Alunite minerals occur as white powdery lumps and laminated coloured deposits within cavity and solution channel infill of the palaeokarst zone of the Upper Eocene Dammam Formation. This formation is exposed in a quarry located on the Al Ahmadi ridge within the Greater Burgan oil field in southern Kuwait. Field occurrences and sedimentary structures of the alunite deposits were described. Collected samples were petrographically described, and their mineralogy and geochemistry were determined using X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence, respectively. Microfabrics were investigated using SEM, revealing that they are primarily composed of fibrous alunogen (hydrous aluminium sulphate) and pseudo-cubical K-alunite (hydrous potassium aluminium sulphate). Their mode of occurrence suggests a hypogenetic origin, where sulphide gases associated with hydrocarbon gases reacted with an Al-rich solution leached from clay minerals and feldspars of the cavity-fill muddy sand sediments. The hydrocarbon gases may have seeped from subsurface petroliferous formations within the Greater Burgan oil field along vertical fractures. This study suggests that these acidic seeps may have played a role in the development of the palaeokarst zone of the Dammam Formation

Alunite minerals occur as white powdery lumps  and laminated coloured deposits within cavity and solution  channel infill of the palaeokarst zone of the Upper Eocene  Dammam Formation. This formation is exposed in a quarry  located on the Al Ahmadi ridge within the Greater Burgan oil  field in southern Kuwait. Field occurrences and sedimentary  structures of the alunite deposits were described. Collected  samples were petrographically described, and their mineralogy  and geochemistry were determined using X-ray diffraction  and X-ray fluorescence, respectively. Microfabrics were investigated  using SEM, revealing that they are primarily composed  of fibrous alunogen (hydrous aluminium sulphate) and  pseudo-cubical K-alunite (hydrous potassium aluminium sulphate).  Their mode of occurrence suggests a hypogenetic  origin, where sulphide gases associated with hydrocarbon  gases reacted with an Al-rich solution leached from clay  minerals and feldspars of the cavity-fill muddy sand sediments.  The hydrocarbon gases may have seeped from subsurface  petroliferous formations within the Greater Burgan oil  field along vertical fractures. This study suggests that these  acidic seeps may have played a role in the development of the  palaeokarst zone of the Dammam Formation.

This study examines the geochemical and mineralogical variations in the ferruginous mineralisations that crop out within Grotta della Monaca, which is considered to be the most striking and best known example of a prehistoric iron mine-cave from the southern Apennines (Calabria, Italy). Previous archaeological research identified three local and distinct ancient exploitation phases of these ferruginous mineralisations: (1) an Upper Palaeolithic phase; (2) a Late Neolithic phase; and (3) a post-Medieval phase. These materials, which have various forms of complex mineralogical admixtures and range in colour from yellow-orange to red and darker brown shades, mainly consist of iron oxides/hydroxides (essentially goethite and lepidocrocite), which are often mixed with subordinate and variable amounts of other matrix components (carbonates, sulphates, arsenates, silicates and organic matter). Such ferruginous mineralisations generally correspond to geochemically heterogeneous massive dyke/vein/mammillary/stratiform facies that are exposed within the local caves along open fractures and inclined bedding planes and that partially cover cave wall niches/notches/pockets and ceiling cupolas/holes. Selected samples/sub-samples are analysed through a multi-technique approach with a handheld portable X-ray Fluorescence, X-ray Diffraction, micro-Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscope (both conventional and attenuated total reflection), which is combined with subsequent multivariate statistical analysis of the elemental concentration data. The geochemical and mineralogical results are used to individualise similar compositional clusters. As expected, the identified groups, each of which has very specific geochemical-mineralogical “fingerprints” and spatial distributions, enable us to identify the sampled ferruginous mineralisations. These specific mineral resources can be compared to similar raw materials that are found in other neighbouring archaeological sites, with obvious implications toward understanding local exploitation strategies through time and the exchanges and kinship networks of these materials.