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Formation of Nontronite from Oxidative Dissolution of Pyrite Disseminated in Precambrian Felsic Metavolcanics of the Southern Iberian Massif (Spain)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

J. C. Fernández-Caliani ,
E. Crespo ,
M. Rodas ,
J. F. Barrenechea  and
F. J. Luque
J. C. Fernández-Caliani*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain
E. Crespo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía, Facultad de Geología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
M. Rodas
Affiliation:
Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía, Facultad de Geología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
J. F. Barrenechea
Affiliation:
Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía, Facultad de Geología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
F. J. Luque
Affiliation:
Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía, Facultad de Geología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
*
*E-mail address of corresponding author: caliani@uhu.es
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Abstract

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This paper describes a rare occurrence of nontronite associated with sulfide-bearing felsic metavolcanics, providing evidence of colloidal deposition in open spaces as result of a low-temperature water-rock interaction. Microbotryoidal masses of green nontronite with impurities of kaolinite, illite, barite, amorphous silica and iron oxyhydroxides are found as vein and cavity fillings in deeply kaolinized rhyolites and rhyolitic tuffs of Precambrian age, at Oliva de Merida in SW Spain. Clay mineral characterization has been carried out by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermal analysis, analytical electron microscopy and stable isotope (oxygen and hydrogen) analysis. Nontronite was formed under low-temperature alteration conditions, from a continuous sequence of reactions and aqueous solution compositions, involving two basic processes that acted in concert: oxidative dissolution of pyrite and hydrolysis of K-feldspar. After acidity neutralization, dissolved silica released by incongruent dissolution of K-feldspar reacted with ferric sulfate derived from pyrite oxidation to form nontronite under oxidizing conditions, in the presence of relatively warm meteoric water.

Keywords

Felsic MetavolcanicsK-feldspar HydrolysisNontronitePyrite OxidationSmectiteSpainWeathering
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , February 2004 , pp. 106 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © 2004, The Clay Minerals Society

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