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Major, minor, and trace element composition of pyromorphite-group minerals as recorder of supergene weathering processes from the Schwarzwald mining district, SW Germany

  • Gregor Markl EMAIL logo , Michael A.W. Marks , Johannes Holzäpfel and Thomas Wenzel
Published/Copyright: May 15, 2014
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 99 Issue 5-6

Abstract

More than 150 samples of pyromorphite, mimetite, vanadinite, and minerals of the hedyphane-group (which collectively are summarized here under the term PyGM for pyromorphite-group minerals) from the Schwarzwald mining district, southwest Germany, have been analyzed by electron microprobe and LA-ICP-MS. In this largest study of its kind, the relations of PyGM composition to host rock and fluid compositions and the amount of solid solution between the various end-members were investigated. In addition, we report the colors of the many analyzed mineral compositions. Here is a list of the most important results.

• Pyromorphite and mimetite are completely miscible.

• At conditions of the oxidation zone in ore deposits, the solvus between pyromorphite and vanadinite appears to asymmetrical with up to about 3 mol% of vanadinite component in pyromorphite and up to about 39 mol% of pyromorphite component in vanadinite in cases where both minerals coexist.

• Due to a lack of suitable samples, the solvus between vanadinite and mimetite could not be completely constrained, but we report vanadinite analyses with up to 12 mol% mimetite and 8 mol% pyromorphite component.

• There is complete miscibility between pyromorphite and phosphohedyphane and between mimetite and hedyphane.

• F-rich varieties appear only to exist in hedyphanes and phosphohedyphanes, while pyromorphites, mimetites, and vanadinites are Cl- or OH-dominated.

• We report for the first time analyses suggesting the occurrence of an OH-end-member corresponding to mimetite.

• While pyromorphites are preferably green and mimetites yellow, this is not at all a diagnostic feature, as many exceptions exist; major elements are not correlated at all with the color of a specific crystal.

• Most PyGM are strongly zoned and display, for example, significant variations in Ca that are likely to be related to variations of the compositions of various fluid pulses from which the crystals formed.

• PyGM composition is generally uncorrelated with host rock composition, but PyGM enrich other metals like REE, Cr, Sb, Bi, or U up to a factor of 106; therefore, they can be regarded as very sensitive recorders of the metal inventory of an oxidation zone and they even record metals only present as traces in the primary ore deposit very reliably.

• REE patterns of PyGM show significant variability even at one location; this may suggest that each zone of a PyGM crystal records the REE pattern of a single fluid pulse or it may indicate fractionation of the REE during PyGM growth. In the absence of conclusive data, the former possibility appears the more likely one.

• PyGM are extremely efficient filters for heavy metals from supergene solutions in and in the vicinity of ore deposits.

Keywords : Pyromorphite; mimetite; vanadinite; fluorophosphohedyphane; hedyphane; trace elements; solid solution; “hydroxylmimetite”
Published Online: 2014-5-15
Published in Print: 2014-5-1

© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2014.4789
Keywords for this article
Pyromorphite; mimetite; vanadinite; fluorophosphohedyphane; hedyphane; trace elements; solid solution; “hydroxylmimetite”

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. Absence of pressure-induced electron spin-state transition of iron in silicate glasses upon compression
  3. Dolomite discloses a hidden history of subducting slabs
  4. Crossroads in Earth and Planetary Materials
  5. Crystal structures of laihunite and intermediate phases between laihunite-1M and fayalite: Z-contrast imaging and ab initio study
  6. Minerals in the Human Body
  7. A novel technique for fluorapatite synthesis and the thermodynamic mixing behavior of F-OH apatite crystalline solutions
  8. Volcanic Rocks
  9. The cooling kinetics of plagioclase feldspar as revealed by electron-microprobe mapping
  10. Spinels Renaissance–Past, Present, and Future
  11. High-pressure behavior of thiospinel CuCr2S4
  12. Martian Rocks and Soil
  13. Mössbauer parameters of iron in phosphate minerals: Implications for interpretation of martian data
  14. A temperature-controlled sample stage for in situ micro-X-ray diffraction: Application to Mars analog mirabilite-bearing perennial cold spring precipitate mineralogy
  15. Detection of iron substitution in natroalunite-natrojarosite solid solutions and potential implications for Mars
  16. Articles
  17. Harmunite CaFe2O4: A new mineral from the Jabel Harmun, West Bank, Palestinian Autonomy, Israel
  18. An assessment of the reliability of melt inclusions as recorders of the pre-eruptive volatile content of magmas
  19. Beryllium mineral evolution
  20. Incorporation of Y and REEs in aluminosilicate garnet: Energetics from atomistic simulation
  21. Role of silica for the progress of serpentinization reactions: Constraints from successive changes in mineralogical textures of serpentinites from Iwanaidake ultramafic body, Japan
  22. Ophirite, Ca2Mg4[Zn2Mn23+(H2O)2(Fe3+W9O34)2]·46H2O, a new mineral with a heteropolytungstate tri-lacunary Keggin anion
  23. Bubble formation during decompression of andesitic melts
  24. Manganese carbonate formation from amorphous and nanocrystalline precursors: Thermodynamics and geochemical relevance
  25. Insights into the crystal chemistry of Earth materials rendered by electron density distributions: Pauling’s rules revisited
  26. Adsorption of sulfur dioxide on volcanic ashes
  27. Sulfidation of native gold
  28. Electrical conductivity of synthetic mullite single crystals
  29. In situ Raman spectroscopy identification of the S3̅ ion in S-rich hydrothermal fluids from synthetic fluid inclusions
  30. Melting phase equilibria of model carbonated peridotite from 8 to 12 GPa in the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-CO2 and kimberlitic liquids in the Earth’s upper mantle
  31. Effect of orientation on ion track formation in apatite and zircon
  32. Major, minor, and trace element composition of pyromorphite-group minerals as recorder of supergene weathering processes from the Schwarzwald mining district, SW Germany
  33. Toward an accurate ab initio estimation of compressibility and thermal expansion of diamond in the [0, 3000 K] temperature and [0, 30 GPa] pressures ranges, at the hybrid HF/DFT theoretical level
  34. Vanadio-oxy-chromium-dravite, NaV3(Cr4Mg2)(Si6O18)(BO3)3(OH)3O, a new mineral species of the tourmaline supergroup
  35. Graţianite, MnBi2S4, a new mineral from the Bǎiţa Bihor skarn, Romania
  36. Letters
  37. Microporous gold: Comparison of textures from Nature and experiments
  38. Valence state partitioning of V between pyroxene and melt for martian melt compositions Y 980459 and QUE 94201: The effect of pyroxene composition and crystal structure
  39. MSA Award Presentations
  40. Presentation of the Mineralogical Society of America Award for 2013 to Wendy Li-Wen Mao
  41. Acceptance of the Mineralogical Society of America Award for 2013
  42. Presentation of the 2013 Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America to Frank C. Hawthorne
  43. Acceptance of the 2013 Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America
  44. Presentation of the Distinguished Public Service Award for 2013 of the Mineralogical Society of America to Pierrette Tremblay
  45. Acceptance of the Distinguished Public Service Award for 2013 of the Mineralogical Society of America
  46. Presentation of the Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America for 2014 to Patricia Dove
  47. Acceptance of the Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America for 2014
  48. Book Review
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