Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Soechting, W. Articles by Godeas, M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

IDENTIFICATION OF AMMONIUM-BEARING MINERALS BY SHORTWAVE INFRARED REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY AT THE ESQUEL GOLD DEPOSIT, ARGENTINA

Walter Soechting¹, Nora Rubinstein^2, and Marta Godeas³

¹ Minas Argentinas, San Luis 238, (oeste) San Juan, Argentina
² Universidad de Buenos Aires-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), and Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, (1428) Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
³ Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino (SEGEMAR), Av. Julio A. Roca 651, 8° piso, sector 9, (1322) Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Corresponding author: e-mail, nora{at}gl.fcen.uba.ar

The Esquel low-sulfidation epithermal vein deposit in Chubut province, Argentina, is hosted by a Late Jurassic bimodal arc assemblage. Shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance spectroscopy of vein samples using a hand-held field spectrometer identified ammonium-bearing illite, jarosite, and adularia (buddingtonite) in banded quartz displaying colloform and crustiform textures. The SWIR technique proved to be a rapid and accurate means of detecting ammonium-bearing species, particularly buddingtonite, which provides evidence for paleoboiling zones and thus of precious metal mineralization.