Mineralogical and Stable Isotope Investigations of Minerals from Caves on Cerna Valley (Romania)

The caves from Cerna Valley, southwest Romania, are ideal for mineralogical studies because the reaction between hot ascending thermal water or steam with the bedrock or cave sediments enabled a number of minerogenic processes (e.g., replacement, steam-condensate weathering) that ultimately led to the deposition of a unique suite of cave minerals. The mineral species identified in caves along Cerna Valley are: calcite, aragonite, gypsum, anhydrite, epsomite, pickeringite, halotrichite, apjonite, tamaragite, alunite, aluminite, chalcanthite, apatite-(CaOH), brushite, darapskite, and nitratine. Although the speleothems are not extremely spectacular, their mineralogy and stable isotope signature provides a wealth of information with respect to the environment in which they were precipitated. Combining this information with particular cave morphology observations, tectonic, and structural data, we document at least one episode of hypogenic activity within this karst area of Romania