Geochemistry of the Igdekoy-Doganlar Na-Ca borate deposit, Emet Province (western Anatolia, Turkey)

Abstract

Bo rates at the Igdekoy-Doganlar lo cal ity were de pos ited in a Mio cene lac us trine en vi ron ment dur ing pe ri ods of Paleogene to Early Qua ter nary vol ca nic ac tiv ity. The min eral paragenesis con sists of probertite-NaCaB 5 O 7 (OH) 4 × 3H 2 O, ul ex ite-NaCa[B 5 O 6 (OH) 6 ] × 5H 2 O, hydroboracite-CaMg[B 3 O 4 (OH) 3 ] 2 × 3H 2 O, cole man ite-Ca[B 3 O 4 (OH) 3 ] × H 2 O, ha lite, anhydrite, glau ber ite, smectite and illite. The ma jor el e ment, Ca, is higher in the Igdekoy-Doganlar de pos its com pared to the av er ages for an de site and the Earth's crust. Within the trace el e ments, no ta ble en rich ment is iden ti fied in Li, Se, As, Sb, Sr and Cs. Lith ium and Se oc cur in suf fi cient con cen tra tions to be con sid ered as eco nom i cally valu able by-prod ucts. B and Sr anom a lies can be used as an im por tant marker in the ex plo ra tion for bo ron de pos its. The Y/Ho ra tio of the Igdekoy-Doganlar bo rates is close to chondritic val ues. The neg a tive Ce anom aly in bo rates from the Igdekoy-Doganlar de posit sug gests that de po si tion oc curred un der ox i da tive con di tions. The Eu and Ce anom a lies re flect a hy dro ther mal con tri bu tion of REE. Geo chem i cal and geo log i cal data sug gest that the Igdekoy-Doganlar bo rate de pos its were formed in high-pH playa lakes that were dis charged from vol canic and ter res trial en vi ron ments un der evap o ra tive con di tions due to the ef fect of arid-semi arid cli mate.