Buddingtonite (NH4-feldspar) in the Condor Oilshale Deposit, Queensland, Australia

F. C. Loughnan, F. Ivor Roberts and A. W. Lindner
School of Applied Geology, Unversity of NSW, Kensington, Australia
Southern Pacific Petroleum, Sydney, Australia

Abstract: Buddingtonite of similar composition and properties to that described from the type area, is uniformly distributed throughout the upper 600 m of strata in the Condor Oilshale Deposit near Proserpine, Queensland. The mineral, which constitutes up to 16% and averages nearly 10 % of the strata, is associated with abundant montmorillonite, siderite, and quartz as well as minor amounts of disordered kaolinite, illite, calcite, pyrite, cristobalite, and an unnamed species of the jahnsite group. The buddingtonite is concluded to be of diagenetic origin. It developed in an ammonium-rich environment, most probably at significant depth within the mud beneath a stratified lake. Its progenitor, however, remains unknown. The occurrence of this mineral is also of interest in that ammonia could prove an important by-product in the commercial exploitation of the oilshales.

Mineralogical Magazine; September 1983 v. 47; no. 344; p. 327-334; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1983.047.344.07
© 1983, The Mineralogical Society
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