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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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11567/947662 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 |
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ftunivgenova:oai:iris.unige.it:11567/947662 2024-04-14T08:02:44+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 J. Carbone C. Sanna L. Vattano M. Galli E. Sauro F. Forti P. De Waele, J. Carbone, C. Sanna, L. Vattano, M. Galli, E. Sauro, F. Forti, P. 2017 ELETTRONICO https://hdl.handle.net/11567/947662 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 eng eng Società Speleologica Italiana info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000395945600005 volume:46 (19) firstpage:51 lastpage:66 numberofpages:16 journal:INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPELEOLOGY https://hdl.handle.net/11567/947662 doi:10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011977283 cave minerals atacama martian info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftunivgenova https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 2024-03-21T02:31:03Z 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* Università degli Studi di Genova: CINECA IRIS International Journal of Speleology 46 1 51 66 |
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Università degli Studi di Genova: CINECA IRIS |
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English |
topic |
cave minerals atacama martian |
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cave minerals atacama martian De Waele J. Carbone C. Sanna L. Vattano M. Galli E. Sauro F. Forti P. 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 atacama martian |
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, J. Carbone, C. Sanna, L. Vattano, M. Galli, E. Sauro, F. Forti, P. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
De Waele J. Carbone C. Sanna L. Vattano M. Galli E. Sauro F. Forti P. |
author_facet |
De Waele J. Carbone C. Sanna L. Vattano M. Galli E. Sauro F. Forti P. |
author_sort |
De Waele J. |
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 |
Società Speleologica Italiana |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11567/947662 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 |
genre |
Antarc* |
genre_facet |
Antarc* |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000395945600005 volume:46 (19) firstpage:51 lastpage:66 numberofpages:16 journal:INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPELEOLOGY https://hdl.handle.net/11567/947662 doi:10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011977283 |
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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1796317189071962112 |