Keywords
costa rica
volcanic caves
mineralogy
sulfates
vulcanospeleology
snottite volcán irazú
costa rica
cuevas volcánicas
mineralogía sulfatos
vulcanoespeleología
mucolitos
How to Cite
Abstract
Two caves located on the NW sector of the main crater of Irazú volcano are described for the first time. The caves, called Mucolitos and Minerales, are located at the base of the landslide t on December 8th, 1994, and are found in pyroclastic rocks with intense hydrothermal alteration. We suggest that both caves are associated with spaces between blocks in block slide with stepped surface and this mechanism is proposed as new vulcanospeleological me- chanism. We collected twenty samples which were analyzed based on x-ray diffractometry studies and their physical properties. Twenty one differents minerals corresponding to twenty sulfates and one native element were identified. Five of these minerals are reported for the first time in worldwide caves (aplowite CoSO4•4H2O, boyleite (Zn, Mg) SO4∙4H2O, ferrinatrite Na3Fe(SO4)3•3H2O, magnesiocopiapite MgFe+34 (SO4)6(OH)2•20H2O and wupatkiitea (Co,Mg, Ni)Al2(SO4)4•22H2O). The cave presents different speleothemes, the crust is the most common one, but also stalactites, stalagmites and geysermites are present. In both caves, the presence of snottites formations (extremophile bacteria colonies) was identified. We propose four principals mineralogenic mechanisms for the formation of these minerals, which correspond to degassing, solubilization alteration and dehydratation. The influence of biogenic activity in the precipitation of some minerals is also suggested.
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