Fumarole minerals (or fumarolic minerals) are minerals which are deposited by fumarole exhalations. They form when gases and compounds desublimate or precipitate out of condensates, forming mineral deposits. They are mostly associated with volcanoes (as volcanic sublimate or fumarolic sublimate) following deposition from volcanic gas during an eruption or discharge from a volcanic vent or fumarole, [1] but have been encountered on burning coal deposits as well. They can be black or multicoloured and are often unstable upon exposure to the atmosphere.
Native sulfur, in this context called brimstone, is a common sublimate mineral and various halides, sulfides and sulfates occur in this environment associated with fumaroles and eruptions. A number of rare minerals are fumarole minerals, and at least 240 such minerals are known from Tolbachik volcano in Kamchatka, Russia. Other volcanoes where particular fumarole minerals have been discovered are Vulcano in Italy and Bezymyanny also in Russia.
In fumaroles, minerals either form through desublimation from fumarole gases or through interactions of fumarole gases with country rock. [2] The former are known as sublimates and the latter as incrustations. [3] Some such deposits may also form through the interaction between liquid fumarole condensates and country rock [4] and are not always formed by desublimation. [5] Repeated cycles of primary deposition and secondary alteration may occur. [6] Volcanic gases such as hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, sulfur dioxide and water [7] can transport large amounts of elements, thus contributing to geochemical cycles on the surface and the formation of ore deposits at depth. [8] When these exhalations reach the atmosphere and cool, the minerals contained in them tend to precipitate out. [9]
Volcanic fumarole minerals (as volcanic sublimate or fumarolic sublimate) form following deposition from volcanic gas during an eruption or discharge from a volcanic vent or fumarole. [1] Burning coal produces enough heat to partially melt rocks and to generate exhalations of the mineral components embedded in coal. [10] Coal seam fires often deposit fumarolic minerals over areas of a few square metres which can be detected by airborne hyperspectral imagery. [11] Coal fires can mobilize toxic trace elements. [12] Fumarole minerals have also been found in Gusev crater on Mars [13] and possibly in a sample returned from the Moon by the probe Chang'e-5. [14]
Fumarole deposits have been used to identify heat flow anomalies and to reconstruct ore genesis processes. [6]
Fumarole exhalations are often black or multicoloured, and tend to develop typical zonations. Common components are sulfur compounds and elemental sulfur. [9] In the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Alaska the fumarole minerals form both thin crusts in the vents, mixtures with tephra deposits [15] and coloured outcrops and mounds at the sites of former fumaroles. [16] Deposits at Tolbachik volcano have shapes likef crusts, small plates [17] and globules. [18]
Typical components of fumarole minerals are halides, oxides, sulfates and sulfides, [19] with the exact composition different between volcanoes, individual vents at volcanoes and different temperatures of the same vent. [20] [21] Fumarolic minerals are often unstable and are eroded or decompose, [22] in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Alaska it took less than a century for almost all fumarole mineral deposits to disappear [23] although others remained and were later used to identify former fumarole vents. [24] Thus, many fumarole minerals are rare and many rare minerals are fumarole minerals. [25] Some fumarolic minerals have been found in extinct Cenozoic volcanoes [26] and could exist in Archean rocks as well, however. [27] Unique textures occur such as bubble-like structures, which may form when the liquid that deposits the minerals evaporates. [4]
