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Nevados De Pastos Grandes
Nevados de Pastos Grandes is a Miocene volcanic centre in the Puna, Salta province, Argentina. It is a volcanic complex with several centres named El Queva, Gordo and Azufre. Some minor Pleistocene glaciation has affected the volcanic complex. Volcanic activity has generated first dacitic lava flows and subsequently andesitic lava flows. The beginning, duration and end of the volcanism is uncertain, but some thermal springs persist to the present day. The volcano is part of the Puna volcanic region of the Central Volcanic Zone. Various mineral deposits are found at Nevados de Pastos Grandes, several of which were exploited for mining. Sulfur and lead-silver are among the minerals mined in the complex. Geology The Nevados de Pastos Grandes complex encompasses several volcanic centres, the highest one at is called Cerro Queva or El Queva. The two other centres are named Gordo and Azufre, with some additional minor centres. These centres are aligned in a north-south direction, c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to form flaky white potassium peroxide in only seconds of exposure. It was first isolated from potash, the ashes of plants, from which its name derives. In the periodic table, potassium is one of the alkali metals, all of which have a single valence electron in the outer electron shell, that is easily removed to create an ion with a positive charge – a cation, that combines with anions to form salts. Potassium in nature occurs only in ionic salts. Elemental potassium reacts vigorously with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite hydrogen emitted in the reaction, and burning with a lilac- colored flame. It is found dissolved in sea water (which is 0.04% potassium by weight), and occurs in many minerals such as orthoclase, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaolinite
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina () octahedra. Rocks that are rich in kaolinite are known as kaolin () or china clay. Kaolin is occasionally referred to by the antiquated term lithomarge, from the Ancient Greek ''litho-'' and Latin ''marga'', meaning 'stone of marl'. Presently the name lithomarge can refer to a compacted, massive form of kaolin. The name ''kaolin'' is derived from Gaoling (), a Chinese village near Jingdezhen in southeastern China's Jiangxi Province. The name entered English in 1727 from the French version of the word: , following François Xavier d'Entrecolles's reports on the making of Jingdezhen porcelain. Kaolinite has a low shrink–swell capacity and a low cation-exchange capacity (1–15 meq/100 g). It is a soft, earthy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dickite
Dickite () is a phyllosilicate clay mineral named after the metallurgical chemist Allan Brugh Dick, who first described it. It is chemically composed of 20.90% aluminium, 21.76% silicon, 1.56% hydrogen and 55.78% oxygen. It has the same composition as kaolinite, nacrite, and halloysite, but with a different crystal structure ( polymorph). Dickite sometimes contains impurities such as titanium, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium. Dickite occurs with other clays and requires x-ray diffraction for its positive identification. Dickite is an important alteration indicator in hydrothermal systems as well as occurring in soils and shales. Dickite's type location is in Pant-y-Gaseg, Amlwch, Isle of Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom, where it was first described in 1888. Dickite appears in locations with similar qualities and is found in China, Jamaica, France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Italy, Belgium and Canada. History In 1888, Allan Brugh Dick (1833–192 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barite
Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), anglesite (lead sulfate), and anhydrite (calcium sulfate). Baryte and celestine form a solid solution (Ba,Sr)SO4. Names and history The radiating form, sometimes referred to as ''Bologna Stone'', attained some notoriety among alchemists for specimens found in the 17th century near Bologna by Vincenzo Casciarolo. These became phosphorescent upon being calcined. Carl Scheele determined that baryte contained a new element in 1774, but could not isolate barium, only barium oxide. Johan Gottlieb Gahn also isolated barium oxide two years later in similar studies. Barium was first isolated by electrolysis of molten barium salts in 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy in England. The American Petroleum Institute specification API 13/ISO 13500, which gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alunite
Alunite is a hydroxylated aluminium potassium sulfate mineral, formula K Al3( S O4)2(O H)6. It was first observed in the 15th century at Tolfa, near Rome, where it was mined for the manufacture of alum. First called ''aluminilite'' by J.C. Delamétherie in 1797, this name was contracted by François Beudant three decades later to alunite. Alunite crystals morphologically are rhombohedron, rhombohedra with interfacial angles of 90° 50', causing them to resemble cubes. Crystal symmetry is trigonal. Minute glistening crystals have also been found loose in cavities in altered rhyolite. Alunite varies in color from white to yellow gray. The hardness on the Mohs scale is 4 and the specific gravity is between 2.6 and 2.8. It is insoluble in water or weak acids, but soluble in sulfuric acid. Sodium can substitute for potassium in the mineral, and when the sodium content is high, is called natroalunite. Alunite is an analog of jarosite, where aluminium replaces Fe3+. Alunite o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megacryst
