Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subs.
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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2017
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10447/220832 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7 |
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ftunivpalermo:oai:iris.unipa.it:10447/220832 2024-02-11T09:56:43+01:00 Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subs. De Waele, J Carbone, C Sanna, L Galli, E Sauro, F Forti, P. VATTANO, Marco De Waele, J Carbone, C Sanna, L Vattano, M Galli, E Sauro, F Forti, P 2017 http://hdl.handle.net/10447/220832 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7 eng eng Union Internationale de Spéléologie country:US 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/10447/220832 http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011977283 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica E Geomorfologia Settore GEO/06 - Mineralogia info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftunivpalermo https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 2024-01-23T23:31:55Z 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-darapskiteblödite. 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 Palermo International Journal of Speleology 46 1 51 66 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IRIS Università degli Studi di Palermo |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpalermo |
language |
English |
topic |
cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica E Geomorfologia Settore GEO/06 - Mineralogia |
spellingShingle |
cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica E Geomorfologia Settore GEO/06 - Mineralogia De Waele, J Carbone, C Sanna, L Galli, E Sauro, F Forti, P. VATTANO, Marco Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subs. |
topic_facet |
cave minerals salt caves hyperaridity minerogenesis Mars analogues Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica E Geomorfologia Settore GEO/06 - Mineralogia |
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-darapskiteblödite. 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 Galli, E Sauro, F Forti, P. VATTANO, Marco |
author_facet |
De Waele, J Carbone, C Sanna, L Galli, E Sauro, F Forti, P. VATTANO, Marco |
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 subs. |
title_short |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subs. |
title_full |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subs. |
title_fullStr |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subs. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subs. |
title_sort |
secondary minerals from salt caves in the atacama desert (chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the martian subs. |
publisher |
Union Internationale de Spéléologie |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10447/220832 https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7 |
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/10447/220832 http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2094 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011977283 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
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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1790605245500358656 |