Hatrurim Formation

Last updated

The Hatrurim Formation or Mottled Zone is a geologic formation with outcrops all around the Dead Sea Basin: in the Negev Desert in Israel, in the Judaean Desert on the West Bank, and in western Jordan. It includes late Cretaceous to Eocene aged impure limestone along with coal bearing chalk and marl. The rocks have been subjected to pyrometamorphism resulting from combustion of contained or underlying coal or hydrocarbon deposits. The formation is named for exposures in the Hatrurim Basin which lies west of the Dead Sea. [1]

During the 1960s, a group of scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, including Yaakov Ben-Tor, and Lisa Heller-Kallai, discovered that the Hatrurim Formation contained several rare, if not unique, mineral assemblages. The formation is the type locality for five unusual minerals and noted for other minerals serving as reference for mineral phases formed at high temperature (1450 °C) in the clinker of Portland cement. [1]

Shulamit Gross, an Israeli geologist and mineralogist, continued to study these rare minerals. In 1977, she published a monograph describing 123 mineral species discovered in the Hatrurim Formation. [2] [3] Five were previously known only from a single locality, and eight others were known only as artificial products of the cement industry. Gross also discovered several minerals completely new to science: bentorite, ye'elimite, and hatrurite. [4] [5] [6] [7] A fourth mineral discovered by Gross was only described later by Dietmar Weber and Adolf Bischoff, which they named grossite after Shulamit. [2] [8] [9]

Gross demonstrated that the unique mineral assemblages discovered in the Hatrurim Formation were formed by pyrometamorphism, and she managed to recreate in the laboratory most of the minerals by heating the precursor sedimentary rocks of the Ghareb and Taqiye formations.

In 2011, a new perovskite-related mineral from the Hatrurim Basin was named shulamitite to honor Shulamit Gross for her works. [10] [11] Shulamitite, ideally Ca3TiFe(III)AlO8, is a mineral intermediate between perovskite (CaTiO3) and brownmillerite (Ca2(Fe,Al)2O5), a mineral of the cement clinker.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titanite</span> Nesosilicate mineral

Titanite, or sphene (from Ancient Greek σφηνώ (sphēnṓ) 'wedge'), is a calcium titanium nesosilicate mineral, CaTiSiO5. Trace impurities of iron and aluminium are typically present. Also commonly present are rare earth metals including cerium and yttrium; calcium may be partly replaced by thorium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sekaninaite</span> Mg, Fe, Al cyclosilicate mineral

Sekaninaite ((Fe+2,Mg)2Al4Si5O18) is a silicate mineral, the iron-rich analogue of cordierite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melilite</span> Sorosilicate mineral

Melilite refers to a mineral of the melilite group. Minerals of the group are solid solutions of several endmembers, the most important of which are gehlenite and åkermanite. A generalized formula for common melilite is (Ca,Na)2(Al,Mg,Fe2+)[(Al,Si)SiO7]. Discovered in 1793 near Rome, it has a yellowish, greenish-brown color. The name derives from the Greek words meli (μέλι) "honey" and lithos (λίθους) "stone".The name refers to a group of minerals (melilite group) with chemically similar composition, nearly always minerals in åkermanite-gehlenite series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brownmillerite</span> Rare calcium aluminium oxide mineral

Brownmillerite is a rare oxide mineral with chemical formula Ca2(Al,Fe)2O5. It is named for Lorrin Thomas Brownmiller (1902–1990), chief chemist of the Alpha Portland Cement Company, Easton, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bentorite</span> Rare chromium-rich ettringite, or Cr-AFt

Bentorite is a mineral with the chemical formula Ca6(Cr,Al)2(SO4)3(OH)12·26H2O. It is colored violet to light violet. Its crystals are hexagonal to dihexagonal dipyramidal. It is transparent and has vitreous luster. It has perfect cleavage. It is not radioactive. Bentorite is rated 2 on the Mohs scale.

In inorganic chemistry, mineral hydration is a reaction which adds water to the crystal structure of a mineral, usually creating a new mineral, commonly called a hydrate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ettringite</span> Hydrous calcium sulfo-aluminate

Ettringite is a hydrous calcium aluminium sulfate mineral with formula: Ca6Al2(SO4)3(OH)12·26H2O. It is a colorless to yellow mineral crystallizing in the trigonal system. The prismatic crystals are typically colorless, turning white on partial dehydration. It is part of the ettringite-group which includes other sulfates such as thaumasite and bentorite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ye'elimite</span> Natural form of anhydrous calcium sulfoaluminate

Ye'elimite is the naturally occurring form of anhydrous calcium sulfoaluminate, Ca
4(AlO
2)
6SO
4. It gets its name from Har Ye'elim in Israel in the Hatrurim Basin west of the Dead Sea where it was first found in nature by Shulamit Gross, an Israeli mineralogist and geologist who studied the Hatrurim Formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portlandite</span> Calcium hydroxide mineral

Portlandite is a hydroxide-bearing mineral typically included in the oxide mineral class. It is the naturally occurring form of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) and the calcium analogue of brucite (Mg(OH)2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennite</span> Inosilicate alteration mineral in metamorphosed limestone and in skarn

Jennite is a calcium silicate hydrate mineral of general chemical formula: Ca9Si6O18(OH)6·8H2O.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chlormayenite</span> Mayenite supergroup, mayenite mineral

Chlormayenite (after Mayen, Germany), Ca12Al14O32[☐4Cl2], is a rare calcium aluminium oxide mineral of cubic symmetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grossite</span>

Grossite is a calcium aluminium oxide mineral with formula CaAl4O7. It is a colorless to white vitreous mineral which crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system.

