Abstract
The Lavrion area corresponds to the western part of the Attic-Cycladic metamorphic belt, in the back-arc region of the active Hellenic subduction zone. Between the Eocene and the Miocene, metamorphic rocks (mainly marbles and schists) underwent several stages of metamorphism and deformation due to collision and collapse of the Cycladic belt. Exhumation during the Miocene was accommodated by the movement of a large-scale detachment fault system, which also enhanced emplacement of magmatic rocks, leading to the formation of the famous Lavrion silver deposits. The area around the mines shows the stacking of nappes, with ore deposition mainly localized within the marbles, at marble-schist contacts, below, within, or above the detachment. The Lavrion deposit comprises five genetically-related but different styles of mineralization, a feature never observed in another ore deposit elsewhere, containing the highest number of different elements of any known mining district. The local geology, tectonic, and magmatic activity were fundamental factors in determining how and when the mineralization formed. Other key factors, such as the rise and the fall of sea level, which resulted from climate change over the last million years, were also of major importance for the subsequent surface oxidation at Lavrion that created an unmatched diversity of secondary minerals. As a result, the Lavrion deposit contains 638 minerals of which Lavrion is type-locality for 23 of them, which is nearly 12% of all known species. Apart from being famous for its silver exploitation, this mining district contains more minerals than any other district on Earth. The unique geological, mineralogical, and educational (mining, archaeological, and environmental) features suggest that it is highly suitable to be developed as a future UNESCO Global Geopark.
Highlights
Minerals from micromount up to megacryst size are among the most spectacular collectable objects exhibited in museums and private collections worldwide
From a geological point of view, the Lavrion area offers an excellent opportunity to study the interplay between (a) large-scale tectonic processes which took place during earlier Alpine collision and compression, followed by Miocene extension in the back-arc region of the Hellenic subduction zone; (b) magmatic activity, expressed by emplacement of various igneous rocks in a syn- to post-tectonic regime; (c) hydrothermal activity and fluid circulation within various lithologies, resulting in enormous quantities of ore deposition and related base and precious metal mineralization; (d) later supergene-weathering processes, resulting in a unique zone of supergene ore oxidation, which contains, in addition to the primary ores, the most mineral species ever found in a single mining district on
What must be highlighted is the major contribution that Lavrion can offer by way of a large variety of educational activities
Summary
Minerals from micromount up to megacryst size are among the most spectacular collectable objects exhibited in museums and private collections worldwide. In Greece, mineral species of extraordinary aesthetic and scientific value occur in several localities but occur mainly from three ancient mining districts: the Lavrion mines in Attica, the Serifos Island in the Aegean, and the Chalkidiki mines in northern Greece [1,2,3,4,5,6] (Figure 1). In the carbonate-replacement deposits in the Chalkidiki area, pyrite crystals up to 50 cm size are associated with quartz and rhodochrosite. From a mineralogical stand point, secondary minerals from the Lavrion district are famous, with respect to their color and crystal size, but because the district is the type-locality for 23 species (e.g., first discovered in this place) and/or assemblages with various pseudomorphs among mineral species (e.g., [2,5,12]).
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