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Weathering of ultramafic rocks and element mobility at Mt. Prinzera, Northern Apennines, Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Giampiero Venturelli ,
Simona Contini ,
Achille Bonazzi  and
Alessandro Mangia
Giampiero Venturelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Seienze della Terra, Università di Parma, Viale delle Scienze 78, 43100 Parma, Italy
Simona Contini
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Seienze della Terra, Università di Parma, Viale delle Scienze 78, 43100 Parma, Italy
Achille Bonazzi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Seienze della Terra, Università di Parma, Viale delle Scienze 78, 43100 Parma, Italy
Alessandro Mangia
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Chimica Generale e Inorganiea, Università di Parma, Viale delle Scienze 78, 43100 Parma, Italy
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Abstract

The weathering of the Mt. Prinzera serpentinites (Parma province, Northern Apennines, Italy) produced dominant smectite and minor Fe-hydroxides. The mobility of the elements during weathering has been estimated using the ratio Ki = MiS/MiR, where Mi indicates the mass of a generic component i before (R) and after (S) the weathering, and using TiO2 as a practically immobile component. For prevalently to tendentially mobile elements, the degree of mobility, which in our case increases as Ki decreases, is in the order Mn ≈ Cr = Fe < V ≈ Zn ≈ Co < Ni < Si < Mg < Ca. The elements Ti, Ga, Al and Zr are prevalently immobile. The mass chemically removed by the circulating waters during weathering may reach very high values (on average 52% of the original mass of serpentinite) and the main contribution to the mass loss is due to Si and Mg. The composition of the perennial and ephemeral springs in the area is in agreement with the degree of the element mobility at least for Cr, Mg and Ca.

Keywords

element mobilityweatheringserpentinitesNorthern ApenninesItaly
Type
Petrology
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 61 , Issue 409 , December 1997 , pp. 765 - 778
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1997

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Footnotes

*

Present address: GEODE SCRL-Studi Geologici e Petrografiei, Viale Duea Alessandro 1, 43100 Parma, Italy.

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