In geology, a megacryst is a crystal or grain that is considerably larger than the encircling matrix. They are found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Megacrysts can be further classified based on the nature of their origin, either as:Chapman, Carleton A. (2014). Phenocryst. In AccessScience. McGraw-Hill Education. https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.506500 *Phenocrysts, which crystallize in molten rock material (lava or magma) and are hence an earlier crystallization than the matrix in which they are embedded *Porphyroblasts, which develop in solid rock as the result of metamorphism or metasomatism See also *Xenolith A xenolith ("foreign rock") is a rock fragment (country rock) that becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latter's development and solidification. In geology, the term ''xenolith'' is almost exclusively used to describe inclusions in igne ..., an inclusion of one rock type in another References Notes Significance of k-feldspar megacryst size and distribu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanidine
Sanidine is the high temperature form of potassium feldspar with a general formula K(AlSi3O8). Sanidine is found most typically in felsic volcanic rocks such as obsidian, rhyolite and trachyte. Sanidine crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system. Orthoclase is a monoclinic polymorph stable at lower temperatures. At yet lower temperatures, microcline, a triclinic polymorph of potassium feldspar, is stable. Due to the high temperature and rapid quenching, sanidine can contain more sodium in its structure than the two polymorphs that equilibrated at lower temperatures. Sanidine and high albite constitute a solid solution series with intermediate compositions termed anorthoclase. Exsolution of an albite phase does occur; resulting cryptoperthite can best be observed in electron microprobe images. Occurrence In addition to its presence in the groundmass of felsic rocks, sanidine is a common phenocryst in rhyolites and, to a lesser extent, rhyodacites. Trachyte consists largely of fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO2. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, behind feldspar. Quartz exists in two forms, the normal α-quartz and the high-temperature β-quartz, both of which are chiral. The transformation from α-quartz to β-quartz takes place abruptly at . Since the transformation is accompanied by a significant change in volume, it can easily induce microfracturing of ceramics or rocks passing through this temperature threshold. There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are classified as gemstones. Since antiquity, varieties of quartz have been the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings, especially in Eurasia. Quartz is the mineral defining the val ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhyolitic
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral assemblage is predominantly quartz, sanidine, and plagioclase. It is the extrusive equivalent to granite. Rhyolitic magma is extremely viscous, due to its high silica content. This favors explosive eruptions over effusive eruptions, so this type of magma is more often erupted as pyroclastic rock than as lava flows. Rhyolitic ash-flow tuffs are among the most voluminous of continental igneous rock formations. Rhyolitic tuff has been extensively used for construction. Obsidian, which is rhyolitic volcanic glass, has been used for tools from prehistoric times to the present day because it can be shaped to an extremely sharp edge. Rhyolitic pumice finds use as an abrasive, in concrete, and as a soil amendment. Description Rhyolite is an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andesitic
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predominantly of sodium-rich plagioclase plus pyroxene or hornblende. Andesite is the extrusive equivalent of plutonic diorite. Characteristic of subduction zones, andesite represents the dominant rock type in island arcs. The average composition of the continental crust is andesitic. Along with basalts, andesites are a component of the Martian crust. The name ''andesite'' is derived from the Andes mountain range, where this rock type is found in abundance. It was first applied by Christian Leopold von Buch in 1826. Description Andesite is an aphanitic (fine-grained) igneous rock that is intermediate in its content of silica and low in alkali metals. It has less than 20% quartz and 10% feldspathoid by volume, with at least 65% of the feldsp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biotite
Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron-endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more aluminous end-members include siderophyllite and eastonite. Biotite was regarded as a mineral ''species'' by the International Mineralogical Association until 1998, when its status was changed to a mineral ''group''. The term ''biotite'' is still used to describe unanalysed dark micas in the field. Biotite was named by J.F.L. Hausmann in 1847 in honor of the French physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot, who performed early research into the many optical properties of mica. Members of the biotite group are sheet silicates. Iron, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen form sheets that are weakly bound together by potassium ions. The term "iron mica" is sometimes used for iron-rich biotite, but the term also refers to a flaky micaceous form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
