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person: Dr. Hector R. Hinojosa, PG
website: www.cordillerageo.com
mobile: 737.207.2536
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This video exemplifies a non-metallic mineral (perlite) exploration project.

Perlite is a naturally occurring amorphous hydrated silicic volcanic glass of rhyolitic composition formed through secondary alteration by the slow diffusion of meteoric water into the glass/silica structure under low-temperature surficial conditions. Perlite is commonly vitreous in the field, with a pearly luster and concentric fractures, with colors ranging from transparent light gray to glossy black. Perlite's geologic settings include the glassy parts of domes and lava flows of rhyolitic composition, pyroclastic and ignimbrites, vitric tephra, the chill margins of dykes and sills, and welded ash-flow tuffs. Crude perlite ore expands by a factor of 4 to 20 when rapidly heated to a suitable point (typically 760 to 1,200 °C) in an industrial expansion furnace. The industrial expansion process creates a product referred to as expanded perlite. Expanded perlite has various physical properties, including high porosity, low thermal conductivity, low bulk density, high sound absorption, high heat resistance, high surface area, and chemical inertness or stability. These properties make expanded perlite adaptable to commercial applications in several industries, including construction, chemical, air and liquid filtration, horticultural, and petrochemical.

Mexican perlite ore deposits are commonly hosted in rhyolitic lava flows and ignimbrite strata of the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) silicic large igneous province. From south to north, perlite ore deposits occur in Puebla, México, Jalisco, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, and Baja California Norte. The Selene perlite ore deposit occurs along the tectonically extended western edge of the northern SMO in northeastern Sonora, Mexico. To document this deposit, we used traditional geological mapping within an area of 4 × 4 km combined with petrographic analysis of representative volcanic samples of rhyolitic and basaltic composition and local lithostratigraphic correlations with well-dated volcanic units of rhyolitic composition. The objective was to define the deposit's occurrence and understand its volcanogenic context and formation process (Hinojosa et al., 2016 in Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana).

Cordillera Geo-Services provides geological and geophysical services to develop an understanding of your projects' near-surface settings.