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Gem-quality transparent diaspore (zultanite) in bauxite deposits of the İlbir Mountains, Menderes Massif, SW Turkey

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Abstract

Several m-thick, karst-unconformity-type metabauxite horizons in the İlbir Mountains of SW Turkey host open-space mineralization of gem-quality diaspore (trademarked as zultanite), associated with muscovite, hematite, ilmenite, chloritoid, and younger calcite. The hydrothermal-metamorphogenic mineralization occurs in fracture zones (veins and open structures) that crosscut the metabauxite horizons, but does not extend into the marble host rocks. The white to dark gray marble sequence (over 2,000 m in thickness) is of Cretaceous depositional age and was affected by Alpine (Paleogene) tectonometamorphism which caused the hydrothermal remobilization of primary bauxite components into crosscutting structures.

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Acknowledgment

The authors wish to give great thanks to Dr. Bernd Lehmann for spending many times in revising the manuscript. In addition, his helping to improve the readability of the manuscript is highly appreciated.

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Correspondence to Murat Hatipoğlu.

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Editorial handling: B. Lehmann

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Hatipoğlu, M., Türk, N., Chamberlain, S.C. et al. Gem-quality transparent diaspore (zultanite) in bauxite deposits of the İlbir Mountains, Menderes Massif, SW Turkey. Miner Deposita 45, 201–205 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-009-0262-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-009-0262-2

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