Aragonite from Cu ore deposit La Profunda mine, Cármenes, León (Spain)
Article PDFAragonite from Cu ore deposit La Profunda mine, Cármenes, León (Spain)
In the historic mine La Profunda mine (Spain) copper and cobalt ores were mined from Roman times. Besides the source ore mineralization (chalcocite, bornite, tennantite, chalcopyrite) in sedimentary altered (dolomitized) Carbonaceous limestones, a massive aragonite with zonal texture was found in a karst systém which was exposed by the mine. It has a bluish-green color due to a slight Cu content (less than 0.25% CuO; 0.003 apfu Cu). Unlike similar locations, it was not replaced by calcite but probably was formed from lowtemperature solutions in connection with limestone dolomitization, where Mg has been acting as an inhibitor of calcite growth. The blue-green polished aragonite can be used as a nice precious stone.
Eva Víšková, Department of Mineralogy and Petrography, Moravian Museum, Zelný trh 6, 659 37 Brno, Czech Republic; eviskova@mzm.cz
Jan Loun, Institute of Geological Sciences, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic; loun.jan@seznam.cz
Vladimír Hrazdil, Department of Mineralogy and Petrography, Moravian Museum, Zelný trh 6, 659 37 Brno, Czech Republic; vhrazdil@mzm.cz
Jiří Toman, Department of Mineralogy and Petrography, Moravian Museum, Zelný trh 6, 659 37 Brno, Czech Republic; jtoman@mzm.cz