Mineralogy, geochemistry, and stable isotope characteristics of barite deposits from Wadi El Mingar, North Eastern Jordan
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... Ferruginous cement is found in an oxidizing environment. Minerals such as hematite indicate precipitation in an oxidizing environment [86][87][88][89]. As hematite coats grains, it forms a thin layer. ...
Petrographical characterization and field observations were caried out to evaluate Kamlial Formation in Bagh district, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Based on detailed petrography, the lithic arenite consisted of quartz (20–25%), feldspar (7–11%), rock fragments (20–37%), cementing materials (11–21%), and accessory minerals. Grains are mostly angular to subrounded and poorly to moderately sorted. The analysis revealed that the lithic arenite is mineralogically immature; also, the current activity during the time of deposition was low. Polycrystalline quartz indicates that the sandstone was derived from metamorphic source, while monocrystalline quartz indicates a granitic origin. Quartz having an angular shape suggests the source rock was near the depositional site, while quartz having a rounded shape represents long transportation. The presence of feldspar in the lithic arenite suggests the rocks were deposited at high relief or cold temperatures. Primary porosity in sandstone was reduced by calcite cements around the grain, while secondary porosity was developed by fracturing of quartz and feldspar. Tectonic uplift in the study area was demonstrated by fractured quartz and mica in thin sections. Field observations of various sedimentary structures were observed such as load casts, ripple marks, and mud cracks, etc. The presence of conglomerates and load casts in the study area indicates that the Kamlial sandstone was deposited by fluvial and shallow marine environment. Furthermore, the ripple marks indicate that the tidal flat environment controlled the deposition of the sediments.
This book contains includes contributions of all participants of the 5th Mediterranean International Conference of Pure & Applied Mathematics and Related Areas (MICOPAM 2022).
It is also available at the following link: https://micopamcom.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/proceedings-book-of-micopam-2022.pdf
The sulfur isotopic composition of dissolved sulfate in seawater has varied through time. Distinct variations and relatively high rates of change characterize certain time intervals. This allows for dating and correlation of sediments using sulfur isotopes. The variation in sulfur isotopes and the potential stratigraphic resolution of this isotope system is discussed and graphically displayed. New data are used to refine the previously published (Geologic Time Scale 2012) for the Paleocene and Eocene.
High-resolution mapping with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) of a section of the San Clemente fault, offshore Southern California, reveals the largest documented cold-seep-associated barite deposits discovered to date. Although barite deposits along this fault, north of the mapped area, have been observed and sampled before in submersible dives, this study reveals massive newly found outcrops. The high-resolution surveys resolve their small-scale morphology, their large geographical extent and the structural controls on their emplacement. Detailed bathymetry (1 m × 1 m × 0.25 m grid resolution) of a ∼12 km² area, ranging in water depths between 962 and 1,300 m and intersected by the fault, exhibits quasi-circular mounds of 10−30 m planar dimensions rising up to 11 m above the surrounding seafloor on a 30−45 m high and at least 1,100 m long ridge, and along truncated strata, but not along the main fault strand. Observations from a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) show that the mounds consist of steep sided dark-varnished blocks of barite. Active barite precipitation occurs as white friable spires emerging from the older deposits and as white porous precipitates filling fissures. Upward thinning spires and microbial mat occurrences atop the spires are consistent with aggradational growth due to precipitation from upward flowing solutions. Live Lamellibrachia tubeworms are found in association with the fissure-filling barite precipitates. Mapping surveys were also conducted along a short section of the San Clemente fault south of the Navy Fan. In addition, a 9 km² area along the San Diego Trough Fault south of the United States-Mexico border was mapped and visited in an ROV dive. In the three mapped regions sub-bottom chirp profiles indicate that often barite precipitation occurs where strata, truncated and uplifted by the fault, has thin or no sediment drape, allowing for Ba-rich solutions, that may have ascended through the main fault zone, to flow along bedding planes and mix with seawater sulfate at the seafloor interface. Despite the massive scale of the barite mounds, they are not resolvable in surface ship multibeam-generated bathymetry (25 m grid resolution). As only a few areas have been mapped at the high-resolution employed in this study, the full extent of these deposits along the San Clemente Fault and other faults remains unknown.
Ba-based ion interference with Eu in coal and coal combustion products during quadrupole-based inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry procedures is problematic. Thus, this paper proposes machine-learning-based prediction models for determination of the threshold value of Ba interference with Eu, which can be used to predict such interference in coal. The models are trained for Eu, Ba, Ba/Eu, and Ba interference with Eu. Under different user-defined parameters, different prediction models based on the corresponding model tree can be applied to Ba interference with Eu. We experimentally show the effectiveness of these different prediction models and find that, when the Ba/Eu value is less than 2950, the Ba-Eu interference prediction model is y=−0.18419411+0.00050737×x, 0<x<2950. Further, when the Ba/Eu value is between 2950 and 189,523, the Ba-Eu interference prediction model of y = 0.293982186 + 0.00000181729975 × x, 2950 < x < 189,523 yields the best result. Based on the optimal model, a threshold value of 363 is proposed; i.e., when the Ba/Eu value is less than 363, Ba interference with Eu can be neglected during Eu data interpretation. Comparison of this threshold value with a value proposed in earlier works reveals that the proposed prediction model better determines the threshold value for Ba interference with Eu.
