Preliminary Report on the Mineralogy of Pestera din Valea Rea (Bihor Mountains, Romania)

From a mineralogical point of view, Pestera din Valea Rea presents a great interest. Gypsum is unique in what concerns its type of occurrence and abundance. Gypsum speleothems (flower, crystal, rope, snow, hair, cotton, crust and stalagmite) from Pestera din Valea Rea exhibit features never described before in a Romanian cave. The most typical speleothems are those consisting of gypsum, anhydrite and celestite, yet some may include carbonate minerals (calcite, aragonite, magnesite, hydromagnesite, dolomite, rhodochrosite, malachite) and phosphates (brushite, barrandite, bobierrite, vivianite, wavellite). Quartz, periclase, kaolinite, dickite, nacrite and illite have also been identified in various speleothems.