Nemec O., Huraiová M. & Luptáková J., 2015: Mineralogical characterisation of apatite from basalt maars in southern Slovakia. Acta Geologica Slovaca, 7, 1, 19–27. (in Slovak with English summary)

Mineralogická charakteristika apatitu z bazaltových maarov na južnom Slovensku

Mineralogical characterisation of apatite from basalt maars in southern Slovakia

Ondrej Nemec¹, Monika Huraiová¹ & Jarmila Luptáková²

¹Katedra mineralógie a petrológie, Prírodovedecká fakulta, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 5 Bratislava; nemec@fns.uniba.sk, huraiova@fns.uniba.sk
²Geologický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied, Ďumbierska 1, 974 01 Banská Bystrica; luptakova@savbb.sk

Abstract

Products of alkaline basaltic volcanism extend from the Lučenec Basin and Cerová Highland to the northern Hungary. Volcanic activity in this area has created a large number of volcanic forms. This paper describes apatite from heavy mineral assemblages recovered from volcanoclastic infillings of maars and diatremes. Euhedral to subhedral crystal fragments of apatite with variable colour represented approximately 2% of heavy mineral assemblages. A total of 27 apatite samples from Hodejov, Fiľakovo – Castle Hill and Jelšovec maars, the Hajnáčka diatreme and from recently discovered maar structure near Gemerské Dechtáre village have been analysed using electron microprobe and Raman spectroscopy. Amount of substitution in diagrams Ca/100-Mn-Fe, S/100-P-Si and Fe-Ce-Mn sites correspond to the apatite from mafic magmatic rocks. A middle range of the Tetrahedral Substitution Index (TSI) between 0.63 and 7.56 is consistent with the apatites from alkaline magmatic rocks. These findings corroborate magmatic origin of apatite and its crystallization from alkaline basaltic parental magma.

Key words: southern Slovakia, Cerová Highlands, maar, apatite, parental magma

Manuscript received: 2014-10-28

Revised version accepted: 2015-02-17