The barite deposits that emerge as veins and lodes within or along the contact zones of recrystallized limestone and dolomite units of Cambrian Degirmentas Formation are of epigenetic character. Depositional styles, mineral paragenesis, host rock alteration styles, and high SrO contents of the barites suggest a hydrothermal origin for their formation. However, considering their rare earth element compositions, barite samples surround the field for seawaters when plotted on CeN/YbN-YbN and CeN/SmN-CeN/YbN diagrams. Fluid inclusion data obtained from the barites indicated a formation from a fluid with low salinity (0.9-1.6 wt.% NaCl eq.) at homogenization temperatures between 78 and 190 °C. Sulfur isotopic compositions of barites vary between + 32.2 and + 36.3%c, and their Sr/ Sr values range between 0.709885 and 0.749652. Depositional styles, mineral assemblage, trace element compositions, fluid inclusion data as well as δ³⁴S and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic data indicate a model in which hydrothermal fluids were possibly derived from a buried intrusion mixed with meteoric and marine waters, further interacting with the Precambrian-Phanerozoic metaclastic and Cambrian carbonate rocks to form barite deposits.
Mineral resources of Jordan were utilized by different civilizations since prehistoric time. The following review highlights important and strategic commodities that are found in a small country with a potential promising future. Jordan is rich in its diverse industrial rocks and mineral resources that are part of the whole stratigraphic sequence from the Precambrian basement complex to the Recent sediments. Such diversity of resources enables Jordan to be not only a host of some unlimited resources but also a natural geology museum. The known commodities include, among others, phosphates, bituminous marl (oil shale), tar sand, varicolored marbles, travertine, radioactive minerals, building and construction materials, clays and clay minerals, diatomaceous earth, porcelanite, Dead Sea brines, rock salt, chalk, limestone, gypsum, glass sand, basalt, pyroclastics, zeolites, granite, copper, manganese, gold, etc. Some of these commodities are unique and unusual in its mineralogy, chemistry, and origin. A novel geopolymerization process was developed in Jordan to produce green building materials (geopolymers) by using Jordanian kaolinite. Volkonskoites (Cr-rich smectite) of Jordan act as a sink for hazardous elements. Varicolored marbles of Jordan are considered a natural cement factory and are analogs of cementitious repositories with the highest alkaline circulating waters in the World. New minerals were reported for the first time, some of which are only known in meteorites. The unusual enrichment of the reduced sensitive elements (RSE) in the oil shale (similar to the source of Mississippi Valley-type deposits) makes it unique as a potential source of these strategic elements.
Barite (BaSO4) is a highly stable and widely-distributed mineral found in magmatic, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks of all ages, as well as in soils, aerosol dust, and extraterrestrial material. Barite can form in a variety of settings in the oceans (hydrothermal deposits, cold seeps, water column, or within sediments) and on the continents (soils, sulfidic springs and in the subsurface) when (1) two fluids mix – one containing barium and another containing sulfate, (2) sulfur is oxidized forming sulfate in a barium containing solution, or (3) barium or sulfate is concentrated in microenvironments where either sulfate or barium are already present. Hydrologic and biologic processes can therefore play key roles in the formation of barite and affect its geochemical composition. Characteristics of barite from various modern settings are identified here to serve as analogs for ancient systems, summarizing previous work and adding new details from the pelagic marine, hydrothermal, cold seep and continental setting. Radiogenic strontium in barite clearly identifies the source(s) of fluid forming barite with the most radiogenic values measured in continental sulfidic spring settings associated with a deep fluid component that interacts with ancient crustal rocks. Sulfur and oxygen isotopes can distinguish between sources of sulfate and identify settings where the influence of (bio)chemical processes such as sulfate reduction is prominent. There are no unique stable strontium isotopic signatures for barite formed in any of the settings investigated here, but Holocene coretop marine pelagic barite appears to have a constant offset from seawater of approximately −0.53‰ in coretop samples in contrast to the wide range of values in barite precipitated in other settings. Stable strontium mass dependent fractionation could be useful in understanding post-depositional and diagenetic processes such as authigenic precipitation and recrystallization.
We present the first multiple sulfur isotope study (³²S, ³³S, ³⁴S, ³⁶S) of bulk kerogen sulfur (KS) and disulfides (‘chromium-reducible sulfur’, CRS) from the oil shale of the Umm Rijam Chert-Limestone and Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation, Jordan (Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene, appr. 50–70 Ma).
