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Fe-sulphate-rich evaporative mineral precipitates from the Río Tinto, southwest Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

T. Buckby ,
S. Black ,
M. L. Coleman  and
M. E. Hodson
T. Buckby
Affiliation:
Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AB, UK
S. Black
Affiliation:
Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AB, UK
M. L. Coleman
Affiliation:
Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AB, UK
M. E. Hodson
Affiliation:
Department of Soil Science, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6DW, UK
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Abstract

The soluble metal sulphate salts melanterite, rozenite, rhomboclase, szomolnokite, copiapite, coquimbite, hexahydrite and halotrichite, together with gypsum, have been identified, some for the first time, on the banks of the Rio Tinto, SW Spain. Secondary Fe-sulphate minerals can form directly from evaporating, acid, sulphate-rich solutions as a result of pyrite oxidation. Chemical analyses of mixtures of these salt minerals indicate concentrations of Fe (up to 31 wt.%), Mg (up to 4 wt.%), Cu (up to 2 wt.%) and Zn (up to 1 wt.%). These minerals are shown to act as transient storage for metals and can store on average up to 10% (9.5 — 11%) and 22% (20—23%), Zn and Cu respectively, of the total discharge of the Rio Tinto during the summer period.

Melanterite and rozenite precipitates at Rio Tinto are only found in association with very acidic drainage waters (pH <1.0) draining directly from pyritic waste piles. Copiapite precipitates abundantly on the banks of the Rio Tinto by (1) direct evaporation of the river water; or (2) as part of a paragenetic sequence with the inclusion of minor halotrichite, indicating natural dehydration and decomposition. The natural occurrences are comparable with the process of paragenesis from the evaporation of Rio Tinto river water under laboratory experiments resulting in the formation of aluminocopiapite, halotrichite, coquimbite, voltaite and gypsum.

Keywords

melanteriterozeniterhomboclaseszomolnokitecopiapitecoquimbitehexahydritehalo-trichiteRío TintoSpain.
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , April 2003 , pp. 263 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2003

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