Clinoptilolite and associated authigenic minerals in Miocene tuffaceous rocks in the Goose Creek Basin, Cassia County, Idaho

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6611429

Brownfield, M E; Hildebrand, R T

Miocene tuffaceous fluviolacustrine deposits in the southeastern part of the Goose Creek basin contain a variety of authigenic minerals, including clinoptilolite, smectite, pyrite, gypsum, and calcite. Clinoptilolite is the primary mineral in the diagenetically altered rhyolitic vitric tuffs in the study area. These zeolitic tuffs locally attain thicknesses of as much as 30 meters. Examinations of samples of the altered tuff beds using the scanning electron microscope reveal that the clinoptilolite usually occurs as clean, well-formed tabular crystals about 0.005 mm across in a matrix of smectite. Prismatic clinoptilolite crystals, as much as 0.06 mm long, are present in the larger vugs. During the Miocene, thick beds of air-fall rhyolitic vitric volcanic ash accumulated in the Goose Creek basin in a coalescing fluviolacustrine depositional setting. In the southeastern part of the basin, the volcanic ash was deposited in a lacustrine fan delta, where it was partly reworked and interbedded with sandstone and siltstone. Diagenetic alteration of the ash beds proceeded in an open hydrologic system. Solution and hydrolysis by ground water initially altered the glass shards to form smectite and silica gel. Clinoptilolite subsequently precipitated on the altered shard surfaces. The paragenesis of pyrite, gypsum, and calcite in the zeolitic tuffs is uncertain.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Denver, CO (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6611429
• Report Number(s): CONF-8510489-
• Journal Information: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
IDAHO
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
CLINOPTILOLITE
TUFF
MINERALOGY
PARAGENESIS
PETROGENESIS
ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS
CALCITE
DIAGENESIS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GYPSUM
MIOCENE EPOCH
PYRITE
SMECTITE
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM SILICATES
CALCIUM CARBONATES
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM SULFATES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONATE MINERALS
CARBONATES
CENOZOIC ERA
CHALCOGENIDES
CLAYS
FEDERAL REGION X
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
INORGANIC ION EXCHANGERS
ION EXCHANGE MATERIALS
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFIDES
MATERIALS
MINERALS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SILICATE MINERALS
SILICATES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SULFATE MINERALS
SULFATES
SULFIDE MINERALS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TERTIARY PERIOD
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
USA
ZEOLITES
580300* - Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics- (-1989)
580400 - Geochemistry- (-1989)