Research on the mineralogy of fumarole minerals has been conducted in Central America, Russia and Europe, [19] with detailed publications on Izalco in El Salvador, [28] Eldfell in Iceland, [29] Vesuvius [20] where research goes back to the early 19th century [30] and Vulcano in Italy, Mount Usu in Japan, Kudryavy and Tolbachik in Russia, Kilauea and Mount St. Helens in the United States. [19] Sulfur deposits containing fumarolic desublimates are found at Guallatiri and Lastarria volcanoes in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. [31] Kudryavy volcano in the Kurils is particularly known for the numerous mineralizations its fumaroles have produced [32] and for the presence of rhenium-rich precipitates. [3] Among the elements found there are copper-gold-silver alloys. [33] Various sulfate-based minerals have been identified at the Salton Buttes in California. [34] Fumarolic minerals have also been reported from the Western Andes in Bolivia. [35]
The most fumarolic minerals have been found at Tolbachik volcano in Kamchatka, Russia; Tolbachik also has one of the most diverse mineral assemblages in the world, [26] with a number of "endemic" minerals. [36] The high temperature and oxidizing regime of exhalations which transport the elements at Tolbachik facilitates mineral deposition. [37] A large assemblage of silicates [38] and a number of copper-zinc selenite chlorides [39] and copper-based fumarolic minerals were discovered at Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka, Russia. Many of these include polymeric CuO
4 units. [2] About 240 minerals have been identified at Tolbachik, [26] close to a record, [40] 40 of them only incompletely studied. [41] Elemental gold linked to chlorides at Tolbachik has been interpreted as gold transported by chlorine-rich oxidizing environments. [42] Specimens of fumarole minerals from Tolbachik and Kudryavy are hosted by the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow. [43]
Historical lava flows of Vesuvius volcano contain fumarolic minerals. [44] Various fumarole minerals have been discovered at Vulcano volcano in Italy, where the mineralogy has changed since 1987 and 1990 due to hotter fumarole exhalations, [45] yielding increased sulfate and sulfur salt concentrations. [46] Fumarolic minerals have also been encountered in multiple mud volcanoes in Siberia. [47]
Mineral | Formula | Location | Date described | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
Abramovite | Pb 2SnInBiS 7 | Kudryavy, Russia | 2008 | [48] |
Allochalcoselite | Cu+ Cu2+ 5PbO 2(SeO 3) 2Cl 5 | [49] | ||
Aluminocoquimbite | AlFe(SO 4)* 3H 2O | Grotta del' Alume, Vulcano, Italy | 2010 | [50] |
Aluminopyracmonite | (NH 4) 3Al(SO 4) 3 | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2018 | [51] |
Arsmirandite | Na 18Cu2+ 12Fe3+ O 8(AsO 4) 8Cl 5 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2020 | [2] |
Axelite | Na 14Cu 7(AsO 4) 8F 2Cl 2 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2022 | [52] |
Baliczunicite | Bi 2O(SO 4) 2 | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2013 | [46] |
Belomarinaite | KNaSO 4 | Toludskoe lava field, Tolbachik, Russia | 2019 | [53] |
Belousovite | KZn(SO 4)Cl | Yadovitaya fumarole, Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2018 | [54] |
Blossite | α‑Cu2+ 2V5+ 2O 7 | Izalco, El Salvador | 1987 | [28] |
Bubnovaite | K 2Na 8Ca(SO 4) 6 | Naboko cone, Tolbachik, Russia | [55] | |
