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Acid sulphate alteration in a magmatic hydrothermal environment, Barton Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Debbie C. Armstrong
Debbie C. Armstrong*
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
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Abstract

Volcanic-hosted advanced argillic alteration on Barton Peninsula comprises an assemblage of chalcedonic silica, alunite family minerals, pyrophyllite, pyrite, native sulphur, zunyite and rutile, characteristic of an acid sulphate-type epithermal system. The minerals minamiite, (Na0.36Ca0.27K0.1□0.27)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6, and zunyite, Al13Si5O20(OH,F)18Cl, are reported at this locality, and in Antarctica, for the first time. The WNW-striking, 1 km-long zone of alteration is hosted by early Tertiary andesitic rocks and contained in a 1.5 km-wide depression, rimmed by an arcuate ridge, probably representing a volcanic crater or small caldera structure.

Stability relations of minerals in the advanced argillic alteration zone indicate alteration took place under acidic conditions in the near-surface environment. Mineralogical and textural evidence also suggest alteration occurred in a magmatic hydrothermal system, possibly with a magmatic steam component, rather than in a supergene or steam-heated environment.

Keywords

volcanic-hosted argillic alterationacid sulphate-type epithermal systemAntarctica
Type
Petrology
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 59 , Issue 396 , September 1995 , pp. 429 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1995

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Footnotes

*

Present address: 113 Longacre Road, Singleton, Ashford, Kent, TN23 5FR, UK

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