The investigation of accessory mineralization of breccia in mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan as one of the ways for studying their genesis

Abstract

The paper discusses the unusual mineralogical composition of the accessory minerals of volcanic breccia of mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan, in particular the presence of selforiginated minerals (gold, gold copper, iron, nickel, chromium, silver, and tin), many unusual sulphides, oxides and others. Additionally, unusual forms of the many minerals' isolation, including self-originated iron, wüstite, hematite and balloons forming hollow small forms (tiny millimetersized particles) in breccia composition, balloons and concretions of some other elementscopper, lead, zinc; separate small druses of hematite, melted fragments of mud volcanic breccia, natural lime and others were noted. All these factors were considered as effective indicator of deep fluids on the volcanic breccia. Accessory mineralization revealed in breccia of mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan probably is a confirmation of thoughts and ideas about existence of deep plumbs. Availability of mantle fluids and inclusions in breccias of the studied mud volcanoes can be explained by their diffusion through the atmosphere and thinned thickness of consolidated crust as well as to volcanoes channels interlinked with the deep faults.

Geochemical proxies of the gryphon breccia of mud volcanoes in East Azerbaijan: regularities in the distribution of chemical elements and spatial characteristics of sedimentation

“…Back in the 1980s, the study of the geochemical properties of the gryphon muds of the volcanoes of Azerbaijan led to the fact that they were first used as a therapeutic drug [5]. In recent years, several studies have been carried out on the accessory mineralization of the gryphon breccia of volcanoes registered in East Azerbaijan [3], as well as on the study [1; 7; 8; 15; 16; 17; 18] of mud brought to the surface as a result of eruptions, according to geochemical and mineralogical proxies. Our analysis shows that, so far, the published literature has not assessed the regularity of the chemical composition of the gryphon breccia, which is characteristic of mud volcanoes located in different tectonic zones of Azerbaijan, belonging to different depths, as well as stratigraphic units.…”