Minerals cave, Irazú volcano, Costa Rica: description, mineralogy and origin

 

محفوظ في:
التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
المؤلفون: Ulloa, Andrés, CamposFernández, Cristian S., Rojas, Leonardo
التنسيق: artículo original
الحالة:Versión publicada
تاريخ النشر:2025
الوصف:Two caves located on the NW sector of the main crater of Irazú volcano are described for the first time. The caves, called Mucolitos and Minerales, are located at the base of the landslide t on December 8th, 1994, and are found in pyroclastic rocks with intense hydrothermal alteration. We suggest that both caves are associated with spaces between blocks in block slide with stepped surface and this mechanism is proposed as new vulcanospeleological me- chanism. We collected twenty samples which were analyzed based on x-ray diffractometry studies and their physical properties. Twenty one differents minerals corresponding to twenty sulfates and one native element were identified. Five of these minerals are reported for the first time in worldwide caves (aplowite CoSO4•4H2O, boyleite (Zn, Mg) SO4∙4H2O, ferrinatrite Na3Fe(SO4)3•3H2O, magnesiocopiapite MgFe+34 (SO4)6(OH)2•20H2O and wupatkiitea (Co,Mg, Ni)Al2(SO4)4•22H2O). The cave presents different speleothemes, the crust is the most common one, but also stalactites, stalagmites and geysermites are present. In both caves, the presence of snottites formations (extremophile bacteria colonies) was identified. We propose four principals mineralogenic mechanisms for the formation of these minerals, which correspond to degassing, solubilization alteration and dehydratation. The influence of biogenic activity in the precipitation of some minerals is also suggested.
البلد:Portal de Revistas UCR
المؤسسة:Universidad de Costa Rica
Repositorio:Portal de Revistas UCR
اللغة:Español
OAI Identifier:oai:archivo.portal.ucr.ac.cr:article/12242
الوصول للمادة أونلاين:https://archivo.revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/geologica/article/view/12242
كلمة مفتاحية:irazú volcano
costa rica
volcanic caves
mineralogy
sulfates
vulcanospeleology
snottite
volcán irazú
cuevas volcánicas
mineralogía sulfatos
vulcanoespeleología
mucolitos