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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ftunibolognairis:oai:cris.unibo.it:11585/585787 2024-04-14T08:03:38+00:00 Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): A hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface DE WAELE, JO HILAIRE AGNES SAURO, FRANCESCO FORTI, PAOLO Carbone, Cristina Sanna, Laura Vattano, Marco Galli, Ermanno De Waele, Jo Carbone, Cristina Sanna, Laura Vattano, Marco Galli, Ermanno Sauro, Francesco Forti, Paolo 2017 ELETTRONICO http://hdl.handle.net/11585/585787 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2094&context=ijs eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000395945600005 volume:46 issue:1 firstpage:51 lastpage:66 numberofpages:16 journal:INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPELEOLOGY http://hdl.handle.net/11585/585787 doi:10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011977283 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2094&context=ijs Cave mineral Hyperaridity Mars analogue Minerogenesi Salt cave Geology Earth-Surface Processes info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftunibolognairis https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 2024-03-21T17:40:30Z 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* IRIS Università degli Studi di Bologna (CRIS - Current Research Information System) International Journal of Speleology 46 1 51 66 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IRIS Università degli Studi di Bologna (CRIS - Current Research Information System) |
op_collection_id |
ftunibolognairis |
language |
English |
topic |
Cave mineral Hyperaridity Mars analogue Minerogenesi Salt cave Geology Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Cave mineral Hyperaridity Mars analogue Minerogenesi Salt cave Geology Earth-Surface Processes DE WAELE, JO HILAIRE AGNES SAURO, FRANCESCO FORTI, PAOLO Carbone, Cristina Sanna, Laura Vattano, Marco Galli, Ermanno 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 mineral Hyperaridity Mars analogue Minerogenesi Salt cave Geology Earth-Surface Processes |
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. |
author2 |
De Waele, Jo Carbone, Cristina Sanna, Laura Vattano, Marco Galli, Ermanno Sauro, Francesco Forti, Paolo |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
DE WAELE, JO HILAIRE AGNES SAURO, FRANCESCO FORTI, PAOLO Carbone, Cristina Sanna, Laura Vattano, Marco Galli, Ermanno |
author_facet |
DE WAELE, JO HILAIRE AGNES SAURO, FRANCESCO FORTI, PAOLO Carbone, Cristina Sanna, Laura Vattano, Marco Galli, Ermanno |
author_sort |
DE WAELE, JO HILAIRE AGNES |
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 |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11585/585787 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2094&context=ijs |
genre |
Antarc* |
genre_facet |
Antarc* |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000395945600005 volume:46 issue:1 firstpage:51 lastpage:66 numberofpages:16 journal:INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPELEOLOGY http://hdl.handle.net/11585/585787 doi:10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011977283 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2094&context=ijs |
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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1796299915727470592 |