Aradite is a very rare mineral with formula BaCa6[(SiO4)(VO4)](VO4)2F. Aradite and its phosphorus-analogue, zadovite, were found in paralavas (rocks formed due to pyrometamorphism) of the Hatrurim Formation. Both aradite and zadovite have structures similar to that of nabimusaite. Structure of all three minerals is related to that of hatrurite.

Zadovite is an extremely rare mineral with formula BaCa6[(SiO4)(PO4)](PO4)2F. Together with its vanadium-analogue, aradite, zadovite occur in paralavas (type of pyrometamorphic rocks). Both minerals have structures similar to nabimusaite, and these three minerals occur in the Hatrurim Formation of Israel. Structure of all three minerals is related to that of hatrurite. Minerals combining barium, phosphorus and silicon together are scarce.

Pyrometamorphism is a type of metamorphism in which rocks are rapidly changed by heat, e.g. coming from a rapidly emplaced extrusive or intrusive igneous rock or from a fossil fuel fire. The rocks produced by pyrometamorphism include buchite, clinker and paralava, formed due to melting and/or recrystallisation of sedimentary rocks. Both natural and anthropogenic examples of sites with active pyrometamorphism are known. One well-known area of natural pyrometamorphic rocks is the Hatrurim Formation with outcrops all around the Dead Sea Basin: in the Negev Desert in Israel, in the Judaean Desert on the West Bank, and in western Jordan. Xenoliths of sedimentary rocks trapped in volcanic lava may undergo pyrometamorphic transformation, as can some contact wallrocks. Anthropogenic pyrometamorphic rocks are found in burning coal-mining dumps. A great number of minerals, sometimes very rare, are found within these rocks. Of the silicate minerals, the typical ones are especially cordierite, indialite, fayalite, mullite, tridymite and cristobalite, and sekaninaite. Oxide minerals include corundum, hematite, hercynite, magnesioferrite, and magnetite. Some rare minerals typical of meteorites, like oldhamite, are also found in pyrometamorphic rocks.

Nabimusaite is a very rare mineral with formula KCa12(SiO4)4(SO4)2O2F. Its structure, as in case of similar aradite and zadovite, is a derivative of the one of hatrurite. Nabimusaite gives its name to the nabimusaite group. The mineral was found in a pyrometamorphic rock of the Hatrurim Formation, a site known for the natural pyrometamorphism. It is interpreted to have formed due to interaction of a precursor assemblage with sulfate-rich melt. Nabimusaite is potassium- and fluorine-analogue of dargaite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurimite</span> Barium vanadate mineral

Gurimite is a rare mineral with formula Ba3(VO4)2. It is a simple barium vanadate, one of the most simple barium minerals known. It is named after its type locality - Gurim anticline in Israel. It has formed in the rocks of the Hatrurim Formation. Gurimite's stoichiometry is similar to that of copper vanadates mcbirneyite and pseudolyonsite. An example of other barium vanadate mineral is tokyoite.

Hexacelsian is a rare barium silicate mineral with the formula BaAl2Si2O8. It was discovered in the Hatrurim Basin in Israel, where the Hatrurim Formation of rocks formed due to exposed pyrometamorphism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shulamit Gross</span> Israeli geologist

Shulamit Gross was an Israeli mineralogist and geologist who studied the Hatrurim Formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tacharanite</span> Calcium aluminium silicate hydrate mineral

Tacharanite is a calcium aluminium silicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) mineral of general chemical formula Ca12Al2Si18O33(OH)36 with some resemblance to the calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) mineral tobermorite. It is often found in mineral assemblage with zeolites and other hydrated calcium silicates.

References

  1. 1 2 Mindat location
  2. 1 2 Weiss-Sarusi, Keren (2016). "Petrographic atlas of the Hatrurim Formation" (PDF). Geological Survey of Israel. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  3. ↑ Gross, Shulamit (1977). The Mineralogy of the Hatrurim Formation, Israel. Geological Survey of Israel.
  4. ↑ journal, Science First Hand. "Reflections of Eternal Flames". Science First Hand. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  5. ↑ "The Bentorite Mineral | Mineralogy and Petrology Collection". nnhc.huji.ac.il. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  6. ↑ "Bentorite: Bentorite mineral information and data". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  7. ↑ "Shulamitite & Ye'elimite". e-rocks.com. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  8. ↑ Barthelmy, Dave. "Grossite Mineral Data". webmineral.com. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  9. ↑ Weber, Dietmar; Bischoff, Adolf (1994). "Grossite (CaAl4O7) – a rare phase in terrestrial rocks and meteorites". European Journal of Mineralogy. 6 (4): 591–594. Bibcode:1994EJMin...6..591W. doi:10.1127/ejm/6/4/0591.
  10. ↑ Victor V. Sharygin; Biljana Lazic; Thomas M. Armbruster; Mikhail N. Murashko; Richard Wirth; Irina O. Galuskina; Evgeny V. Galuskin; Yevgeny Vapnik; Sergey N. Britvin; Alla M. Logvinova (2012). "Shulamitite Ca3TiFe3+AlO8 – a new perovskite-related mineral from Hatrurim Basin, Israel". European Journal of Mineralogy. 25 (1): 97–111. Bibcode:2013EJMin..25...97S. doi:10.1127/0935-1221/2013/0025-2259.
  11. ↑ "Shulamitite: Shulamitite mineral information and data". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2018-08-01.


Rock Strata.jpg

This article about a specific stratigraphic formation in Asia is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.