Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Mud Volcanic Ejecta: A New Look at Old Issues (A Case Study from the Bulganak Field, Northern Black Sea)

We characterise the mineralogy and geochemistry of Oligo-Miocene Maykopian shales that are currently extruded by onshore mud volcanoes of the Kerch-Taman Province (the Northern Black Sea) from the depths of ~2.5–3 km. The ejected muds are remarkable by highly diverse authigenic mineralogy that comprises glauconite, apatite, siderite, mixed Fe–Mg–Mn–(Ca) and Mn–Ca–Fe-carbonates, pyrite, marcasite, sphalerite, cinnabar, chalcopyrite, nukundamite, akantite, native Cu, Au and Au–Ag alloys. Precise geochemical techniques and high-resolution methods are applied to study the composition of bulk rocks, sulphide and carbonate fractions, as well as individual mineral species, including trace element and isotopic compositions of carbonates (C, O) and pyrite (S). Mineralogy of clastic and heavy fractions is used as a provenance tracer. Oxygen-deficient to weakly sulphuric deposition conditions are inferred for the parent sediments proceeding from trace element partitioning between carbonate, sulphide, and metallic phases. The main conclusion of the study is that onshore mud volcanoes of the region only transport buried sedimentary material and authigenic minerals they store to the ground surface.