On the genesis of aluminum-rich speleothems in a granite cave of NW Spain

Authors

Jorge Sanjurjo-Sanchez, University of A Coruña, SpainFollow
Carlos Arce Chamorro, University of A Coruña, SpainFollow
Juan Ramón Vidal Romaní, Universidad de Coruña, SpainFollow
Marcos Vaqueiro-Rodríguez, University of A Coruña, SpainFollow
Victor Barrientos, University of A Coruña, SpainFollow
Joeri Kaal, Pyrolyscience, SpainFollow

Highlights

• Biospeleothems are frequent in granite caves but they have been poorly studied
• The formation of Al-rich speleothem are poorly understood
• Al-rich speleothems in one of Europe's major granite cave have been analyzed
• Study reports the composition, accretion process, age, and growth rate of an Al-rich speleothem
• Al-rich speleothems might be good environmental archives

Abstract

Granite massifs often contain caves, with dimensions ranging from a few meters up to 1,000 m, also referred to as pseudokarst. The speleothems in such caves are mostly composed of either Si-rich (commonly opal-A) or Al-rich authigenic mineraloids. Whereas the formation and geochemical composition of opal-A biospeleothems have been studied and are fairly well understood, knowledge on the Al-rich analogues is scarce. This work reports for the first time a study on the composition, accretion process, age and growth rate of an Al-rich speleothem type flowstone from the A Trapa Cave System (Galicia, NW Spain), developed in a granite cave. To understand the growth process, trickling water was analyzed and the deposition environment inside the cave was characterized. We found that the speleothems are alternating Si- and Al-rich layered deposits formed between 1,635 ± 75 and 1,243 ± 58 cal BP by percolating water that carries underground mineral grains, dissolved ions, and organic matter from soil and the weathered bedrock above the cave.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.50.1.2358

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

Sanjurjo-Sanchez, Jorge; Carlos Arce Chamorro; Juan Ramón Vidal Romaní; Marcos Vaqueiro-Rodríguez; Victor Barrientos; and Joeri Kaal. 2021. On the genesis of aluminum-rich speleothems in a granite cave of NW Spain. International Journal of Speleology, 50: 25-40.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol50/iss1/3