Diagenetic alteration of perlite in the Guryongpo area, Republic of Korea

초록

Perlite, which occurs at the contacts between dacite and lacustrine tuffs of Miocene age in the Guryongpo area, Korea, has undergone more sluggish and incomplete diagenetic alteration than the surrounding zeolitic tuffs. Alkali-clinoptilolite, mordenite, smectite, K-rich, gel-like glass, low-cristobalite, and K-feldspar are characteristic diagenetic phases in the altered perlite. Hydration of the glass to form perlite resulted in the expulsion of cations, mainly Na, from the glass into the pore fluid and in the relative enrichment of K in the perlite. Hydration of the glass also resulted in increased alkalinity of the pore fluid, which, in turn, affected the nature and behavior of subsequent glass dissolution. Textural observations and chemical data on the early diagenetic phases indicate a sequence of incongruent dissolution reactions, which depended on silica activity and alkalinity of the ambient pore fluid. -from Authors