Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Mineralogical Magazine Email Content Delivery
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mineralogical Magazine; February 2001; v. 65; no. 1; p. 103-109
© 2001 Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Onac, B. P.
Right arrow Articles by Viehmann, I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Leonite [K2Mg(SO4)2·4H2O], konyaite [Na2Mg(SO4)2·5H2O] and syngenite [K2Ca(SO4)2·H2O] from Tausoare Cave, Rodnei Mts, Romania

B. P. Onac1,2,*, W. B. White3 and I. Viehmann2

1 Department of Mineralogy, ‘Babes-Bolyai’ University, Kogalniceanu 1, 3400 Cluj and Speleogical Institute ‘Emil Racovita’, Clinicilor 5, 3400 Cluj, Romania
2 Speleogical Institute ‘Emil Racovita’, Clinicilor 5, 3400 Cluj, Romania
3 Materials Research Laboratory and Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

* E-mail: bonac{at}bioge.ubbcluj.ro

Tausoare Cave is renowned in Romania for its gypsum and mirabilite speleothems. Of interest are the white crystalline speleothems formed on the floor of the ‘Sala de Mese’ (Dining Room) that were previously described as consisting of mirabilite. The samples we collected reveal crystals of two different habits. One shows the characteristic mirabilite fibrous crystals (cotton-like speleothem) while the other formed bladed and short prismatic crystals which comprise the delicate ‘cave flowers’. The mineral association was characterized by means of X-ray analysis, scanning electron microscopy and electron microprobe. Beside thenardite (dehydration product of mirabilite) we also identified three sulphate minerals: leonite [K2Mg(SO4)2·4H2O], syngenite [K2Ca(SO4)2·H2O] and konyaite [Na2Mg(SO4)2·5H2O]. Of these, leonite and konyaite have never been reported in a cave environment. This paper describes the mineralogy of this particular sulphate deposit and offers some viewpoints on the crystallogenesis.

KEYWORDS: leonite, konyaite, syngenite, cave minerals, Tausoare Cave, Romania






JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2008 by Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland