Hatrurim Formation, Israel

I will be traveling to the Dead Sea in Israel and will be near the Hatrurim Geological Formation (view locality on Mindat). Mindat lists 155 minerals from there, with many of them being very rare, as well as 6 type localities. I am trying to do some research for specific localities within the formation and possible collecting spots, but can't seem to find much literature on this. I would like to check out the formation and any collecting opportunities there. Anyone have any insight on this?

Some of the individual localities are listed in the second paragraph on the Hatrurim Formation page:

"The Hatrurim Formation was named for the locality Hatrurim, its largest area of exposure, but it also outcrops in several other parts of Israel and Palestine and Jordan too, so not all of the listed minerals may really be from Hatrurim, and many samples loosely labeled "Hatrurim" ought really to have been labelled "Hatrurim Formation" from other localities. See under: Har Ye'elim, Hatrurim, Kefar Uriyya, Malhata, and Nahal Ayalon in Israel; and Beit Sahur, Jebel Harmun, Ma'ale Adumim, Nabi Musa, and Tarqumiya in Palestine; and Daba Siwaqa, Seweilih and Maqarin in Jordan." You can search under those more specific locality names for lists of species found at each of these sublocalities (although the lists are quite incomplete). The original literature references listed for many of the species may well give you more details.

Most of the minerals listed require a microscope to see them, so they aren't really going to jump out at you during field collecting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2012 04:08AM by Alfredo Petrov.

Alfredo, thanks for your response. There are indeed several sub-localities within the formation, but those are all very general areas without any specific descriptive location. In fact it seems the formation spans the entire length of the Dead Sea on both sides which is over 50 miles. So the area is vast and difficult to explore without any specific regional pointers.

I have noticed a common denominator in all the sub-localities of the Hatrurim Formation in that they are in the region where the terrain begins to slope downwards toward the deep depression that forms the Dead Sea. Also, another interesting pointer is that Mindat lists the following on the Hatrurim page: "The late Gary Weinberger, who first found bentorite and sent it to a mineralogist for characterization, said that his discovery was made a short hike from the road "near" Arad.". If you look at Google Maps and follow Route 31 southeast of Arad, you'll notice a junction called "Hatrurim Junction".

Granted most of the minerals of the Hatrurim formation are probably only microscopic, they are nevertheless a very interesting and odd assortment of strange minerals and worthwhile of exploration. So if anyone has any personal experience collecting or observing at any of the locations within the formation, this would be appreciated.

Hershel: I can provide you with a PDF version of the following article.
Sharygin, V.V., Sokol, E.V. & Vapnik, Ye. (2008): Minerals of the pseudobinary perovskite-brownmillerite series from combustion metamorphic larnite rocks of the Hatrurim Formation (Israel). Russian Geology and Geophysics 49, 709-726.
Although is had no detailed locality information, it has photos of the locality and other useful information.

I was recently told by a dealer who had visited the area several times, that it took him a long time to find spots where he could find collectable material with larger crystals (mainly hydrated phases).

This is an excellent article on the Hatrurim Formation:

- Gross, S. (1977): The Mineralogy of the Hatrurim Formation, Israel. Geological Survey of Israel, Bulletin no. 70, 80 pp.

I wrote to the Geological Survey of Israel to ask how to obtain a copy of this, and they sent me the issue of the journal in the post for free!

I still haven't managed to obtain a copy of the Mineralogical Almanac article though, so if any one has a copy they could scan it would be much appreciated.

David

BTW, has anyone by chance the Gross (1977) paper in PDF format?

I have the paper and I can send it to you, Uwe, and to Hershel.

Hi all! I have a copy of an article of Gur et al. (on K-Ar dating, but with mineralogical data too), plus I can scan an article by Vapnik et al. (2007) "Paralavas in a combustion metamorphic complex: Hatrurim Basin, Israel"

Please let me know and give e-mails if interested (-:

Cheers!

Luke K.

Hi Łukasz,
can you, please, send to me the PDFs of both the papers?
Thank you. Ciao.

Grazie, Marco - have received your Gross (1977) PDF!

Hi Marco - yes, but I will have to scan these first when got home. Will send it next week

Cheers!

Luke

No problem Luke, Take your time!

Thanks for all your feedback - glad to hear about all the articles on this. Marco, thanks for sending me the PDF. Lot's of good stuff in there.

Uwe, can you please send me that PDF from Sharygin, V.V., Sokol, E.V. & Vapnik, Ye. (2008)? You can PM me if you need my email address.

Łukasz, can you please send me those articles from Gur and Vapnik when you scan next week?

Thanks,
Hershel

There is another article:
Gross, S., and Heller, L. - A natural occurrence of bayerite: Min. Magazine 33: 723-724 (1963).
Does anyone have a PDF of it?
Thanks in advance,
Michael

P.S. Marco, once again, thank you for the Gross (1997) paper.

Michael: [rruff.geo.arizona.edu]

Hershel: sent.

Thanks Uwe!

Thanks, Uwe.

I had the opportunity to visit this formation back in February. I visited the Ma'aleh Adumim outcrop and the Arad area.
I posted some photos of the locality but for some reason the locality photos aren't showing up in Mindat.
Take a look here:

Calcite Photos from the deposit:
http://www.mindat.org/photo-465266.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-465265.html

Outcrops near Arad:
http://www.mindat.org/photo-463232.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-463233.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-463234.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-463235.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-463236.html
http://www.mindat.org/photo-463237.html