In carbonate rocks, natural production of sulfuric acid can form karstic cavities. Where both epigenic and hypogenic speleogeneses have taken place, these processes are challenging to constrain, especially if there is more than one source of sulfur involved. Thanks to an innovative approach coupling geomorphology with measurements of multiple sulfur, oxygen, and strontium isotopes, our study of two French Pyrenean caves quantifies the relative influence of both microbial and thermochemical processes implied in sulfuric-acid production. Multiple sulfur isotopes reveal that sulfate speleothems derived from a mixing of microbial H2S in hydrothermal water and fossil thermochemical H2S previously trapped within the cave host rock. We quantify the percentages of biotic and abiotic sulfuric-acid speleogeneses that have taken place in these caves, paving the way for similar studies of other sulfuric-acid caves where usually only microbial activity has been considered.
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Research Article|
January 20, 2023
Unravelling biotic versus abiotic processes in the development of large sulfuric-acid karsts
D. Laurent;
D. Laurent
1
Laboratoire GeoRessources, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CREGU, F-54000 Nancy, France
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G. Barré;
G. Barré
2
Département de Géologie et de Génie Géologique, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada3
TotalEnergies, Scientific and Technical Center Jean Féger, 64000 Pau, France
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C. Durlet;
C. Durlet
4
Biogéosciences, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 21000 Dijon, France
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P. Cartigny;
P. Cartigny
5
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Paris Cité, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
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C. Carpentier;
C. Carpentier
1
Laboratoire GeoRessources, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CREGU, F-54000 Nancy, France
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G. Paris;
G. Paris
6
Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, 54500 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
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P. Collon;
P. Collon
1
Laboratoire GeoRessources, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CREGU, F-54000 Nancy, France
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J. Pironon;
J. Pironon
1
Laboratoire GeoRessources, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CREGU, F-54000 Nancy, France
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E.C. Gaucher
E.C. Gaucher
3
TotalEnergies, Scientific and Technical Center Jean Féger, 64000 Pau, France7
Institute of Geological Sciences, Universität Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
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Geology (2023)
Article history
received:
12 Aug 2022
rev-recd:
22 Oct 2022
accepted:
28 Oct 2022
first online:
20 Jan 2023
Citation
D. Laurent, G. Barré, C. Durlet, P. Cartigny, C. Carpentier, G. Paris, P. Collon, J. Pironon, E.C. Gaucher; Unravelling biotic versus abiotic processes in the development of large sulfuric-acid karsts. Geology 2023; doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G50658.1
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