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    HIPÓTESIS DEL ORIGEN DEL LITIO

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    6 vistas8 páginas

    Origen Del Litio

    Cargado por

    Carlos Johnson
    HIPÓTESIS DEL ORIGEN DEL LITIO

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    de 8
    CHAPTER I + ORIGIN OF LITHIUM IN SALAR DE ATACAMA, NORTHERN CHILE Fernando Ide Y. Comité de Sales Mixtas Corporacién de Fomenuo de la Produccin Santiago, Chile Thor A. Kunasz ‘Cyprus Specialty Metals Company ABSTRACT “The Selarde Atacama of nowthem Chile is within a tectonic basin of intemal drainage which originated in the late Tertiary and ‘which hasbeen the site of intensive volcanism from the Miocene co the present. The slay, the largest in Chile andone of che largest Inthe world, contsins the world’s richest ithiurbrine deposit. Saline minerals and brines inthe sla, ncluding the lithium were ‘eived the following sources (I) geothermal waters asoetated with ctve voleanism that produced huge amounts of thyoltieash- flow cfs, (2) leaching of water-soluble alts from the voleanic rocks; 3) leaching of ithivmtich clays; and () saline waters flakes andsalats inthe high Andes othe eas, which moved into che Salar de Atacama basin through permeable fault 2onesof Pliocene) ahd Quatemany age. Longer accumulation and evaporation of thee waters, under desert conditions that have prevailed at least Since the Miocene, gave re tothe large amounts of saline material inthis basin + INTRODUCTION Salar de Atacama, the largest salar or salt pan in Chile isin a asin of internal drainage between the Cordillera de Domeyko, one of the front ranges of the Andes, and the ‘Andean Highlands. The salar, at an altitude of 2300 m, is an ‘elongate basin (Figure 1) filled with lacustrine clastic sedi ‘ments and evaporites.Itis 85 km long, has a maximum width ‘0f50 km, and covers an area of about 3000 km’, Itisaccessible by road from Calama in the north and from the Antofagasta- ‘Socompa road in the south. The basin in which the salar ‘occurs, referred to asthe Atacama basin in this chapter, hits ‘own microclimate that is intermediate between the climate of, the Andean Highlands to the east and the Atacama Desert to the west. The annual rainfall is only 10 to 30 mm, and most of the precipitation occurs from December to March. The cli- mate is characterized by westerly winds, predominantly in the afternoon, which at times attain velocities of as much as 100 km/hr. Relative humiity is low—commonly less than 10%—and temperatures fluctuate between a minimum of —5®C in winter to about 35° in summer. Skies are generally cloudless, and solar radiation is about 630 langleys/day (6,300,000 cal/m/day). These climate conditions result in a high rate of evaporation of 10 L/m?/day (metalic pan mea- 165 surement), which favors concentration of lthium-tich brines by solar evaporation, Lithiumrich brines are recovered and processed by a joint company owned by the Corporacién de Fomento de la Pro- ‘duccién (CORFO) (45%) and the Foote Mineral Company (65%), now the Cyprus Specialty Metals Division of Cyprus Minerals Company. Annual production capacity (1988) is ‘about 8200 tof lithium carbonate. REGIONAL GEOLOGY Salar de Atacama isin a tectonic basin that originated in the Miocene. Ithas a basement of Paleozoic and Mesozoic marine rocks overlain by Tertiary-Quaternary continental sedimen- tary rocks, in part with abundant saline beds, rhyoltic ash flow tulfs, and andesiic lavas and breccias. Unconsolidated clastic sediments have accumulated as erosion products of the bedrock, and huge amounts of saline minerals, predominantly ‘of voleanic origin, have accumulated in the salar itself during. late Tertiary and Quaternary. Saline minerals continue to accumulate today. ‘Tertiary sedimentary rocks, which are the sources of part of the saline materials, have been subdivided into six formations (irom oldest to youngest): San Pedro, Tambores, El Campa Figure 1. Sketch map showing location of the Salar de Atacama, Lithium in Salar de