scholarly journals Amethyst occurrences in Tertiary volcanic rocks of Greece: mineralogical and genetic implications

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 477 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Voudouris ◽  
I. Psimis ◽  
C. Mavrogonatos ◽  
C. Kanellopoulos ◽  
M. Kati ◽  
...  

Epithermal-altered volcanic rocks in Greece host gem-quality amethyst veins in association with various silicates, carbonates, oxides, sulfides and halides. Host rocks are Oligocene to recent calc-alkaline to shoshonitic lavas and pyroclastics of intermediate- to acid composition. The amethyst-bearing veins occur in the periphery of porphyry-type and/or high-sulfidation epithermal mineralized centers in northern Greece (e.g. Sapes, Kirki, Kornofolia/Soufli, Lesvos island) and on Milos island in the active Aegean Volcanic Arc. Hydrothermal alteration around the quartz veins includes sericitic, K-feldspar (adularia), argillic, propylitic and zeolitic types. Precipitation of amethyst in the northern Greece occurrences, took place during the final stages of the magmatic-hydrothermal activity from near-neutral to alkaline fluids, as indicated by the presence of gangue adularia, calcite, smectite, chlorite, sericite, pyrite, zeolites (laumontite, heulandite, clinoptilolite), analcime and minor amounts of barite, halite, epidote and fluorite in the quartz veins. Amethyst at Milos Island (Chondro Vouno and Kalogries-Vani areas), is accompanied by barite, smectite and lepidocrocite. Colloform-crustiform banding with alternations of amethyst, chalcedony and/or carbonates is a common characteristic of the studied amethyst-bearing veins. Fluid inclusion- and mineralogical data suggest that the studied amethyst were formed at: 174-246 °C (Sapes area), 100-175 °C (Kirki and Kornofolia areas) and 223-234°C (Lesvos island). The amethyst formation requires oxidizing conditions and is probably the result of mixing between meteoric or seawater with upwelling hydrothermal fluids. The involvement of seawater in the studied mineralization is supported by the presence of halite and abundant barite in the veins. Finally, the studied amethyst deposits should be evaluated as potential gemstone sources in Greece.

Minerals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Voudouris ◽  
Vasilios Melfos ◽  
Constantinos Mavrogonatos ◽  
Alexandre Tarantola ◽  
Jens Gӧtze ◽  
...  

Epithermally altered volcanic rocks in Greece host amethyst-bearing veins in association with various silicates, carbonates, oxides and sulfides. Host rocks are Oligocene to Pleistocene calc-alkaline to shoshonitic lavas and pyroclastics of intermediate to acidic composition. The veins are integral parts of high to intermediate sulfidation epithermal mineralized centers in northern Greece (e.g., Kassiteres–Sapes, Kirki, Kornofolia/Soufli, Lesvos Island) and on Milos Island. Colloform–crustiform banding with alternations of amethyst, chalcedony and/or carbonates is a common characteristic of the studied amethyst-bearing veins. Hydrothermal alteration around the quartz veins includes sericitic, K-feldspar (adularia), propylitic and zeolitic types. Precipitation of amethyst took place from near-neutral to alkaline fluids, as indicated by the presence of various amounts of gangue adularia, calcite, zeolites, chlorite and smectite. Fluid inclusion data suggest that the studied amethyst was formed by hydrothermal fluids with relatively low temperatures (~200–250 °C) and low to moderate salinity (1–8 wt % NaCl equiv). A fluid cooling gradually from the external to the inner parts of the veins, possibly with subsequent boiling in an open system, is considered for the amethysts of Silver Hill in Sapes and Kassiteres. Amethysts from Kornofolia, Megala Therma, Kalogries and Chondro Vouno were formed by mixing of moderately saline hydrothermal fluids with low-salinity fluids at relatively lower temperatures indicating the presence of dilution processes and probably boiling in an open system. Stable isotope data point to mixing between magmatic and marine (and/or meteoric) waters and are consistent with the oxidizing conditions required for amethyst formation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Win Khant ◽  
I Wayan Warmada ◽  
Arifudin Idrus ◽  
Lucas Donny Setijadji ◽  
Koichiro Watanabe

