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Evidence for the mechanism of the reaction producing a bournonite–galena symplectite from meneghinite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Ni Wen ,
J. R. Ashworth  and
R. A. Ixer
Ni Wen
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
J. R. Ashworth
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
R. A. Ixer
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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Abstract

In vein material from the abandoned copper mine at Dhurode, County Cork, Republic of Ireland, the sulphosalt meneghinite is partly replaced by later minerals, notably a symplectite of galena and bournonite. Mineral analyses and proportions indicate that the bulk Pb/Sb ratio in the symplectite is almost identical to that of the meneghinite. It is inferred that Pb and Sb were the relatively immobile elements whose short-range segregation controlled the scale of symplectite intergrowth, during a diffusive replacement reaction in which Cu and S were added from the vein-forming fluid. This is the second sulphosalt-bearing symplectite for which immobile elements have been identified. In both cases, the inferred replacement reaction causes a volume increase, approximately 15% in the present example.

Keywords

symplectitemeneghinitebournonitereplacementIreland
Type
Mineralogy and Geochemistry
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 55 , Issue 379 , June 1991 , pp. 153 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1991

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