Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by ONAC, B. P. Articles by WHITE, W. B. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Depositional environment for metatyuyamunite and related minerals from Caverns of Sonora, TX (USA)

^* Department of Mineralogy, "Babes-Bolyai" University, Kogalniceanu 1, 3400 Cluj, and Speleological Institute "Emil Racovita", Clinicilor 5, 3400 Cluj, Romania
^** George Veni Associates, 11304 Candle Park, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
^*** Department of Geosciences and Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.

e-mail: wbw2{at}psu.edu

A new mineral association composed of metatyuyamunite, celestite, opal and several minor crystalline phases has been identified in the Caverns of Sonora (Texas). The minerals were identified by means of X-ray diffractometry and optical and scanning electron microscopy. The main component of this association is metatyuyamunite, a uranyl vanadate mineral that appears as aggregates of sub-millimeter platy-like crystals that are often covered by botryoidal opal coatings. The orthorhombic unit cell of the Sonora metatyuyamunite had parameters a = 10.418, b = 8.508, and c = 17.173 Å. Opal and celestite formed either directly over the yellow crust or along the cracks that traverse the limy mud on which metatyuyamunite was precipitated. The secondary uranium-vanadium minerals described herein were precipitated in the final stages of cave development.

Key-words: metatyuyamunite, celestite, cave mineralogy, Sonora (Texas).