Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface
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 kar...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d2826e72343e4b88ad58d1017ed7299c 2023-05-15T13:46:45+02:00 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 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 https://doaj.org/article/d2826e72343e4b88ad58d1017ed7299c EN eng University of South Florida Libraries http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7/ https://doaj.org/toc/0392-6672 https://doaj.org/toc/1827-806X doi:10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 0392-6672 1827-806X https://doaj.org/article/d2826e72343e4b88ad58d1017ed7299c International Journal of Speleology, Vol 46, Iss 1, Pp 51-66 (2017) cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 2022-12-31T05:15:35Z 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 unknown Ca-Sr-bearing chloride mineral has also been discovered, but it has not been possible to carry out detailed mineralogical analyses. These often-rare minerals have formed in this region due to the very extreme hyperarid and salt-rich environment. This research reports the mineralogical results and proposes the genetical mechanisms leading to the formation of antarcticite, powdery anhydrite, and the paragenesis of the halite-darapskite-blödite. This study also shows that Atacama caves may be excellent analogues to study weathering processes and subsurface secondary minerals in hyperarid and hypersaline environments on Mars. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles International Journal of Speleology 46 1 51 66 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Geology QE1-996.5 Jo De Waele Cristina Carbone Laura Sanna Marco Vattano Ermanno Galli Francesco Sauro Paolo Forti Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface |
topic_facet |
cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
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 unknown Ca-Sr-bearing chloride mineral has also been discovered, but it has not been possible to carry out detailed mineralogical analyses. These often-rare minerals have formed in this region due to the very extreme hyperarid and salt-rich environment. This research reports the mineralogical results and proposes the genetical mechanisms leading to the formation of antarcticite, powdery anhydrite, and the paragenesis of the halite-darapskite-blödite. This study also shows that Atacama caves may be excellent analogues to study weathering processes and subsurface secondary minerals in hyperarid and hypersaline environments on Mars. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jo De Waele Cristina Carbone Laura Sanna Marco Vattano Ermanno Galli Francesco Sauro Paolo Forti |
author_facet |
Jo De Waele Cristina Carbone Laura Sanna Marco Vattano Ermanno Galli Francesco Sauro Paolo Forti |
author_sort |
Jo De Waele |
title |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface |
title_short |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface |
title_full |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface |
title_fullStr |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface |
title_full_unstemmed |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface |
title_sort |
secondary minerals from salt caves in the atacama desert (chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the martian subsurface |
publisher |
University of South Florida Libraries |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 https://doaj.org/article/d2826e72343e4b88ad58d1017ed7299c |
genre |
Antarc* |
genre_facet |
Antarc* |
op_source |
International Journal of Speleology, Vol 46, Iss 1, Pp 51-66 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7/ https://doaj.org/toc/0392-6672 https://doaj.org/toc/1827-806X doi:10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 0392-6672 1827-806X https://doaj.org/article/d2826e72343e4b88ad58d1017ed7299c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 |
container_title |
International Journal of Speleology |
container_volume |
46 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
51 |
op_container_end_page |
66 |
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1766245170506891264 |