Surface expression of Late Caledonian magmatic lithium concentration, in the Rhynie Chert, UK

John Parnell; J.G.T Armstrong

doi:10.1144/geochem2023-028

Surface expression of Late Caledonian magmatic lithium concentration, in the Rhynie Chert, UK

John Parnell^* (Corresponding Author), J.G.T Armstrong

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geology and Geophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Lower Devonian plant-bearing Rhynie Chert, Aberdeenshire, UK, consists of sinters deposited by a hot spring system. Like many modern hot springs, the Rhynie geothermal system was lithium-rich, 11 and its silica deposits are richer in lithium than other current or fossil sinters. Twenty samples of Rhynie sinter have a mean content of 255 ppm lithium. The high values imply exceptional lithium contents in the spring waters. Together with pegmatites and granites in the same region, the chert is related to a lithium-rich Late Caledonian magmatic suite, of which it is a surface expression. The measurements suggest that ancient hot spring deposits could provide valuable data during the exploration for lithium.

Original language	English
Number of pages	12
Journal	Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis
Volume	23
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1144/geochem2023-028
Publication status	Published - 25 Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements. We are grateful to J. Johnston, J. Bowie and T. Akinsanpe for cartography. JGTA was partially supported by NERC grant NE/T003677/1. C. Moon made a very helpful review of the manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and, if present, its supplementary information files).

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Parnell_etal_GEEA_Surface_Expression_of_VOR
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London for GSL and AAG. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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Cite this

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title = "Surface expression of Late Caledonian magmatic lithium concentration, in the Rhynie Chert, UK",

abstract = "The Lower Devonian plant-bearing Rhynie Chert, Aberdeenshire, UK, consists of sinters deposited by a hot spring system. Like many modern hot springs, the Rhynie geothermal system was lithium-rich, 11 and its silica deposits are richer in lithium than other current or fossil sinters. Twenty samples of Rhynie sinter have a mean content of 255 ppm lithium. The high values imply exceptional lithium contents in the spring waters. Together with pegmatites and granites in the same region, the chert is related to a lithium-rich Late Caledonian magmatic suite, of which it is a surface expression. The measurements suggest that ancient hot spring deposits could provide valuable data during the exploration for lithium. ",

author = "John Parnell and J.G.T Armstrong",

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N2 - The Lower Devonian plant-bearing Rhynie Chert, Aberdeenshire, UK, consists of sinters deposited by a hot spring system. Like many modern hot springs, the Rhynie geothermal system was lithium-rich, 11 and its silica deposits are richer in lithium than other current or fossil sinters. Twenty samples of Rhynie sinter have a mean content of 255 ppm lithium. The high values imply exceptional lithium contents in the spring waters. Together with pegmatites and granites in the same region, the chert is related to a lithium-rich Late Caledonian magmatic suite, of which it is a surface expression. The measurements suggest that ancient hot spring deposits could provide valuable data during the exploration for lithium.

AB - The Lower Devonian plant-bearing Rhynie Chert, Aberdeenshire, UK, consists of sinters deposited by a hot spring system. Like many modern hot springs, the Rhynie geothermal system was lithium-rich, 11 and its silica deposits are richer in lithium than other current or fossil sinters. Twenty samples of Rhynie sinter have a mean content of 255 ppm lithium. The high values imply exceptional lithium contents in the spring waters. Together with pegmatites and granites in the same region, the chert is related to a lithium-rich Late Caledonian magmatic suite, of which it is a surface expression. The measurements suggest that ancient hot spring deposits could provide valuable data during the exploration for lithium.

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DO - 10.1144/geochem2023-028

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JO - Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis

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Surface expression of Late Caledonian magmatic lithium concentration, in the Rhynie Chert, UK

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

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