The Soripesa prospect area is located at Maria village, Wawo district, Bima region in the eastern part of Sumbawa Island, Indonesia. This area is a part of Cenozoic Calc-alkaline volcanic inner Banda- Sunda Arc. There are five main polymetallic epithermal quartz veins in the Soripesa prospect area, namely, Rini vein, Jambu air vein, Dollah vein,Merpati vein, and Arif vein. The dominant lithology is a lithic-crystal tuff of andesitic and dacitic composition and bedded limestone. Major oxides and trace elements were analyzed by using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) to identify the host rock geochemistry. The main veins are hosted by andesitic and andesitic/ basaltic volcanic host rocks. Major elements compositions are affected by alteration. Based on the trace element data, host rocks of all veins were formed in the volcanic arc basalt (VAB) and island arc basalt (IAB) tectonic settings. Host rocks of Rini vein contain higher amount of precious and base metal elements (Zn, Cu, Pb, and Ag.etc.) than those of other host rocks. Keywords: Soripesa prospect area, lithology, tectonic setting, mineralization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (12) ◽  
pp. 1093-1108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Lafrance

The Larder Lake – Cadillac deformation zone (LLCDZ) is one of two major, auriferous, deformation zones in the southern Abitibi subprovince of the Archean Superior Province. It hosts the Cheminis and the giant Kerr Addison – Chesterville deposits within a strongly deformed band of Fe-rich tholeiitic basalt and komatiite of the Larder Lake Group (ca. 2705 Ma). The latter is bounded on both sides by younger, less deformed, Timiskaming turbidites (2674–2670 Ma). The earliest deformation features are F1 folds affecting the Timiskaming rocks, which formed either during D1 extensional faulting or during early D2 north–south shortening related to the opening and closure, respectively, of the Timiskaming basin. Continued shortening during D2 imbricated the older volcanic rocks and turbidites and produced regional F2 folds with an axial planar S2 cleavage. D2 deformation was partitioned into the weaker band of volcanic rocks, producing the strong S2 foliation, L2 stretching lineation, and south-side-up shear sense indicators, which characterize the LLCDZ. Gold is present in quartz–carbonate veins in deformed fuchsitic komatiites (carbonate ore) and turbiditic sandstone (sandstone-hosted ore), and in association with disseminated pyrite in altered Fe-rich tholeiitic basalts (flow ore). All host rocks underwent strong mass gains in CO2, S, K2O, Ba, As, and W, during sericitization, carbonatization, and sulphidation of the host rocks, suggesting that they interacted with the same hydrothermal fluids. Textural relationships between alteration minerals and S2 cleavage indicate that mineralization is syn-cleavage. Thus, gold was deposited as hydrothermal fluids migrated upward along the LLCDZ during contractional, D2 south-side-up shearing. The gold zones were subsequently modified during D3 reactivation of the LLCDZ as a dextral transcurrent fault zone.


2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Foteini Aravani ◽  
Lambrini Papadopoulou ◽  
Vasileios Melfos ◽  
Triantafillos Soldatos ◽  
Triantafillia Zorba ◽  
...  

The volcanic rocks of Kornofolia area, Evros, host a number of epithermal-type veins. The host rocks are Oligocene calc-alkaline andesites to rhyo-dacites. The andesites form hydrothermal breccias and show hydrothermal alteration. The veins comprise mainly silica polymorphs such as quartz, chalcedony and three types of opal (milky white, transparent and green). Amethyst also forms in veins at the same area. Apart from the silica polymorphs, the veins are accompanied by calcite and zeolites. The main aim of this study is the characterization of the silica polymorphs. Using FT-IR analyses, variations in the crystal structure of the three opals were recognized. The green opal is found to be more amorphous than the other two types. Fluid-inclusion measurements were performed in calcite and were compared with amethyst from previous studies. The Th is between 121-175 °C and the Te between -22.9 and -22.4 °C. The salinities range from 0.9 to 4.5 wt % NaCl equiv.


Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingyou Feng ◽  
Tian Liu ◽  
Tong Lin ◽  
Xiaohong Liu ◽  
Ningxin Li ◽  
...  

The Carboniferous Batamayineishan Formation of the Kelameili Gas Field is a specific weathered crust-related volcanic reservoir that has a significant production rate in the Junggar Basin, Northwestern China, attributed to debatable processes of fluid evolution. The results suggest that various types of fluids occurring in volcanic rocks lead to the filling of quartz and calcite in fractures and their associated alteration haloes. The silica that formed quartz veins was mainly derived from deep hydrothermal fluids, while the carbon dioxide that formed calcite veins originated from sources characterized by mixing and alteration of deep hydrothermal and hydrocarbon fluids. Siliceous hydrothermal fluids rich in sulphur dioxide and other volatile components were driven by a pressure gradient and buoyancy, and circulated both laterally and vertically along the fractures, forming quartz veins and tension fractures under different temperature conditions. Moreover, changes in salinity, pressure, and carbon dioxide of deep fluids, varying from acidic to weakly alkaline, resulted in earlier calcite precipitation in contraction fractures and weathered fractures. Tectonic uplift resulted in the long-term exposure of volcanic rocks, where fresh water mixed with the partially alkaline fluid escaping the basin to form calcite cements, thus retaining the characteristics of a seepage environment in the weathered fractures. Structural fractures occurred due to tectonic movements during the burial period. Filling and leakage of hydrocarbons caused pore fluids to convert from acidic to alkaline, precipitating late sparry calcite in dissolution fractures. Late hydrothermal fluid metasomatism, brought about by infiltration into the permeable zone, caused partial dissolution of local calcite along cleavage cracks.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (Special-Issue1) ◽  
pp. 719-726
Author(s):  
Sayyed Roshan ◽  
Ali Khan Nasr Esfahani

The study area is located in south and southeast of Beroni Village. It contains volcanic rocks including andesitic-basaltic, pyroxene-bearing andesite, andesite, dacite, rhyodacite, rhyolites and Eocene-Oligocene ignimbrites. The volcanic rocks are cut by an intrusive mass with great spreading in the region. According to lithological studies, the calc-alkaline magmas in continental margin arcs are comprised of mantle and fluid crust. The basic elements in the volcanic rocks were studied in terms of petrological indices. According to the results, the metaluminous rocks underwent crustal contamination. Due to chemical reactions between the hydrothermal solution and volcanic host rocks, hydrothermal solutions in volcanic rocks penetrate the surrounding silica rocks and thus some elements such as zinc and barium diffuse in the rocks. In addition, calcium, magnesium and iron have been drawn inwards from the surrounding rocks causing lateral segregation.


Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarantola ◽  
Voudouris ◽  
Eglinger ◽  
Scheffer ◽  
Trebus ◽  
...  