Analysis of the sulfur isotopic composition of KS (δ³⁴SKS) shows values ranging from 0.3 to 17.9‰, which are ³⁴S-enriched compared to the δ³⁴SCRS ranging from −23.5 to −3.7‰. Values for CRS and KS are significantly ³⁴S-depleted compared to seawater sulfate sulfur which suggests a major input of early-diagenetic, microbially-generated sulfide. A minor contribution of assimilated seawater sulfate to KS is assumed. The ³⁴S-enrichment of KS compared to CRS can be partly explained by (1) sulfide oxidation to intermediate sulfur species prior to its incorporation into organic material, by (2) fractionations during organic sulfur generation, as well as by (3) a post-depositional timing of formation.
Additionally, we hypothesize, based on parallel depth trends of maturity parameters (e.g., vitrinite reflectance) and δ³⁴SCRS and δ³⁴SKS values, that the sulfur isotopic compositions were influenced by thermal maturation (catagenesis). We suggest that the CRS pool comprises a contribution of sulfide released during the thermal decomposition of KS.
Overall, our study highlights the importance of organic sulfur in sulfur isotopic studies and the potential of multiple sulfur isotope analyses in maturated sedimentary successions.
A sequence of andesitic to dacitic volcanic and volcano-sedimentary rocks from the Late Eocene in the central part of the Urumieh–Dokhtar Magmatic Arc (UDMA) hosts a number of barite occurrences. The Badroud barite deposit is economically important deposit in the study area. The petro-geochemical characteristics of the deposit indicate that the least-altered volcanic host rock was produced as orogenic volcanic rock in the continental margin arc setting. It displays characteristics of a high-K and calc-alkaline series. Mineralized host rock mostly consists of barite crystals, and subordinate quartz, calcite, gypsum, fluorite and rare pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, stibnite and cinnabar minerals. Petrographic studies revealed three types of barite. The early stage barite occurs as stockworks of large tabular and bladed crystals trending NW-SE in dextral strike-slip faults. The second stage barite precipitated as thick lensoid veins (50 × 3 m) of medium tabular crystals extending in a N-S direction. The third stage of barite mineralization occurs as thin acicular veins trending in a NW-SE direction. Chemically, the barite deposit is characterized by the low amounts of Sr, K, Ca and low Sr/Ba ratio. Fluid inclusion studies, applied to the first stage of bladed crystals of barite veinlets, show a high homogenization temperature of 256–338 °C and 8–13% (wt.) NaCl eq. salinity. Fluid inclusions in the second stage of barite mineralization are characterized by low salinity of 1–9% (wt.) NaCl eq. at a 160–214 °C homogenization temperature. The fluid inclusions occurring in the third stage of thin barite veins revealed high salinity of 19% (wt.) NaCl eq. with a 166–212 °C homogenization temperature. The fluid inclusion characteristics of the first stage barite show a hydrothermal origin with a deeper-seated source on the seafloor associated with a lower sequence of the Late Eocene felsic rock. The second stage barite, exposed beneath the upper sequence of Late Eocene andesite, was formed due to increased dilution, possibly with seawater. The third stage barite mineralization is associated with saline water and the interaction of fluid with volcanic and conglomerate host rocks. The obtained data show that the mineralization at Badroud barite deposit is similar to the Kuroko-type massive sulfide deposits in an arc setting.
Barite mineralization occurs at Chenarvardeh deposit as layers and lenses in Upper Eocene volcanic and pyroclastic rocks. The host rocks are intensely saussuritized in most places. Barite is accompanied by calcite, Mn-oxides, galena and malachite as subordinate minerals. The amount of Sr in barites is low and varies between 0.11 and 0.30 wt.%. The concentration of Rb, Zr, Y, Ta and Hf is also low (<5 ppm) in barite samples. The amount of total REEs (∑REE) is low in barites, ranging from 7.51 to 30.50 ppm. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns reveal LREE enrichment with respect to HREE, and positive Ce anomalies. Fluid inclusions are common in barite samples, being dominantly from liquid-rich two phase (L + V) type. Salinity values in fluid inclusions range from 9.41 to 18.69 wt.% NaCl equivalent with most frequent salinities falling in the range of 10–15 wt.% NaCl equivalent. Homogenization temperatures (Th) range between 160 and 220 °C, being the 180–200 °C range as the most common Th interval. A combination of factors, including geologic setting, host rock, mineral assemblages, REE geochemistry and fluid inclusion data are consistent with a submarine volcanic hydrothermal model for barite formation at the Chenarvardeh deposit. Mineral-forming fluids originated from solutions related to submarine hydrothermal activities deposited barite on seafloor as they encountered sulfate-bearing seawater.