Tl-rich hydrothermal stratiform deposit in Triassic dolomitic limestones. Originally found as a copper prospect in 1822.

Located in the Écrins National Park ('Parc national des Écrins'). Mineral collecting is not allowed except for scientific studies (permit of the park authorities required).

Note on the mineral list:

Johan & Mantienne (2000) also describe four new phases:

— Pb₉Ag(Sb,As)₁₃S₂₉ with optical properties similar to jamesonite, with a monoclinic unit-cell with a = 17.640, b = 18.464, c = 3.967 Å, beta = 90°48', V = 1292 ų, Z = 1, Dcalc = 5.51;

— a phase Tl(As,Sb)₁₀S₁₆ that is X-ray amorphous;

— a phase Tl(Sb, As)₇S₁₁ that is weakly anisotropic with reflectivity close to chabournéite;

— a phase Ag₂SbAsS₄, representing a reaction product between smithite and chabournéite.

Additional gangue minerals include albite, apatite, chlorite, fluorite, graphite, microcline, orthoclase, rutile, sericite, tourmaline, and zircon. Most of them are described in Mantienne's PhD work (1974).

Geochronology

Mineralization age: Miocene : 18.3 Ma to 13.4 Ma

Important note: This table is based only on rock and mineral ages recorded on mindat.org for this locality and is not necessarily a complete representation of the geochronology, but does give an indication of possible mineralization events relevant to this locality. As more age information is added this table may expand in the future. A break in the table simply indicates a lack of data entered here, not necessarily a break in the geologic sequence. Grey background entries are from different, related, localities.

Geologic Time				Rocks, Minerals and Events
Phanerozoic
	Cenozoic
		Neogene
			Miocene	ⓘ Muscovite (youngest age) 13.4 Ma ⓘ Muscovite (oldest age) 15.2 Ma ⓘ Adularia (youngest age) 15.2 Ma ⓘ Adularia (oldest age) 18.3 Ma

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References