MINERAL DEPOSITION IN A CAVITY IN SMALLCLEUGH MINE, NENTHEAD, CUMBRIA

摘要

The contents of a cavity found underground in 1984 in Smallcleugh Mine, Nenthead, Cumbria are described. More than 100 specimens, none of which were attached to each other, were collected. It is suggested that these resulted from a process involving iron-rich dolomitic metasomatism, combined with dissolution of the limestone and brecciation of wall rock, and possibly in some cases fracturing of mineral crusts. This interpretation is in keeping with recent research on flat formation in the Alston Block of the Northern Pennine Orefteld conducted by the British Geological Survey.