Burnsite | KCdCu 7O 2(SeO 3) 2Cl 9 | Tolbachik | 2002? | [56] |
Cadmoindite | CdIn 2S 4 | Kudryavy, Russia | 2004 | [57] |
Calciolangbeinite | K 2Ca 2(SO 4) 3 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2022 | [58] |
Campostriniite | (Bi3+ ,Na) 3(NH, 4K) 2Na 2(SO 4)· 6H 2O | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2015 | [59] |
Cannizzarite | Pb 46Bi 54(S ,Se) 127 | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | [60] | |
Cesiodymite | CsKCu 5O(SO 4) 5 | Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2018 | [61] |
Chubarovite | KZn 2(BO 3)Cl 2 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2015 | [62] |
Cryptocalcite | K 2Cu 5O(SO 4) 5 | Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2018 | [61] |
Cuprodobrovolskyite | Na 4Cu(SO 4) 3 | Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik | 2023 | [63] |
Cupromolybdite | Cu 3O(MoO 4) 2 | New Tolbachik scoria cones, Tolbachik, Russia | 2012 | [64] |
D'ansite | Na 21Mn2+ (SO 4) 10Cl | Vesuvius and Vulcano, Italy | 2012 | [65] |
Demartinite | K 2SiF 6 | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2007 | [66] |
Demicheleite | BiSI and BiSBr | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2010 and 2008 | [67] [68] |
Dobrovolskyite | Na 4Ca(SO 4) 3 | Great Tolbachik fissure eruption, Kamchatka peninsula, Russia | 2021 | [69] |
Elasmochloite | Na 3Cu 6BiO 4(SO 4) | [70] | ||
Eldfellite | NaFe(SO 4) 2 | [71] | ||
Ermakovite | (NH 4)(As 2O 3) 2Br | Fan-Yagnob coal deposit, Tajikistan | 2022 | [72] |
Grigorievite | Cu 3Fe3+ 2Al 2(VO 4) | Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2015 | [73] |
Hermannjahnite | CuZn(SO 4) 2 | Naboko scoria cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2018 | [74] |
Karpovite | Tl 2VO(SO 4) 2(H 2O) | First Cinder Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2018 | [75] |
Knasibfite | K 3Na 4[SiF 6] 3[BF 4] | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2008 | [76] |
Koksharovite | CaMg 2Fe3+ 4(VO 4) 6 | Bezymyanny, Russia | 2015 | [73] |
Kristjánite | KNa 2H(SO 4) 2 | Fimmvörðuháls, Iceland | 2010 | [77] |
Kudriavite | (Cd ,Pb)Bi 2S 4 | Kudryavy, Russia | 2004 | [57] |
Lehmannite | Na 18Cu2+ 12TiO 8(AsO 4) 8FCl 5 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik | 2020 | [2] |
Leonardsenite | MgAlF 5(H 2O) 2 | Eldfell, Heimaey, Iceland | 2015 | [73] |
Lesyukite | Al 2(OH) 5Cl20− *H 2O | First Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2007 or earlier | [78] |
Lucabindiite | (K ,NH 4)As 4O 6(Cl ,Br) | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2010–2011 | [79] |
Majzlanite | K 2Na(ZnNa)Ca(SO 4) 4 | Yadovitaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2019 | [80] |
Manuelarossiite | CaPbAlF 7 | Vesuvius volcano, Italy | 2024? | [81] |
Medvedevite | KMnV 2O 6Cl *(H 2O) 2 | Toludskoe lava field, Tolbachik, Russia | 2020 | [82] |
Napoliite | Pb 2OFCl | Vesuvius, 1994 rocks | 2010-2020 | [83] |
Nishanbaevite | KAl 2O(AsO 4)(SO 4) | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2022 | [84] |
Oskarssonite | AlF 3 | Eldfell, Iceland | 2018 | [29] |
Ozerovaite | Na 2KAl 3(AsO 4) 4 | Second Cinder Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2019 | [85] |
Paradimorphite | As 4S 3 | Solfatara, Campi Flegrei, Italy | 2022 | [86] |
Parageorgbokiite | b- Cu 5O 2(SeO 3) 2Cl 2 | Yadovitaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2007 | [87] |
Parascandolaite | KMgF 3 | Vesuvius, Italy | 2014 | [88] |
Parawulffite | K 5Na 3Cu 8O 4(SO 4) 8 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2014 | [89] |
Petrovite | Na 10CaCu 2(SO 4) 8 | Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2020 | [18] |