Atacama, Chile 167 ‘mento, Quepe, El Tambo, and Vilama. The San Pedro Forma: tion is a sequence of reddish claystones and sandstones exposed in the Cordillera de la Sal, just west of the Salar de ‘Atacama (Figure 2) It was deposited under conditions similar tothe present, and includes erosion products from the Purilac tis Formation (Triassic), which contains evaporite units. The overlying Tambores Formation, of Oligocene to late Miocene age, consists of conglomerates and interbedded sandstones, ‘and locally abundant veinlets of gypsum (Ramirez and Garde. ‘weg, 1982) This formation crops out along the western side of the Cordillera de Domeyko and west of Tilomonte (Figure 2). ‘The El Campamento Formation is a sequence of interbedded halite and volcanic rock units that crops out in the Cordillera, de la Sal. Ramirez and Gardeweg (1982) assigned an age of, Jate Miocene to Quaternary to this formation. At the north end, (of the Cordon Lila, the El Campamento Formation consists of, about 20 m of interbedded volcanic ash, sandstone, and si stone firmly cemented by halite, gypsum, and calcium car- Donate. The Quepe Formation, which is exposed at the ‘western side of the Andean Highiands, along the eastern side ‘of the Atacama basin, consists of sandstones, conglomerates, ‘and siltstones of probable Tertiary age (Ramirez and Garde- ‘weg, 1982). The El Tambo and Vilama formations are of late Miocene to Pleistocene age. El Tambo consists of brown cal- careous rocks that crop out west of Tilomonte and near the village of Peine (Figure 2). The Vilama Formation consists of, interbedded crystab-rich tufls, volcanic ash, diatomite, and gravels. Iterops out in the Cordillera deta Sal, the eastern side (of the Cordillera de Domeyko, and the western side of the ‘Andes, The formation unconformably overlies the San Pedro Formation. ‘The above formations are covered by extensive late Mio- ene to Quaternary alluvial deposits, chielly piedmont sedi- ‘ments and mudflows, in the Llano de Paciencia, just west of the Salar de Atacama, and in the vicinity of Peine. The Andean Highlands, Atacama basin, and Cordillera de Domeyko are extensively covered with late Tertiary and Quaternary voleanic rocks of two dominant types—rhyolitic to dacitic ash-low tuffs and andesitic lavas—the latter being. associated with stratovoleanoes. Along the Andean front, the tulffs form extensive sheets that are gently inclined westward into the Atacama basin. They extend beneath the alluvial cover of the basin, and have been encountered in drill holes, beneath as much as 250 m of alluvium. The ash-flow tus fill ancient valleys and depressions, and cover topographic highs ‘on older rocks. At least 11 tuff sheets, as shown in Table 1, have been recognized. They range from late Miocene to Pleis- tocene in age, extend over areas of as much as 600 km’, and, are as thick as 250 m (Table 1). The tuffs are characteristically, high in lithium, small amounts of which are readily soluble in water (Table 1). Tectonic movements during the Pliocene and Quaternary caused extensive faulting (Figure 2), uplift of the Domeyko and Andean cordilleras, and development of several ‘morphostructural units within the basin. Among the latter are the Cordillera de a Sal, Cordon Lila, Sierra Alameida, and the Tilocalar graben (Figure 2). The Cordillera de Domeyko is an uplifted block, bounded by northvtrending reverse faults, in which folded Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary and vol Canic rocks are predominant. The Cordillera de la Sal, which consists chiefly of the San Pedro Formation disconformably as “ tty i I 19 0 spKm Figure 2. Sketch map showing faults and morphostructural ‘units inthe Salar de Atacama region. overlain by the Vilama Formation and Miocene ash-flow tufts, is bounded by north-trending normal faults. Northeast- trending anticlines and syneclines are present in this cordillera, ‘as are salt domes. The Cordon Lila tothe south of the Cordil- lera de la Sal, divides the Salar de Atacama into two subbasins Itis an uplifted block that probably