The Amygdale Minerals in the Tertiary Lavas of Ireland II. The Distribution of Gmelinite

George P. L. Walker
Department of Geology, Imperial College, London

Summary: Mapping of the distribution of zeolites in the Antrinl basalku has revealed that gmelinite is confined to a narrow zone along the eastern seaboard of Antrim. This zone comprises less than 1% of the area of the basalts, but in it gmelinite is extremely abundant. The gmelinite zone is superimposed upon the lava pile, and the minerals in it are clearly later than the laves; it is in the form of a dome, elongated north-west and traceable for 18 or 24 miles in this direction, and is found in the basal parts of the lava pile, locally reaching a height of some 500 feet in the pile. The zone may be related in its position and origin to the Island-magee fault zone. Gmelinite frequently forms a parallel overgrowth on chabazite. Superimposed upon the southern part of the gmclinite zone is a zone of late chabazite and heulandite containing, inter alia, parallel overgrowths of late chabazite on simple or twinned gmelinite.

Mineralogical Magazine; September 1959 v. 32; no. 246; p. 202-217; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1959.032.246.03
© 1959, The Mineralogical Society
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