Abstract
This paper presents the mineralization of five medium-size limestone-caves and eleven skarn-hosted caves from the upper part of Cri¿ul B¾ißei River (Bihor Mountains). Apart from berlinite – AlPO4, the other minerals reported from the limestone caves are common carbonates, phosphates or oxy-hydroxides. In turn, the skarn-hosted caves contain a diversity of minerals, including wittichenite, luzonite, natrolite, norsethite, rosasite, glaukosphaerite, aurichalcite, azurite, malachite and chalcanthite. Five of these minerals have never before been identified in a cave environment and moreover, three are new occurrences in Romania. Some of these minerals are hydrothermal in origin, whereas alteration and/or hydration of primary hydrothermal minerals formed the others. Considering the mineral assemblage, the morphology and the position of cavities within the skarn bodies, we assume these minerals formed during one of the following stages: hydrothermal, hydrothermal/vadose or
Recommended Citation
Onac, Bogdan P. and Damm, Paul
(2002)
Preliminary Data on the Mineralogy of Limestone and Skarn-Hosted Caves from Baita (Bihor county, Romania),
Studia UBB Geologia
47
(1): 93-104
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1937-8602.47.1.7
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geologia/vol47/iss1/art7