Pliniusite | Ca 5(VO 4) 3F | Tolbachik, Russia | 2022 | [90] |
Prewittite | KPb 1.5Cu 6Zn(SeO 3) 2O 2Cl 10 | Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2013 | [39] |
Pseudolyonsite | Cu 3(VO 4) 2 | New Tolbachik scoria cones, Tolbachik, Russia | 2011 | [91] |
Puninite | Na 2Cu 3O(SO 4) 3 | Second scoria cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 2017 | [92] |
Rhabdoborite | Mg 12(V ,Mo ,W) 4/3O 6[(BO 3) 6–x(PO 4) xF 2–x] | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2020 | [93] |
Russoite | NH 4ClAs3+ 2O 3(H 2O) 0.5 | Solfatara, Phlegrean Fields, Italy | 2018 | [94] |
Ryabchikovite | CuMg(Si 2O 6) | Arsenatnaya, Tolbachik | 2023 | [95] |
Sbacchiite | Ca 2AlF 7 | Vesuvius, Italy | 2019 | [96] |
Shcherbinaite | V 2O 5 | Izalco, El Salvador | 1983 | [97] |
Stoiberite | Cu 5V 2O 10 | "Y fumarole", Izalco, El Salvador | 1979 | [98] |
Therasiaite | (NH 4) 3KNa 2Fe2+ Fe3+ (SO 4) 3Cl 5 | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2014 | [99] |
Thermessaite | (NH 4) 2AlF 3(SO 4) | La Fossa, Vulcano, Italy | 2021 | [100] |
Topsøeite | FeF 3(H 2O) 3 | Hekla, Iceland | 2018 | [101] |
Wulffite | K 3NaCu 4O 2(SO 4) 4 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2014 | [89] |
Vasilseverginite | Cu 9O 4(AsO 4) 2(SO 4) 2 | Arsenatnaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2021 | [102] |
Wrightite | K 2Al 2O(AsO 4) 2 | Second Scoria Cone, Tolbachik, Russia | 1983 | [103] |
Yavapaiite | KFe(SO 4) 2 | [71] | ||
Ziminaite | Fe3+ VO 4 | Bezymyanny, Russia | 2018 | [104] |
Zincobradaczekite | NaCuCuZn 2(AsO 4) 3 | Yadovitaya fumarole, Tolbachik, Russia | 2020 | [105] |
Vanadyl(IV) sulfate describes a collection of inorganic compounds of vanadium with the formula, VOSO4(H2O)x where 0 ≤ x ≤ 6. The pentahydrate is common. This hygroscopic blue solid is one of the most common sources of vanadium in the laboratory, reflecting its high stability. It features the vanadyl ion, VO2+, which has been called the "most stable diatomic ion".
Kambalny is a stratovolcano located in the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. It is the southernmost active volcano of Kamchatka. It has erupted mafic rocks. It has a summit crater as well as five cinder cones on its flanks which are the source of lava flows.
Abramovite is a very rare mineral from the sulfides and sulfosalt categories. It has the chemical formula Pb2SnInBiS7. It occurs as tiny elongated lamellar-shaped crystals, up 1 mm × 0.2 mm in size, and is characterized by its non-commensurate structure.
Urusovite is a rare copper aluminium arsenate mineral with formula: CuAlAsO5. It is a monoclinic-prismatic light green mineral.
Piypite is a rare potassium, copper sulfate mineral with formula: K2Cu2O(SO4)2. It crystallizes in the tetragonal system and occurs as needlelike crystals and masses. Individual crystals are square in cross-section and often hollow. It is emerald green to black in color with a vitreous to greasy luster.
Feodosiyite is a very rare chloride mineral, just recently approved, with the formula Cu11Mg2Cl18(OH)8•16H2O. Its structure is unique. Feodosiyite comes from the Tolbachik volcano, famous for many rare fumarolic minerals. Chemically similar minerals, chlorides containing both copper and magnesium, include haydeeite, paratacamite-(Mg) and tondiite.
Vasilseverginite is a very rare arsenate-sulfate mineral with formula Cu9O4(AsO4)2(SO4)2. Its structure is of a new type. It possesses a typical feature of many minerals of its type locality, the Tolbachik volcano, namely being a salt with oxide anions. However, it is the first Tolbachik copper oxysalt that is both arsenate and sulfate. Vasilseverginite is monoclinic, with space group P21/n.
