Caves Formed Within Upper Cretaceous Skarns at Baita, Bihor County, Romania: Mineral Deposition and Speleogenesis

Abstract

The Bǎiţa metallogenic district, in Bihor County, Romania, is genetically connected to a deep-seated Upper Cretaceous granitic pluton. Within this district, several bodies of skarn host economic concentrations of Mo, W, Bi, Cu, Pb, Zn, B, wollastonite, and marble. During mining, numerous karst cavities were encountered. Minerals such as wittichenite, antimonian luzonite, natrolite, quartz, chalcanthite, rosasite, glaukosphaerite, aurichalcite, azurite, malachite, norsethite and, more commonly, calcite, aragonite, hydromagnesite, and goethite were found within these skarn-hosted caves as crusts, coralloids, minute crystals, aggregates, and earthy masses. Some of the minerals are of hydrothermal origin, whereas others are interpreted to have formed during episodes of hydrothermal or vadose alteration. A third group consists of minerals that were precipitated from lowtemperature karstic waters. Although most skarn-hosted cavities exhibit the classical features of meteoric-water-induced cave, their mineralization, morphology, and position within the skarn support a hydrothermal or a mixed hydrothermal-vadose origin. SOMMAIRE Le district métallogénique de Bǎiţa, comté de Bihor, en Roumanie, est génétiquement associé à un pluton crétacé supérieur profond de composition granitique. Dans ce district, plusieurs masses de skarn contiennent des concentrations économiques de Mo, W, Bi, Cu, Pb, Zn, B, wollastonite, et marbre. Au cours de l'activité minière, de nombreuses cavités karstiques y ont été trouvées. La présence de minéraux tels que wittichénite, luzonite stibifère, natrolite, quartz, chalcanthite, rosasite, glaukosphaerite, aurichalcite, azurite, malachite, norséthite et, plus couramment, calcite, aragonite, hydromagnésite et goethite, a été notée dans les grottes développées à l'intérieur des skarns. Ces minéraux se présentent sous forme de croûtes, de coralloïdes, de petits cristaux et d'aggrégats. Un sous-groupe de ces minéraux a une origine hydrothermale ou vadose. Par contre, les minéraux d'un troisième groupe ont été précipité à partir des eaux karstiques à basse température. Bien que la plupart des cavités des skarns montrent des traits classiques d'une grotte due à des eaux météoriques, leur minéralisation, leur morphologie et leur position à l'intérieur des massifs skarnifiés étayent une origine hydrothermale ou hydrothermale-vadose.

Mineralogy of Dolomite Carbonatites of Sevathur Complex, Tamil Nadu, India

“…Norsethite was reported for the first time in the sedimentary Green River Formation in Wyoming, USA [16]. It was also found in a carbonate body in metamorphosed braunite ores in Langban deposit, Sweden [17], in the Rosh Pinah hydrothermal zinc-lead deposit in Namibia [18], in skarns in Baita Bihor County, Romania [19], in iron-barite-sulfide ores in the Kremikovtsi deposit, Bulgaria [20], as well as in the carbonatite complexes in Vuoriyarvi, in the Kola peninsula, Russia [21,22], Chipman Lake, Ontario, Canada [23], and Tapira, SE Brazil [24].…”

The Relationship Between Cave Minerals and H2S - Rich Thermal Waters along Cerna Valley (SW Romania)

“…It �as been documented t�at many caves affected by t�ermal and/or sulfide-ric� solutions (eit�er during t�eir development or in later stages) display a ric� and diverse mineral association (Povară et al 1972;Diaconu & Medeşan 1973;Cody 1978;Hill 1987;Maltsev & Self 1992;Onac et al 2000Onac et al , 2001Onac et al , 2007Dublyansky 1997, DuC�ene 1997Maltsev 1997;Onac 2002;Forti et al 2006;Audra & Hobléa 2007). Onac (2004Onac ( , 2005 �as s�own t�at in many situations, exotic mineralogy in a cave environment could be a diagnostic feature for �ypogene speleogenesis or some special conditions under w�ic� t�e mineral assemblage was precipitated.…”

Speleogenesis of an exhumed hydrothermal sulphuric acid karst in Cambrian carbonates (Mount San Giovanni, Sardinia)

“…Examples of CO 2 derived hypogene caves can be found in the Buda Hills, Hungary (Dublyansky, ; Leél‐Ossy and Surányi, ; Leel‐Ossy et al ., ), in the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA (Bakalowicz et al ., ; Ford, ; Palmer and Palmer, ), in the Bihor Mountains, Romania (Onac, ), in Provence, France (Audra et al ., , ), in the Western Carpathians, Slovak Republic (Orvosova et al ., ), in Turkmenia (Maltsev and Malishevsky, ; Bottrell et al ., ) and Algeria (Collignon, ).…”

“…These caves can be termed ‘mine caves’. Good examples are known in Spain (Fernandez Ortega and Valls Uriol, ; Fernandez‐Cortes et al ., ; Gazquez et al ., ), in Mexico (Forti, ; Forti and Sanna, ; Badino et al ., ), in the United Kingdom (Ford, ), in the Slovak Republic (Orvosova et al ., ), in Romania (Onac, ), in Sicily (Capitano et al ., ) and in Sardinia, Italy (De Waele et al ., ; Pagliara et al ., ; Caddeo et al ., ).…”