Petrographic and geochemical study on cave pearls from Kanaan Cave (Lebanon), 2007, Nader Fadi H.

The Kanaan cave is situated at the coastal zone, north of Beirut City (capital of Lebanon). The cave is located within the upper part of the Jurassic Kesrouane Formation (Liassic to Oxfordian) which consists mainly of micritic limestone. Twenty seven cave pearls were subjected to petrographic (conventional and scanning electron microscopy) and geochemical analyses (major/trace elements and stable isotopes). The cave pearls were found in an agitated splash-pool with low mud content. They are believed to have formed through chemical precipitation of calcite in water over-saturated with calcium. The nucleus and micritic laminae show ? 18OV-PDB values of about -5.0‰ and ? 13C V-PDB values of -11.8‰, while the surrounding calcite spar laminae resulted in ?18OV-PDB ranging between -5.3 and -5.2‰, and ? 13C V-PDB between -12.3 and -12.1‰. A genesis/diagenesis model for these speleothems is proposed involving recrystallization which has selectively affected the inner layers of the cave pearls. This is chiefly invoked by sparry calcite crystals ‘invading’ the inner micrite cortical laminae and the nuclei (cross-cutting the pre-existing mud-envelopes), and the slight depletion in ? 18O values from inner to outer cortical layers. The calculated ? 18OV-SMOW of the water (-4.2‰) matches with data on meteoric water signature for the central eastern Mediterranean region.

Petrographic and isotopic evidence for late-stage processes in sulfuric acid caves of the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, USA, 2012, Palmer Margaret, Palmer Arthur N.

Caves of the Guadalupe Mountains have experienced many modifications since their final phase of sulfuric acid speleogenesis several million years ago. Petrographic and geochemical data reveal details of the change from H2SO4 to CO2-dominated reactions. The H2SO4 dissolution front acquired a coating of replacement gypsum with local pockets of anhydrite and by-products of altered clay, including Fe-Mn oxides. Alteration of bedrock beneath the gypsum produced a white micritized rind with small negative shifts in δ13C and δ18O. Solution basins contain records of the earliest post-speleogenetic processes: corroded bedrock, residual anhydrite, Fe-Mn oxides from fluctuating pH and Eh, mammillary calcite, and dolomitization. Later meteoric water removed or recrystallized much of the gypsum and early micrite, and replaced some gypsum with calcite. Mammillary crusts demonstrate fluctuating groundwater, with calcite layers interrupted by films of Fe-Mn oxides precipitated during periodic inflow of anoxic water. Condensation moisture (from local evaporation) absorbs CO2 from cave air, corroding earlier features and lowering their δ13C and δ18O. Drips of condensation water deposit minerals mainly by evaporation, which increases δ18O in the speleothems while δ13C remains nearly constant. By forcing calcite precipitation, evaporation raises the Mg content of remaining water and subsequent precipitates. Dolomite (both primary and replacive) is abundant. In areas of low air circulation, water on and within carbonate speleothems equilibrates with cave-air CO2, causing minerals to recrystallize with glassy textures. Fluorite on young evaporative speleothems suggests a recent release of deep-source HF gas and absorption by droplets of condensation water.