RMCA literature published elsewhere
Publication details
Pisarsky, B.I., Konev, A.A., Levi, K.G., Sarota, J. & Delvaux, D. 1998. ‘Carbon dioxide-bearing alkaline hydrotherms and strontium-bearing travertines in the Songwe River valley (Tanzania)’. Russian Geology and Geophysics 39(7): 941-948. Novosibirsk / New York : Allerton Press. I.F. 0.85.
Article in a scientific Journal / Article in a Journal
The paper presents an original description of thermal waters of a group of hot springs in the valley of the Songwe River (7-10 km downstream from the Panda Hill carbonatite massif) and the derived calcareous tuffs. It is suggested that Th hydrotherms are related to the latest, Quaternary, alkaline magmatism that acted throughout the East-African rift system, including the Rukwa graben, along which the Songwe River flows. The thermal waters contain carbon dioxide, alkalis, silicon, carbonates, and hydrocarbonates, mineralization being 3.3-3.4 g/l. They differ from thermal waters of other continental rift systems, in particular from those of the Baikal Rift, in some chemical ratios (Li/Rb, Sr/Li, Sr/Rb, rNa/rCl). Major (calcite and aragonite) and secondary (dolomite and strontianite) carbonate minerals of the tuffs were taken through microprobe analysis. The calcites show extremely high contents of Sr (up to 5.6 wt.% SrO) and Mg (up to 5 wt.% MgO). The aragonites are likewise high in Sr (11.5-36.8 wt.% SrO) but low in Mg (0.05-0.17 wt.% MgO) and form a complete isomorphic series with Ca-strontianite (46.8-54.2 wt.% SrO). The tuffs occasionally contain grains of terrigenous quartz and feldspar and admixtures of trona, halite, and hydromicaceous minerals.