Micromorphology of sepiolite occurrences in recent lacustrine deposits affected by soil development

Deposits in dry lake basins of the Aminuis region, south-western Kalahari, Namibia, contain abundant sepiolite. Thin-section observations show that it occurs as part of the groundmass, for which an authigenic origin is implied by the lack of a source for detrital sepiolite. The deposits also contain common sepiolite coatings, which are nearly exclusively illuvial rather than the result of mineral authigenesis in pores. Other sepiolitic pedofeatures are: (i) carbonate depletion hypocoatings, locally disturbed by development of porostriation; (ii) surface crusts, formed by re-suspension and settling of fine material after flooding, occurring at sites where low salinity allows their preservation; and (iii) common fragments of coatings, produced by physical or biogenic disturbance, in deposits with an often strongly fragmented microstructure. This study illustrates the need to consider an illuvial or depletion-related nature of sepiolite and palygorskite occurrences along pores in soils, as an alternative for the possibility of clay neoformation

The nature and significance of variations in gypsum crystal morphology in dry lake basins

Depressions in semiarid regions with a gypsiferous geological substrate commonly contain highly gypsiferous sediments, with gypsum that formed either as a synsedimentary precipitate during perennial or ephemeral lake stages or as a diagenetic precipitate during saline mudflat stages. The dry to ephemeral lake basins of the Monegros region in northern Spain are depressions of this type and provide a unique opportunity to examine whether and how conditions of gypsum formation are reflected by gypsum crystal morphology, yielding information that can contribute to a correct interpretation of the depositional environment of gypsum in ancient and modern formations. In most lake basins of the study area, the sediment fill consists of a similar sequence of three lithological units. The lower unit includes fragmented gypsum crystals in some basins, recording elastic reworking, and in other depressions it contains large lenticular crystals, formed as phreatic diagenetic precipitates. The middle unit typically contains synsedimentary gypsum with a non-lenticular morphology, modified by postdepositional processes, but it also comprises synsedimentary lenticular gypsum in some basins. In the upper unit, separated from the underlying interval by a marked hiatus, both synsedimentary and diagenetic gypsum are present, the former including layered gypsum deposits with features such as grading and variations in crystal morphology. The results show that a non-lenticular crystal habit of gypsum occurring within the groundmass (sediment matrix) indicates synsedimentary precipitation. In contrast, a lenticular crystal habit cannot be used in isolation as an indicator of the environment in which the gypsum initially precipitated. Unambiguously late-diagenetic gypsum includes fine-grained precipitates in voids created by soil fauna. These infillings consist of initially non-lenticular crystals, with a tabular-prismatic habit, recording that conditions promoting lenticular crystal growth do not always prevail outside the groundmass in soil-related settings and illustrating the importance of knowing the context of analyzed gypsum occurrences at the scale of a sample

The role of saline solution properties on porous limestone salt weathering by magnesium and sodium sulfates

Saline solution properties, viscosity in particular, are shown to be critical in salt weathering associated with sodium and magnesium sulfate crystallization in porous limestone. The crystallization of sodium and magnesium sulfate within a porous limestone has been studied at a macro- and microscale using different techniques, including mercury intrusion porosimetry, environmental scanning microscopy and X-ray computed tomography. Such analysis enabled the visualization of the crystallization process in situ, and at high magnification, yielding critical information as to where and how salts crystallize. Sodium sulfate decahydrate (mirabilite) tends to crystallize in large pores as euhedral micron-sized crystals formed at low supersaturation near to the surface of the stone. In contrast, magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (epsomite) tends to precipitate as anhedral wax-like aggregates formed at high supersaturation and distributed homogeneously throughout the stone pore system filling large and small pores. While the former crystallization behavior resulted in scale formation, the latter led to crack development throughout the bulk stone. Ultimately, the contrasting weathering behavior of the two sulfates is explained by considering differences in flow dynamics of solutions within porous materials that are mainly connected with the higher viscosity of magnesium sulfate saturated solution (7.27 cP) when compared with sodium sulfate saturated solution (1.83 cP). On the basis of such results, new ways to tackle salt weathering, particularly in the field of cultural heritage conservation, are discussed