water and/or cave atmosphere over a variety of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The cave passages expose at various extents Eocene limestones and conglomerates, Oligocene black shales, Upper Precambrian micaschists, marble and dolomitic marble and associated ore deposits.

Twelve secondary minerals identified in the cave (carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, oxides and hydroxides, and silicates) are presented in this study. Calcite, aragonite, gypsum, brushite and hydroxylapatite are the components of common speleothems in the limestone, dolomite and conglomerate areas of the cave. Ankerite crusts are related to areas with pyrite mineralization …


Minerals And Speleothems Of The József-Hegy Cave (Budapest, Hungary), Szabolcs Leél-Őssy, Gyöngyvér Szanyi, Gergely Surányi Jan 2011

Minerals And Speleothems Of The József-Hegy Cave (Budapest, Hungary), Szabolcs Leél-Őssy, Gyöngyvér Szanyi, Gergely Surányi

International Journal of Speleology

With the discovery of the József-hegy Cave, a cave of hydrothermal origin with an abundance of minerals unknown so far in Hungary came to light. Diversity and the frequency of the occurrence of crystals make this cave similar to the Lechuguilla Cave, even if the dimensions of the mineral precipitations and the passages do not compare in scale. The variety and mass of carbonates and sulphates are surprising. This paper describes the minerals and speleothems of the József-hegy Cave, their occurrence and genesis, including determined ages. The 41 U/Th measurements suggest that speleothems begun to develop in the upper level …


Vashegyite From Gaura Cu Muscă Cave (Locvei Mountains, Romania): A New And Rare Phosphate Occurrence, Bogdan P. Onac, Luminiţa Zaharia, Joe Kearns, Daniel Veres Jan 2006

Vashegyite From Gaura Cu Muscă Cave (Locvei Mountains, Romania): A New And Rare Phosphate Occurrence, Bogdan P. Onac, Luminiţa Zaharia, Joe Kearns, Daniel Veres

International Journal of Speleology

This study investigated the occurrence of vashegyite from a guano-rich deposit located in the Gaura cu Muscă Cave, Romania. Analytical methods used include optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron-microscopy (SEM), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), thermal investigations and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) analyses. Vashegyite occurs as friable, chalky white, irregular nodules of up to 2.5 cm in diameter, within a 15 cm thick sequence of organic and minerogenic sediments. The chemical structural formula is: (Al10.91Fe3+0.06Na0.1Ca0.02Mg0.08)Σ=11.17[(PO4)8.78(SiO4)0.056]Σ=8.83(OH) …


Identification Of Cave Minerals By Raman Spectroscopy: New Technology For Non-Destructive Analysis, William B. White Jan 2006

Identification Of Cave Minerals By Raman Spectroscopy: New Technology For Non-Destructive Analysis, William B. White

International Journal of Speleology

The identification of minerals from caves generally requires that samples be removed from the cave for analysis in the laboratory. The usual tools are X-ray powder diffraction, the optical microscope, and the scanning electron microscope. X-ray diffraction gives a definitive fingerprint by which the mineral can be identified by comparison with a catalog of reference patterns. However, samples must be ground to powder and unstable hydrated minerals may decompose before analysis is complete. Raman spectroscopy also provides a fingerprint useful for mineral identification but with the additional advantage that some a-priori interpretation of the spectra is possible (distinguishing carbonates from …


Minerogenesis Of Volcanic Caves Of Kenya, Paolo Forti, Ermanno Galli, Antonio Rossi Jan 2003

Minerogenesis Of Volcanic Caves Of Kenya, Paolo Forti, Ermanno Galli, Antonio Rossi

International Journal of Speleology

Kenya is one of the few countries in which karst cavities are scarce with respect to volcanic ones, which are widespread throughout the whole country. The great variability in lava composition allowed the evolution of very different cavities, some of which are amongst the largest lava tubes of the world. As normal for such a kind of cave, the hosted speleothems and cave minerals are scarce but important from the minerogenetic point of view. Anyway up to present no specific mineralogical research have been carried out therein. During the 8th International Symposium on Volcanospeleology, held in Nairobi in February 1998, …


New Rare Cave Minerals From The Perolas-Santana Karst System (São Paulo State, Brazil), Paolo Forti, Ermanno Galli, Antonio Rossi Jan 2000

New Rare Cave Minerals From The Perolas-Santana Karst System (São Paulo State, Brazil), Paolo Forti, Ermanno Galli, Antonio Rossi

International Journal of Speleology

The Perolas-Santana karst system (São Paulo State, Brazil) has been partially studied from the mineralogical point of view. The present paper will contribute to the knowledge of the minerals in these caves, describing the occurrence of euhedral celestite crystals and of a rather rare mineral for a cavern environment: lithiophorite. Thanks to these new discoveries the Perolas-Santana karst system becomes one of the most important in Brazil from a mineralogical point of view. Finally, the result of the chemical analyses carried out on this newly discovered Monoxyhydroxide put in evidence a zonation in the distribution of the different elements which …


Chemical Deposits In Volcanic Caves Of Argentina, Carlos Benedetto, Paolo Forti, Ermanno Galli, Antonio Rossi Jan 1998

Chemical Deposits In Volcanic Caves Of Argentina, Carlos Benedetto, Paolo Forti, Ermanno Galli, Antonio Rossi

International Journal of Speleology

During the last Conference of the FEALC (Speleological Federation of Latin America and Caribbean Islands) which was held in the town of Malargue, Mendoza, in February 1997, two volcanic caves not far from that town were visited and sampled for cave mineral studies. The first cave (Cueva del Tigre) opens close to the Llancanelo lake, some 40 kms far from Malargue and it is a classical lava tube. Part of the walls and of the fallen lava blocks are covered by white translucent fibres and grains. The second visited cave is a small tectonic cavity opened on a lava bed …