The Trikorfo area (Thassos Island, Rhodope massif, Northern Greece) represents a unique mineralogical locality with Mn-rich minerals including kyanite, andalusite, garnet and epidote. Their vivid colors and large crystal size make them good indicators of gem-quality materials, although crystals found up to now are too fractured to be considered as marketable gems. The dominant lithology is represented by a garnet–kyanite–biotite–hematite–plagioclase ± staurolite ± sillimanite paragneiss. Thermodynamic Perple_X modeling indicates conditions of ca. 630–710 °C and 7.8–10.4 kbars. Post-metamorphic metasomatic silicate and calc-silicate (Mn-rich)-minerals are found within (i) green-red horizons with a mineralogical zonation from diopside, hornblende, epidote and grossular, (ii) mica schists containing spessartine, kyanite, andalusite and piemontite, and (iii) weakly deformed quartz-feldspar coarse-grained veins with kyanite at the interface with the metamorphic gneiss. The transition towards brittle conditions is shown by Alpine-type tension gashes, including spessartine–epidote–clinochlore–hornblende-quartz veins, cross-cutting the metamorphic foliation. Kyanite is of particular interest because it is present in the metamorphic paragenesis and locally in metasomatic assemblages with a large variety of colors (zoned blue to green/yellow-transparent and orange). Element analyses and UV-near infrared spectroscopy analyses indicate that the variation in color is due to a combination of Ti4+–Fe2+, Fe3+ and Mn3+ substitutions with Al3+. Structural and mineralogical observations point to a two-stage evolution of the Trikorfo area, where post-metamorphic hydrothermal fluid circulation lead locally to metasomatic reactions from ductile to brittle conditions during Miocene exhumation of the high-grade host-rocks. The large variety of mineral compositions and assemblages points to a local control of the mineralogy and fO2 conditions during metasomatic reactions and interactions between hydrothermal active fluids with surrounding rocks.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 2106-2115 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. V. Gregory Lynch

Kalzas is a sheeted vein and stockwork wolframite deposit, crosscutting continental margin sedimentary rocks of the Proterozoic Windermere Supergroup in central Yukon. Mineralization is synchronous with Cretaceous post-tectonic granites of the Selwyn Plutonic Suite.Parallel sets of planar quartz veins contain coarse euhedral wolframite and are generally oriented perpendicular to southeast-plunging fold axes. Widespread alteration of the host rocks and intense stockwork veining surround the veins. Alteration and mineralization show a distinct concentric zonation across a 2.5 km long southeast-trending oval. The core zone is characterized by orthoclase contained within quartz–tourmaline–wolframite veins. Minor phases include apatite, molybdenite, bismuthinite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite. Host rocks are prevasively tourmalinized and sericitized. Hydrothermal alteration here at the core of the system overprints early biotitization of the host rocks. The biotitization appears to have been the result of earlier contact metamorphism from a hidden pluton situated beneath the deposit that converted the chloritic groundmass of the metasediments to biotite. At the fringe of wolframite mineralization, cassiterite occurs with quartz, muscovite, and tourmaline, whereas orthoclase is distinctly lacking. The outer periphery of the concentrically zoned sequence features pervasive sericitization, disseminated pyrite, and the disappearance of tourmaline. Here, quartz veins are barren except for minor galena.Three main stages mark the mineralogical evolution of the deposit: (1) early biotitization of the chloritic host rocks in the core area; (2) quartz-dominated veining with internally complex timing relations, hydrothermal alteration, and zoning; and (3) carbonate veining and replacement of wolframite by scheelite.Fluid inclusions within quartz are dominated by H2O and contain variable amounts of CO2 as well as minor CH4 and NaCl. The CO2 content ranges from approximately 0 to 6 mol%. The fluids are generally dilute but locally contain as much as 7 wt.% NaCl equivalent. Homogenization temperatures are variable: for quartz, 160–340 °C; for cassiterite, 280–350 °C; and for apatite, 220–360 °C. Minimum hydrothermal pressures at the time of mineralization are estimated to have been in the range 300–600 bar (1 bar = 100 kPa). Fluctuations in pressure with cooling appear to have resulted in CO2 immiscibility and the formation of late-stage carbonates at the termination of hydrothermal activity.


