• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.3 s.45
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• pp.227-236
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• 2005

Hydrothermal tourmaline occurs as aggregates or dissemination in the diaspore nodule from an aluminum-rich clay deposit, Milyang, southeastern Korea. Most crystals of tourmaline show complex textures that are finely zoned. The fine-scale chemical zonation of hydrothermal tourmaline reflects the fluctuation conditions that would be expected from fluid mixing in open systems. Oscillatory chemical zoning in tourmaline formed and showed similar patterns, regardless of its crystallographic directions. Mg was enriched in the early stage of crystal growth while Fe was enriched in the later stage, with fluctuations of the ratio of Fe to Mg. Chemical analysis, BSE images, and X-ray compositional maps confirm that the oscillatory Boning in tourmaline is exclusively controlled by the variations of Fe and Mg contents, but the contribution of boron to the zonation is insignificant. The fact that tourmaline altered to diaspore and dickite indicates that tourmaline was unstable with respect to these aluminous minerals as the B, Fe, and Mg activities decreased. Therefore, the aluminum activity may control the stability of tourmaline in the hydrothermal system.