Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T21:58:46.860Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alteration Features in Natural Zirconolite from Carbonatites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

C.T. Williams ,
A.G. Bulakh ,
R. Gieré ,
G.R. Lumpkin  and
A.N. Mariano
C.T. Williams
Affiliation:
Dept. of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK.
A.G. Bulakh
Affiliation:
Dept. of Mineralogy, St. Petersburg University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
R. Gieré
Affiliation:
Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1397, USA.
G.R. Lumpkin
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
A.N. Mariano
Affiliation:
48 Page Brook Road, Carlisle, MA 01741, USA
Get access

Abstract

In nature, zirconolite occurs as an accessory mineral in many different rock types, but the majority of reported occurrences are from carbonatites (magmatic carbonates) of geological age varying from a few million years to 2 billion years old. Within these 19 carbonatite occurrences, of which 15 have been studied in some detail, zirconolite displays varying degrees of alteration in six samples. This alteration ranges from incipient minor effects to major corrosion, recrystallization and complete replacement by secondary phases. The degree of alteration broadly correlates with either the age, or actinide content of the zirconolite (or both), and thus the extent and degree of metamictization. Changes in zirconolite composition with alteration include an increase in hydration (H2O), Si, Ba and Pb (possibly radiogenic in origin), and a decrease primarily in Ca and Fe. Th can be remobilized, and of the rare earth elements (REE), there is evidence that the heavy-REE are mobilized more readily than the light-REE. Using backscattered electron images and electron microprobe analyses, this study documents and illustrates the range of alteration features observed in zirconolite from several carbonatites, in terms of both compositional and textural changes, and provides some physico-chemical information on the fluids responsible for the alteration.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 663: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste management XXIV , 2000 , 945
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Smith, K.L. and Lumpkin, G.R., in Defects and Processes in the Solid State: Geoscience Applications. The McLaren Volume edited by Boland, J.N. and Gerald, J.D. Fitz (Elsevier, New York, 1993) pp. 401–422.Google Scholar
2. Williams, C.T. and Gieré, R., Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Lond. (Geol.) 52, pp. 1–24 (1996).Google Scholar
3. Gieré, R., Williams, C.T., and Lumpkin, G.R., Schweiz. Mineral. Petrogr. Mitt., 78, pp. 433–459 (1998).Google Scholar
4. Gieré, R. and Williams, C.T., Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 112, 83–100 (1992).Google Scholar
5. Gieré, R., Williams, C.T., and Lumpkin, G.R., (1998). Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 506, 1031–1032 (1998).Google Scholar
6. Lumpkin, G.R., Day, R.A., McGlinn, P.J., Payne, T.E., Gieré, R., and Williams, C.T., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 556, 793–800 (1999).Google Scholar
7. Lumpkin, G.R., Smith, K.L. and Gieré, R., Micron 28, 57–68 (1997).Google Scholar
8. Bellatreccia, F., Ventura, G. Della, Caprilli, E., Williams, C.T., and Parodi, G.C., Mineral. Mag., 63, 649–660 (1999).Google Scholar
9. Viladkar, S.G. and Wimmenauer, W., Chem. Erde 52, 277–291 (1992)Google Scholar
10. Bulakh, A.G., Nesterov, A.R., Williams, C.T., and Anisimov, I.S., Mineral. Mag., 62, 837–846 (1998).Google Scholar
11. Gieré, R., Guggenheim, M., Düggelin, M., Mathys, D., Williams, C.T., Lumpkin, G.R., Smith, K.L., Blackford, M.G., Hart, K.P. and McGlinn, P., Electron Microscopy 94: Proc. 13th Int. Congr. on Electron Microscopy, Application in Material Sciences 2B, 1269–1270 (1994).Google Scholar
12. Wall, F. and Mariano, A.N., in Rare Earth Minerals: Chemistry, Origin and Ore Deposits edited by Jones, A.P., Wall, F. and Williams, C.T., (Chapman and Hall, London, 1996), pp.193–226.Google Scholar
13. Lumpkin, G.R., Smith, K.L., Blackford, M.G., Gieré, R., and Williams, C.T., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 506, 215–222 (1998).Google Scholar
14. Malmstroem, J., Reusser, J., Gieré, R., Lumpkin, G.R., Dueggelin, M., Mathys, D., and Guggenheim, R.. Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 556, 165–172 (1999).Google Scholar
15. Lumpkin, G.R. and Ewing, R.C., Amer. Mineral. 81, 1237–1248 (1996).Google Scholar
16. Wall, F., Williams, C.T., and Woolley, A.R., in Mineral Deposits: Processes to Processing, edited by Stanley, C.J. et al., (Balkema Publishers, Rotterdam, 1999), pp. 687–690.Google Scholar