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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
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A very unusual calcite cement was found in some beachchips from an unconsolidated beach surface of Chandeleur Island offshore approximately 35 nmi (65 km) south of Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. The beachchips are irregularly shaped and are well cemented by this unusual calcite. This calcite crystal structure has not been reported previously as existing in a marine environment. A similar cement has been found in freshwater lake beachrock and in some travertine samples. The calcite crystals are elongate parallel to the c-optic axis, and are composed of bunches of crystallite blades. The crystallite blades of each crystal bunch are pointed and are more bladed than freshwater cement crystals. The intercrystallite pore space contains no fine calcite silt as was observed i the lake samples. Fresh water provided by rainfall may be held in the pore spaces and bounded to the quartz-grain surfaces by ionic attraction. Marine spray above and saline water concentrated underneath form a sandwich effect at the micropore level, allowing rapid growth and precipitation of these very unusual calcite crystals in a single-phase low-salinity fluid.
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