Stratabound Barite Deposits: Mineralogy, Isotope Geochemistry and Geochronology
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Deposits".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 560
Special Issue Editor
Interests: mineralogy; geochemistry and formation of stratiform barite deposits; heavy minerals in sediments; alluvial gold microchemical characterization and provenance
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Globally, a large proportion of mined barite is derived from strata-bound deposits hosted in carbonate, clastic, or volcanic rocks. Some of these deposits are ‘world-class’ in terms of their tonnage. A thorough understanding of how such deposits formed is of great importance in guiding exploration for further resources. Equally important from an academic perspective is the information that strata-bound barite can provide on past environments and diagenetic to hydrothermal processes, both in the Phanerozoic when marine sulfate was abundant and early in Earth’s history when marine sulfate was scarce. What is the mineralogical, isotopic, and/or geochronological evidence that these Archaean and Proterozoic barite deposits formed on the contemporaneous seafloor, and if so, what are the implications for the (local or global) marine environment at that time?
Carbonate-hosted strata-bound barite is often, though not everywhere, associated with epigenetic karst-fill or dissolution-replacement of Mississippi-valley-type (MVT) deposits and with diagenetic transitional to syngenetic Irish-type deposits. Stratabound barite mineralization hosted by Phanerozoic shales and other clastic sediments (clastic-dominant or ‘CD-type’ deposits) has been a topic of considerable discussion during the past thirty years. The ‘sedimentary exhalative’ (sedex) concept, which was popular in the twentieth century, invoking synsedimentary precipitation of barite in the water column or on the seabed, has been largely ousted by concepts involving subsurface diagenetic replacement processes. This Special Issue provides an opportunity for experts in the field to present mineralogical, isotopic, and geochronological evidence in support of their theories on ore formation in MV-, Irish- and CD-type strata bound barite (-Zn-Pb sulfide) deposits.
Dr. Norman Moles
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- strata bound barite
- sediment-hosted mineralization
- volcanogenic deposit
- sedex deposit
- CD-type deposit
- MVT deposit
- bedded barite deposits
- sediment-hosted barite deposits
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: The Barite Deposits of Türkiye: A Review
Authors: Zeynep Cansu, Huseyin Oztyrk, Nurullah Hanilci
Abstract:
The main barite deposits of Turkey are hosted in the early Paleozoic sediments (metasandstone, shale, schist, quartzite, limestone) either concordant or veins, and occur in the Taurides and -Arabian Plate. The barite belt starts from Şarkikaraağaç (Isparta), Hüyük (Konya), and extends to Alanya in the south, from here to Silifke, Adana, Kahramanmaraş and Muş. The Palaeozoic barite deposits are the major barite deposits and their annual production is about 300 thousand metric tonnes. Relatively small deposits around the Gazipaşa (Antalya) include minor Pb-Zn sulphides. Pb and Sr isotopes from this belt indicate that the source of barium is an old continental crust. Isotope values of the concordant (strata bound) and discordant barite are almost homogenous.
The Sr isotope studies of the barite deposits of NW Türkiye show a reasonable isotopic composition with a compatible host Oligocene carbonatite complex. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope ratio of Kızılcaören REE+Ba+F+Th carbonatite deposit shows the lowest radiogenic value among the Turkish barites (0.70603), indicating a young mantle source. The next lower radiogenic value comes from the Upper Cretaceous Kirazören (Giresun) barite deposit (0.70703), which occurs in the Pontide magmatic arc. The Sr isotopic values of synsedimentary bedded barites from the Hakkari Region (0,70866) found in the Triassic limestones of the passive margin sediments, show a radiogenic compatible with cantankerous seawater. The 87Sr/86Sr isotope compositions of the Paleozoic barite deposits show the highest radiogenicity, Adana-Feke (0,7111) and Kahramanmaraş barite deposits (0,7125), compatible with their Palaeozoic host rocks. The Adana–Feke barite deposits of the Eastern Taurides and the Kahramanmaraş-Türkoğlu/Önsen barite beds of Amanos Mountains are mapped as veins in Palaeozoic sedimentary units.
The high radiogenic Pb and Sr isotope values of the barite deposits indicated that the barium originated from the deeper barium-rich rocks, while the S isotope values indicated that the sulphur source was marine. In addition, Sr and S isotopes showed that Palaeozoic barites formed in association with cold seeps on the seafloor are very similar to modern barites.
The Tauride-Arabian Plate Belt barite deposits show significant similarities to the Atlas Mountains barite deposits in terms of age, rock associations, ore geometry and isotopic geochemistry. The Tauride barite province represents a part of the Gondwana continent that was separated from the Atlas Mountains in the Palaeozoic during the opening of the Neotethys Ocean and interlocked with Eurasia in the Mesozoic.