1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1699-1730 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Barrett ◽  
W. H. MacLean ◽  
S. Cattalani ◽  
L. Hoy ◽  
G. Riverin

The Ansil massive sulfide deposit occurs at the contact of the underlying Northwest Rhyolite and the overlying Rusty Ridge Andesite, in the lower part of the Central Mine sequence of the Blake River Group. The orebody, which is roughly ellipsoidal in outline and up to 200 m × 150 m across, contained reserves of 1.58 Mt of massive sulfide grading 7.2% Cu, 0.9% Zn, 1.6 g/t Au, and 26.5 g/t Ag. Production began in 1989. Least-altered host rocks are low-K basaltic andesites and low-K rhyolites. These rocks have Zr/Y ratios of ~5 and LaN/YbN ratios of ~2.3, typical of tholeiitic volcanic rocks, although their major-element chemistry is transitional between tholeiitic and calc-alkaline volcanic rocks.The Ansil deposit, which dips ~50° east, is a single orebody comprising two main massive sulfide lenses (up to ~35 m thick) connected laterally via a thinner blanket of massive sulfides, with thin discontinuous but conformable massive magnetite units at the base and top of the orebody. Sulfide ore consists of massive to banded pyrrhotite–chalcopyrite. In the downplunge lens, up to 10 m of massive magnetite are capped by up to 10 m of massive sulfide. Finely banded cherty tuff, with sphalerite–pyrite–chalcopyrite, forms a discontinuous fringe to the deposit.The two main lenses of massive sulfide have the highest contents of Cu, Ag, and Au and are thought to have formed in areas of major hydrothermal input. Altered feeder zones contain either chlorite + chalcopyrite + pyrrhotite ± magnetite, or chlorite + magnetite ± sulfides. Footwall mineralization forms semiconformable zones ~5–10 m thick that directly underlie the orebody and high-angle pipelike zones that extend at least 50 m into the footwall. Ti–Zr–Al plots indicate that almost all altered footwall rocks were derived from a homogeneous rhyolite precursor. Hanging-wall andesites were also altered. Despite some severe alteration, all initial volcanic rock compositions can be readily identified, and thus mass changes can be calculated. Silica has been both significantly added or removed from the footwall, whereas K has been added except in feeder pipes. Oxygen-isotope compositions up to at least 50 m into the hanging wall and footwall are typically depleted in δ18O by 2–6‰. These rocks have gained Fe + Mg and lost Si. Altered samples in general range from light-rare-earth-element (REE) depleted to light-REE enriched, although some samples exhibit little REE modification despite strong alkali depletion. Mineralized volcanic rocks immediately below the orebody are enriched in Eu (as are some Cu-rich sulfides in the orebody).Contact and petrographic relations generally suggest that the main zone of massive magnetite formed by replacement of cp–po-rich sulfides, although local relations are ambiguous. Magnetite formation may reflect waning hydrothermal activity, during which fluids mixed with seawater and became cooler and more oxidized. Cu-rich feeder pipes that cut magnetite-rich footwall indicate a renewal of Cu-sulfide mineralization after magnetite deposition. Chloritic zones with disseminated sulfides occur up to a few hundred metres above the orebody, attesting to continuing hydrothermal activity.


2004 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 474 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Papoulis ◽  
P. Tsolis-Katagas ◽  
C. Katagas

Zunyite [Ali3SÌ5C>2o(OH,F)i8CI], an extremely rare mineral, was found as an accessory mineral in highly altered rhyolitic rocks at Kefalos, southwestern Kos, and in a completely kaolinized rhyolitic dyke at Asfendiou, northeastern Kos. It is associated with dickite, kaolinite, quartz and minor pyrophyllite. Kos Island contains both Tertiary and Quaternary volcanic rocks. Zunyite has been identified by XRD and studied by SEM, EDS, Raman spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. The presence of zunyite, in the highly altered samples is significant for the determination of the conditions of the hydrothermal alteration that took place. Zunyite crystals, are up to 90 pm in diameter but usually are less than 10 pm; the crystals are partly covered by kaolinite layers. EDX analyses on the surface of zunyite revealed AI2O3/S1O2 values raging from 2.6 to 2.7. The occurrence of zunyite suggests incorporation of hydrothermal fluids rich in F" and CI", thus indicating contamination by seawater


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