Formation doubly terminated crystals of quartz in Carboniferous limestones from the Brañes site in northwestern Spain
Roč.32,č.1-2(2025)
The Carboniferous limestones from the Brañes site in northwestern Spain contain dark, often doubly terminated authigenic quartz crystals. Optical microscopy and fluid inclusion studies of quartz crystals provide insights into the formation and thermal history of the surrounding limestones. The core of quartz crystals has been formed by filling voids created through the dissolution of sulphate. The morphology of the quartz crystals supports
this interpretation. The primary and pseudosecondary fluid inclusions within external zones in these quartz crystals are mostly two-phase, consisting of aqueous liquid and a vapor bubble. Cryometric measurements show an initial melting temperature (Tfm) of approximately −50 °C, with melting temperatures (Tmice) ranging from −18.1 °C to −21.8 °C and −42.4 °C to −45.0 °C, respectively. These melting temperatures indicate high
salinity, estimated between 20 mass% and 29 mass% CaCl2 equivalent. The homogenization temperatures of the fluid inclusions range from 60 °C to 147 °C, and suggest that the external zones of the quartz crystals were formed during peak temperature conditions of diagenesis in the Early Permian period.
Spain, Valdeteja Formation, authigenic quartz, hydrothermal mineralization, fluid inclusions
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