Colourful speleothems in the Wieliczka Salt Mine

Abstract

Sec ond ary ha lite de pos its in the Wieliczka Salt Mine are rep re sented by var i ous forms of speleothems. Some of them, e.g. sta lac tites, cau li flow ers or crusts, re veal var i ous hues, yel low to red to brown. These hues are re lated to iron com pounds, but the forms, oc cur rence and com po si tion of these com pounds has not pre vi ously been stud ied. To ex plain the or i gin of their colours a de tailed study of sam ples col lected in the mine, in clud ing brines and wa ter sol u ble ex tracts and pro duced ex per imen tally in the lab o ra tory, has been un der taken us ing SEM, XRD and AAS. The colour ful speleothems are com pared, us ing SEM-EDS, with the forms and com po si tion of rust ing metal artefacts, where sev eral iron ox ide min er als have been iden ti fied. We sug gest that col oured ha lite is gen er ally pure ha lite of which the sur face was cov ered by a fer ric min er als sus pen sion in the brine. Colours of the speleothems stem from the var i ous colours of iron min er als whereas their in ten sity is re lated prob ably to the type of fluid that coated the crys tals, a con tin u ous film or finely dis persed mi cron-size min eral ag gre gates.

Geomorphology of old and abandoned underground mines: Review and future challenges

“…Among the new geomorphic forms are speleothems (Figures 2E-F), which are, according to their genesis and morphology, quite similar to those forming in natural caves (Baldini, 2001;Garofalo et al, 2010;Gázquez et al, 2012;Motyka and Szuwarzyński, 1989), which is also the reason why speleological terminology is used here (Sawłowicz et al, 2014). These speleothems are generally of minerogenic origin; however, they can develop with the participation of microorganisms (Falteisek et al, 2016;Motyka and Szuwarzyński, 1989;Spear et al, 2007).…”

“…(Filippi, 2004;Rybnikova and Rybnikov, 2017). In the Wieliczka salt mine in Poland, Sawłowicz et al (2014) studied variously coloured speleothems and their unusual forms. Owing to secondary minerals like calcium sulphate, iron oxides or hydroxides, some speleothems gain milky or grey-brown colours.…”

Rare Occurrence of Mirabilite in the Thirteenth-Century Historic Salt Mine in Bochnia (Poland): Characterisation, Preservation, and Geotourism

“…The beige-to-brown efflorescences and encrustations are formed of crystals measuring up to 1 cm. The mirabilite mineral is originally white-yellow in colour, and the brown colour is probably imparted by the impurities resulting from the corrosion of the steel support (Sawłowicz et al 2014). In addition to the important field observations, it was necessary to confirm the occurrence of this unique mineral in the underground space through sample collection and laboratory analyses.…”

An Integrated Process for Innovative Extraction of Metals from Kupferschiefer Mine Dumps, Germany

“…3) It is well established that V is closely related to the organic carbon content of the Kupferschiefer and other black shales. At least in parts this element can be bound to vanadyl porphyrins [6,7,10,11], although it is not possible to preclude that it was also incorporated into aluminosilicates (clay minerals like illite) during diagenesis (i.e. lithification) of the host rock [11].…”