Geological-Geochemical Signatures of Opal Occurrences in Keciborlu (Isparta-Turkey)

Abstract

Silica-rich solutions, considered as the final products of acidic volcanism, which started from the Late Miocene to throughout the Plio-Quaternary around Isparta, are effective along the main fault observed around the Keciborlu (Isparta) sulfur deposit. Therefore, opal occurrences are intensively observed along this fault zone. Opal occurrences are in various colors such as gray, beige, yellowish, reddish, blackish. Opals with a massive structure, observed as bands, are sharp -edged, conchoidal diffraction, translucent, matte, oily glossy surface opals are iron oxidized. Some opals contain brecciated rock fragments. The locations of the opal occurrences in the field were determined in this study. Using representative samples, structural and textural properties of opals were determined by thin section, scanning electron microscopy analyses, and mineral paragenesis was analyzed via x-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses. Geochemical findings revealed chemical compositions. Based on the thin-section studies, it was observed that the opalized samples lost their primary properties due to the effect of hydrothermal solutions and they became iron oxidized, laminated, and argillized. In addition, they contain opaque minerals such as magnetite and hematite. Different micro textures such as amorphous, granular, desert rose, and lepisphere quartz associations were observed in SEM images. In the XRD and FTIR analyzes, it was determined that most of the opals were Opal CT and some of them were defined as Opal C type. Based on the geochemical analyses considering Ba <120 ppm and Ca >200 ppm, the remarkable changes in loss on ignition values, and the relative relationship between C/T ratio and Ga, such hydrothermal alterations in opals the Keciborlu opals were found to have the magmatic origin.