Chrysothallite is a rare thallium-bearing chloride mineral with the formula K6Cu6Tl3+Cl17(OH)4•H2O. Chrysothallite is unique in being only the second mineral with essential trivalent thallium, a feature shared with natural thallium(III) oxide, avicennite. Another examples of natural thallium chlorides are steropesite, Tl3BiCl6, and lafossaite, TlCl. Chrysothallite is one of numerous fumarolic minerals discovered among fumarolic sites of the Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka, Russia The mineral is named in allusion to its colour and thallium content.
Itelmenite is a rare sulfate mineral with the formula Na4Mg3Cu3(SO4)8. It is one of many fumarolic minerals discovered on the Tolbachik volcano.
Hermannjahnite is a rare sulfate mineral with the relatively simple formula CuZn(SO4)2. It is one of many fumarolic minerals discovered on the Tolbachik volcano.
Kainotropite is a rare vanadate mineral with the formula Cu4FeO2(V2O7)(VO4). It contains trivalent iron. It is one of many fumarolic minerals discovered on the Tolbachik volcano. The name of its parental fumarole is "Yadovitaya", which means poisonous.
The carbonate chlorides are double salts containing both carbonate and chloride anions. Quite a few minerals are known. Several artificial compounds have been made. Some complexes have both carbonate and chloride ligands. They are part of the family of halocarbonates. In turn these halocarbonates are a part of mixed anion materials.
Wulffite is an alkali copper sulfate mineral with the chemical formula K3NaCu4O2(SO4)4, in the sulfate category of minerals. It was recently discovered in Kamchatka, Russia at the Tolbachik volcano in 2012. It was named for Russian crystallographer Georgiy Viktorovich Wulff, a renowned expert who furthered X-ray diffraction and interference. Wullfite shares many properties with parawulffite, which was found in the same area just with slightly different chemical composition.
The silicate carbonates are double salts that contain both silicate and carbonate in their formula. Most compounds are natural minerals containing calcium or rare earth elements. However, some have been made experimentally. Silicate carbonate minerals can be formed in limestone metamorphosed by heating from igneous intrusions. Scawtite forms where the activity of calcium is high compared to H+. Spurrite forms in a limited range of calcium activity and high silica activity. In magma, a carbonate rich melt is imiscible with a silicate melt.
Euchlorine (KNaCu3(SO4)3O) is a rare emerald-green sulfate mineral found naturally occurring as a sublimate in fumaroles around volcanic eruptions. It was first discovered in fumaroles of the 1868 eruption at Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy by Arcangelo Scacchi. The name 'euchlorine' comes from the Greek word εΰχλωρος meaning "pale green" in reference to the mineral's color, other reported spellings include euclorina, euchlorin, and euchlorite.
The sulfate chlorides are double salts containing both sulfate (SO42–) and chloride (Cl–) anions. They are distinct from the chlorosulfates, which have a chlorine atom attached to the sulfur as the ClSO3− anion.
The sulfate fluorides are double salts that contain both sulfate and fluoride anions. They are in the class of mixed anion compounds. Some of these minerals are deposited in fumaroles.
Petrovite is a blue and green mineral, with the chemical formula of Na10CaCu2(SO4)8. It contains atoms of oxygen (O), sodium (Na), sulphur (S), calcium (Ca) and copper (Cu) in a porous framework. It has potential as a cathode material in sodium-ion rechargeable batteries.
The arsenite bromides are mixed anion compounds containing both arsenite and bromide ions. Similar compounds include arsenate bromides, arsenite chlorides, antimonite bromides, antimonite chlorides, and ...
Aleutite is both a vanadate and arsenate mineral but it can also be considered as a natural salt-inclusion phase that was first discovered at Second scoria cone of the Great Fissure Tolbachik eruption in the summer of 2015 in Kamchatka, Russia. Aleutite is a fumarolic mineral found with many other newly discovered minerals at this location. It gained the name from the Aleuts, the ethnic group who are the original inhabitants living on the Commander Islands, Aleutsky District, Kamchatka Krai. This mineral is very brittle and has a dark red color. Aleutite is a new structure type, the structure was refined as a 2-component twin, the twin ratio equals (0.955:0.045).