Mg-Phengite in Carbonate Rock Syngenetically Formed from Hydrothermal Fluid: Micro-Textural Evidence and Mineral Chemistry

Abstract

Phengite series is a dioctahedral solid solution between two end-members of muscovite [K1[Al2]VI[Al1,Si3]IVO10(OH)2] and celadonite [K1[(Fe3+,Al)1,(Mg,Fe2+)1]VI[Si4]IVO10(OH)2], which have a hetero-valent substitution of AlVIAlIV ↔ (Mg, Fe)VISiIV. In this study, we report a hydrothermal-originated authigenic Mg-phengite-series mineral, which occurred as polycrystalline aggregates (Type 1), pore-fillings (Type 2) and well-crystallized lath form (Type 3) from the Haengmae Formation, a dolomite–pebble-bearing fine sand-sized dolostone, in South Korea. Based on micro-textural observation, three types of Mg-phengite are associated with crystalline dolomite, and are followed by calcite precipitation as pore-filling, indicating that these should be formed by the influx of a Mg-rich hydrothermal fluid after the deposition of some clastic sediments and before calcite-filling. The structural formula based on O10(OH)2 shows that the number of Mg atoms per formula unit (apfu) of Mg-phengite ranges from 0.00 to 0.70 with no Fe, which is relatively high, compared with the previously reported metamorphic phengites. In REEs mineral chemistry, the Mg-phengites are characterized by the enrichment of REEs and by the particular enrichment of LREEs in the polycrystalline aggregates of Mg-phengite. It strongly suggests that the Mg-phengite should be formed by the infiltration of the highly evolved Mg- and REEs-enriched hydrothermal fluid into the clastic sedimentary rock (Haengmae Formation) as a strata-bound form, syngenetically or during early diagenesis.