PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE "SUGAR" TRAVERTINE QUARRY (GERECSE HILLS, HUNGARY) BASED ON SEDIMENTOLOGICAL, PETROGRAPHICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL STUDIES

One of the most significant Hungarian travertine outcrops is situated close to the town of Süttő. The abandoned Sugar quarry is part of this Süttő travertine complex, where the travertine body is exposed by former... [ view full abstract ]

One of the most significant Hungarian travertine outcrops is situated close to the town of Süttő. The abandoned Sugar quarry is part of this Süttő travertine complex, where the travertine body is exposed by former quarrying. The main aim of this study was to reconstruct the supposed depositional environment using complex sedimentological, petrographical and geophysical methods.
Geophysical survey was carried out to identify the connection between the Sugar quarry and the adjacent travertine quarries and to map eventual tectonic structures. Radiomagnetotelluric survey (RMT) was undertaken in 90 points and three multielectrode-geoelectric profiles were measured inbetween the quarries. On the basis of the RMT data, subcrop relief map and thickness map of the travertine were compiled using Surfer software. The measured data of the geoelectric profiles were inverted (least square inversion method) taking into consideration the topography. The results were displayed again by Surfer. According to the geophysical data, the travertine body exposed in Sugar-quarry is pinching out towards the E, N and W whereas it is bound by a fault to the S. The geoelectric profiles show that the Sugar quarry has no direct travertine connection to the adjacent quarries. On the subcrop relief map a small, north-south oriented topographic depression is observed along which the travertine is thickening whereas it is thinning to the N and thickening to the S, following the changes of the basement topography.
Stable oxygen and carbon isotope analyses of the travertines show that water temperature was approximately 33°C and the travertines are meteogene in origin. The quarry is characterized by phytoclastic -, thin laminated crystalline -, lithoclastic - (breccia), massive crystalline travertine and micro terraces. These lithofacies can be interpreted to correspond to waterfall, slope and lacustrine depositional environments. The presence of high amounts of pure crystalline calcite suggests that the rate of calcite precipitation may have been high and fluid source was probably close to the NW part of Sugar quarry, perhaps concentrated along the aforementioned elongated depression.