• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.521-529
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the natural origin of fluorine contained in the rocks within the Eulwangsan area via petrological and mineralogical analyses. The main geology of the Yongyudo Eulwangsan area is Triassic biotite granite. Biotite granite and mylonite are the major rock types containing fluorine at high levels (up to 1,700 and 2,400 mg/kg for biotite granite and mylonite, respectively). In the case of the biotite granite, a high concentration of fluorine can be contributed to fluorite, and the results of microscopic analyses show that the fluorite was observed as small veinlets filling cleavages and micro-fractures within alkali-feldspars and plagioclases, or observed together with quartz in ore veins, indicating the secondary formation of fluorite by hydrothermal fluids. In mylonite, on the other hand, a high fluorine concentration is attributable to sericite. Microscopic analyses revealed that the boundary between sericite and surrounding quartz was not clear, the sericite occurred filling the micro-fractures of quartz and encapsulating small quartz cataclasts. These results indicate that the sericite was also formed as a result of hydrothermal alteration. Consequently, it is speculated that the high fluorine level in the rocks of the Eulwangsan area of Yongyudo is of natural origin due to hydrothermal processes.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.377-386
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• 2022

In addition to anthropogenic origins, fluorine (F) is naturally enriched in rocks due to geological events, such as magma dissemination, hydrothermal alteration, mineralization, and fault activities. Generally, it has been well known that F is chiefly enriched in the region of igneous and metamorphic rocks, and biotite granite was mostly distributed in the study area. The F enrichment mechanism was not sufficiently elucidated in the previous studies, and the study on a fault zone was conducted to reveal it more precisely. The mineral composition of the fault zone was identical to that of the Eulwangsan biotite granite (EBG), but they were quantitatively different between the two areas. Compared with the EBG, the fault zone showed relatively higher contents of quartz and F-bearing minerals (fluorite, sericite) but lower contents of plagioclase and alkali feldspar. This difference was likely due to hydrothermal mineral alterations. The results of microscopic observations supported this, and the generation of F-bearing minerals by hydrothermal alterations was recognized in most samples. Accordingly, it might be interpreted that the mineralogical and petrological differences observed in the same-age biotite granite widely distributed in the Yongyudo was caused by the hydrothermal alterations due to small-scale geological events.