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Isotopic composition of salt efflorescence from the sandstone castellated rocks of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin (Czech Republic)

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The origin of sulphates in sulphate-rich efflorescences on quartz sandstones with a clay matrix, exposed in rural areas of the Czech Republic is interpreted, based upon an isotopic study of S and O. Sulphates such as gypsum and/or alums exhibit δ34S ranging from +1.3 to +6.1‰ and δ18O from +5.3 to +8.8‰. The low variability of S and O isotopes indicates a common source of the sulphur and a similar mode of sulphate formation. Atmospheric sulphates with a similar isotopic signature occur in the area, due to the combustion of sulphurous coal in power plants, located a few tens of kilometres from the sampling points. The sulphates crystallize from supersaturated pore waters that represent atmospheric precipitation, rich in sulphates, having percolated through the porous sandstone system. The previously proposed model of efflorescence growth (that it is due to the oxidation of pyrite) can be excluded, due to both the rare occurrence of pyrite and also to its different isotopic signature (δ34S about −22‰). Although gypsum prevails in the central and eastern part of the studied area, the north and north-west of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin (the most polluted region) exhibits a significant presence of alums (NH4 + or K+−NH4 +-rich). Formation of alums can be explained by the partial dissolution of clay minerals or feldspars present in the sandstone matrix. Release of alumina from these phases is facilitated by the low pH of the precipitation (pH 4–4.5) and also locally by organic acids, traces of which were found in the studied efflorescences by the use of infrared spectroscopy.

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Acknowledgments

This study has been supported by the Grant Agency of Charles University (Grant No. 211/2002/B-GEO/PrF) and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic (Project No. MSM 0021620855 “Material flow mechanisms in the upper spheres of the Earth”; and project No. MSM 520000001 “Research and development project in restoration of sculptural artistic monuments based on historical and current knowledge”). The authors are very grateful to the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, for providing the laboratory where the samples for precipitation of BaSO4 from salt crusts were prepared. Assistance in the preparation of gases for measurements of isotopic composition from the Czech Geological Survey staff (Ivana Jačková, Markéta Štěpánová) is acknowledged. Karel Žák (Czech Geological Survey) kindly helped with numerous complications of sourcing of sulphates. This manuscript also benefited greatly from the comments of two anonymous reviewers. The English of this paper has been kindly checked by Peter Lemkin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, V Holešovičkách 41, 182 09, Prague 8, Czech Republic

    Jana Schweigstillová

  2. Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Jana Schweigstillová & Richard Přikryl

  3. Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy, Institute of Chemical Technology, Technická 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Miroslava Novotná

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  1. Jana Schweigstillová
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Correspondence to Richard Přikryl.

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Schweigstillová, J., Přikryl, R. & Novotná, M. Isotopic composition of salt efflorescence from the sandstone castellated rocks of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin (Czech Republic). Environ Geol 58, 217–225 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1510-y

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