Dolomite occurrences and their evaluation as an industrial mineral: Çakraz region, northern Anatolia

The objective of the study is to investigate the geochemical properties and suitability as an industrial raw material of Çakraz district dolomite occurrences NW Anatolia. Most of the former studies on the area deals with field geology and ignores industrial mineral potential. Lias (Jurassic) Himmetpaja Formation formed the basement of the region and was overlaid by the Barremian (Cretaceous) Zonguldak Formation with unconformity. Aptian (Cretaceous) Kilimli Formation covered the Zonguldak Formation. A field study has been implemented to characterize the geology of the area and to prepare a geological map in this study. Also major oxide, minor and trace element analyses were performed by XRF on the some samples, which have been taken from the limestones and dolomites that exist on the Zonguldak Formation in the study area. Geochemical analysis on the samples exhibited that MgO concentration is higher than 12% in only two areas, whereas the other areas contain less than 1%. Calcium oxides (CaO) contain changes between 22.57% and 54.32%. The other components of the samples are SiO2 (0.61% - 54.94%), Fe2O3 (0.1% - 1.01), Al2O3 (0.06% - 1.53%) and MnO (0.01% - 0.03%). The results of these analyses are plotted and classified so the specimens are named as dolomitic limestones. According to the chemical data, Çakraz district dolomite occurrences are only suitable to be used by few sectors as an industrial raw material.