Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JOURNAL OF EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE, cilt.125, sa.1, ss.147-164, 2016 (SCI-Expanded)
The Kirka borate deposit was deposited in a Miocene lacustrine basin which is closely associated with volcanic activity which lasted from Paleogene to the beginning of Quaternary. Borate mineralization alternates with claystone, mudstone, tuff and fine-layered limestone and mostly shows a lenticular structure. The mineral paragenesis is composed of borax, tincalconite, ulexite, kurnakovite, probertite, tunellite, colemanite, dolomite, smectite group minerals, illite and some firstly reported minerals for the Kirka deposit including hydrochloroborite, brianroulstonite, hilgardite-4M and searlesite minerals. In comparison to average values of earth crust, concentrations of Cs, Sr, Li, As and Se were significantly enriched with respective rates of 21, 15, 14, 3 and 188 folds. Regarding KY, KS1 and KS2 locations, there are differences in both element abundances and their geochemical tendencies which are attributed to variations in discharge regime and physico-chemical conditions of the depositional environment. Independent behaviour of B2O3 might indicate that boron is not associated with clays and carbonates and, therefore, most part of boron must be derived from volcanic activity (hydrothermal solutions, gases). REE data indicate that the Kirka borate deposit was formed in a sedimentary environment where highly alkaline (high pH) hydrothermal solutions also took part in borate precipitation process.