Vesicular cavities in Emeishan basalts, which are exposed in outcrops, quarries and mines at various places in Meigu County contain a variety of well-crystallized minerals.
According to Zhang et al. (2008), the occurrence of babingtonite is restricted to cavities in fractured interlayer-gliding zones in altered basalt, where it crystallized at low temperature in a weakly oxidizing alkaline environment from Ca-Fe-SiO2-rich solutions that were formed from plagioclase, pyroxene, olivine and specularite as a result of retrograde metamorphism under the conditions of tectonic stress. The crystals are tabular to prismatic, with {100} and {001} dominant, and contain only small amounts of manganese, typically 2-3 wt.-% MnO. Two generations have been recognized: (1) Babingtonite of the first generation forms coarse tabular crystals up to 25 x 20 x 10 mm in size, interlocking with prismatic quartz crystals; (2) Babingtonite of the second generation forms minute bright black tabular to prismatic crystals, interlocking with bipyramidal rock crystals.
References
- Liangju Zhang, Can Rao, Changlong Zhang, Qingfeng Ruan, Wei Lei, Baoli Liao, and Tao He (2008): Mineralization and Composition of Rock Crystal in Mineral Deposits in Basalt of Meigu, Sichuan. Journal of Guilin University of Technology 28(3), 289-294.
- Liangju Zhang, Can Rao, Changlong Zhang, Qingfeng Ruan, Wei Lei, Baoli Liao, and Tao He (2008): The Shape, Texture Feature, and Genesis of Pelletoidal and Tubular Iron Oxides Inclusion in Rock Crystals. Geological Review 73(6), 786-792.
- Liangju Zhang, Qingfeng Ruan, Can Rao, Changlong Zhang, Wei Lei, Baoli Liao, and Tao He (2008): Discovery of and research on babingtonite in the drusy cavities of basalt. Acta Mineralogica Sinica 28(4), 360-366.
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