Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T18:32:46.934Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A silica-deficient, shallow-marine zeolite assemblage in the Foveaux Formation, Bluff Peninsula, New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

D. S. Coombs ,
C. A. Bosel ,
Y. Kawachi  and
L. A. Paterson
D. S. Coombs*
Affiliation:
Geology Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
C. A. Bosel
Affiliation:
Geology Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Y. Kawachi
Affiliation:
Geology Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
L. A. Paterson
Affiliation:
Geology Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A gonnardite-thomsonite-chabazite-calcite assemblage forms a cement in the Foveaux Formation, a fossiliferous gabbroic boulder bed that accumulated at the base of a sea cliff cut in a Permian igneous complex during late Oligocene±early Miocene time. Gonnardite was the earliest zeolite to form, locally following minor calcite. It was followed epitaxially by thomsonite, co-precipitating with chabazite. Crystal habits indicate a low-temperature origin. The maximum temperature to which the deposit may have been subjected is estimated as not more than ∽30°C. The chabazites are Ca-poor chabazite-K and chabazite-Na. Representative electron microprobe analyses are as follows, all + nH2O:

  • thomsonite: Na3.77Ca7.73(Al19.39Si20.65)O80 and Na3.78K0.04Ca7.25Mg0.05(Al19.13Si21.05)O80;

  • gonnardite: Na6.95K0.03Ca4.73(Al16.99Si23.15)O80 and Na8.56K0.03Ca4.05(Al17.32Si22.84)O80;

  • chabazite-K: Na1.18K1.72Ca0.08Mg0.23(Al3.51Si8.49)O24 and Na1.67K1.92Ca0.18Mg0.17(Al4.11Si7.85)O24;

  • chabazite-Na: Na2.51K1.13Ca0.17Mg0.02(Al4.08Si7.93)O24.

Such a Si-poor zeolite assemblage is unusual for marine sediments and is attributed to precipitation from marine water impoverished in silica in the gabbroic boulder bed and interacting with shell material and calcic plagioclase. In contrast, a dioritic clast in the boulder bed provides an example of less silica-poor zeolites originally formed in the parent igneous complex. Veinlets in the clast contain scolecite averaging Na1.19Ca7.36(Al15.84Si24.14)O80.nH2O, and mesolite averaging Na5.13K0.03Ca5.24 (Al15.93Si24.13)O80.nH2O, in part as sub-microscopic intergrowths. The composition of scolecite closely corresponds to the most Na-rich scolecite reported hitherto.

Keywords

zeoliteschabazitegonnarditemesolitescolecitethomsoniteFoveaux FormationBluff GabbronoriteChatton FormationNew Zealand
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 69 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 137 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Present address: Murrin Murrin Operations Pty Ltd, PO Box Z5523, Perth, Western Australia 6831

‡

Present address: Yuakri Ichibangai, Izumicho 3-16-2-408, Kokubunji, Japan 185-0024

References

Alberti, A., Pongiluppi, D. and Vezzalini, G. (1982) The crystal chemistry of natrolite, mesolite and scolecite. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie Abhandlungen, 143, 231–248.Google Scholar
Boles, J.R. and Wise, W.S. (1978) Nature and origin of deep-sea clinoptilolite. Pp. 235—243 in: Natural Zeolites, Occurrence, Properties, Use (Sand, L.B. and Mumpton, F., editors). Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Bosel, CA. and Coombs, D.S. (1984) Foveaux Formation: a warm-water, strandline deposit of Landon-Pareora age at Bluff Hill, Southland, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 27, 221–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coombs, D.S., Alberti, A., Armbruster, T., Artioli, G., Colella, C, Galli, E., Grice, J.D., Liebau, F., Mandarino, J.A., Minato, H., Nickel, E.H., Passaglia, E., Peacor, D.R., Quartieri, S., Rinaldi, R., Ross, M., Sheppard, R.A., Tillmanns, E. and Vezzalini, G. (1998) Recommended nomenclature for zeolite minerals: report of the Subcommittee on Zeolites of the International Mineralogical Association, Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names. Mineralogical Magazine, 62, 533–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de'Gennaro, M., Conte, M.T., Petrosino, P., Munno, R. and Colella, C. (1990) Zeolite chemistry and distribution in a Neapolitan yellow tuff deposit. European Journal of Mineralogy, 2, 779–786.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottardi, G. and Galli, E. (1985) Natural Zeolites. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, W.W. and Grapes, R.H. (1997) Authigenic chabazite and implications for weathering in Sinus Group diamictite, Table Mountain, Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 67, 815–820.Google Scholar
Dickinson, W.W. and Rosen, M.R. (2003) Antarctic permafrost: An analogue for water and diagenetic minerals on Mars. Geology, 31, 199–202.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kastner, M. and Stonecipher, S.A. (1978) Zeolites in pelagic sediments of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Pp. 199–220 in: Natural Zeolites, Occurrence, Properties, Use (Sand, L.B. and Mumpton, F., editors). Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Mumpton, F.A. and Ormsby, W.C. (1976) Morphology of zeolites in sedimentary rocks by scanning electron microscopy. Clays and Clay Minerals, 24, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passaglia, E. and Vezzalini, G. (1985) Crystal chemistry of diagenetic zeolites in volcanoclastic deposits of Italy. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 90, 190–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheppard, R.A. and Gude, A.J. III (1970) Chemical composition and physical properties of phillipsite from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. American Mineralogist, 55, 2053–2062.Google Scholar
Turnbull, I.M. and Allibone, A.H. (2003) Geology of the Murihiku area. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences. 1:250 000 geological map. Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences Ltd.Google Scholar
Walker, G.P.L. (1951) The amygdale minerals in the Tertiary lavas of Ireland. I. The distribution of chabazite habits and zeolites in the Garron Plateau area, County Antrim. Mineralogical Magazine, 29, 773–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wise, W.S. and Pierce, D. (1981) Characterization of zeolite forms, intergrowths, and sequences with SEM. Scanning Electron Microscopy, 1, 633–640.Google Scholar
Wise, W.S. and Tschemich, R.W. (1978) Habits, crystal forms and composition of thomsonite. The Canadian Mineralogist, 16, 487–493.Google Scholar
Wood, B.L. (1956) The Geology of the Gore Subdivision. New Zealand Geological Survey, Bulletin n.s. 53.Google Scholar