also is bounded by faults that are buried by alluvium. The Tilocalar graben is bounded by northtrending, steeply dipping normal faults. Other faults within the graben cut both the Tambores Formation and the overlying Tuciicaro ashflow tufl. Andesitic lavas from two small volcanoes in the central-western part of the graben cover both the ash flow tufls and alluvium. In the Andean pre- Cordillera a number of west-northwest lineaments extend to the edge of the Salar de Atacama (Figure 2). The Sierra de Almeida, a north-south mountain range, extends southward from within the large embayment at the southern end of the Salar de Atacama (Figure 2) or nearly 100 km. Hydrology of the Atacama Basin ‘The Salar de Atacama is constantly being recharged by streams and ground water from the Andes, where annual rainfall probably exceeds 50 mm, and to a lesser extent by 6s Lithium in Salar de Atacama, Chile “Thickness Total Lipp) Tutt Sheet Soluble Sitén Tale Miocene T (about 3 Ma) Yerba Buena Late Miocene a 3 154 Pelén ate Miocene u 2 20 ‘Toconao Late Miocene 20 4 ur Puripicar Late Pliocene 600 20-100 2 50 Atana Pliocene 340 50 Chaxas Late Pliocene Preistocene 60 1 59 Tucicaro Pliocene 600 4 6 Patao Late Pliocene Pleistocene 490 15 83 Tatio Pleistocene 2 9% (about 1 Ma) Cajon Pleistocene 530 "Analyses by the Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria, Santiago, Chile rainfall in the center of the basin and in the Cordillera de Domeyko. The principal streams draining into the salar are the Rio San Pedro and Rio Vilama (Figure 3). These streams discharge water into the salar throughout the year but infil trate before reaching the salar nucleus. Smaller streams, only part of which carry water the entire year, are along the west- ern and southern sides of the salar. These smaller streams dis- ts ee J as ae BOGf A weey hos cs } pal streams draining into Salar charge water directly into the salar only during periods of relatively heavy rainfall in the Andes; at other times, waters disappear into the gravels east of the salar, and move into the salar as ground water. Annual flow rates of some of the streams are as follows (in L/sec) San Pedro 1000 Vilama. 218 Honar .- 50 ‘Aguas Blancas, 134 Camar 3 Peine a7 Tulan 59 ‘The total average rate of discharge ofthese streams is 1677 Lise. Drilling by the Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccién has identified three aquifersin the central part ofthe Salar de Atacama basin. The uppermost is an open aquifer that i recharged by streams draining into the salar. The other two are locally artesian confined aquifersin and near the northern part ofthe salar. The waters in these confined aquifers have an average temperature of 26°C, which is higher than the aver- age annual temperature of the area. The mechanism of recharge of confined aquifersis not known, but presumably is by infiltration of meteoric waters moving downward through permeable sediments, fractured tufls, and bedrock faults along the Andean front to the east of Salar de Atacama. In addition, major east-west faults along the Andean front proba: bly serve as conduits for waters from the Andean Highlands, including ithium-bearing saline waters irom lakes and salars Both warm- and cold-water springs are found at many places in the Salar de Atacama basin, some in the salar itsel Some of these springs contain travertine deposits. The most ‘unusual springs are within the halite nucleus of the salar where water from a deep, confined aquiler has dissolved the sall and formed open pools that Stoertz and Ericksen (1974) named "brine pools” Most of the siream and ground water in the Atacama basin is slightly saline and tends to be relatively high in Li (Table 2) ‘The Rio San Pedro and Rio Vilama contain 0.4 and 3 ppm Li, respectively, which reflects the composition oftheir sources. “The kios Grande and Salado (Figure 3), which join to form the “able? Chemical analyses of natural walrsin the Salar de Ate cama Basin Muesira Tipem) Kop) Rio Salado pring)

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