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L. F. Rader

Publications and source records attributed to L. F. Rader.

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Volumetric determination of uranium: Titanous sulfate as reductant before oxidimetric titration

Need for a more rapid volumetric method for the routine determination of uranium in uranium-rich materials has led to the development of a method that uses titanous sulfate as a reductant before oxidimetric titration. Separation of the hydrogen sulfide group is not necessary. Interfering elements precipitated by cupferron are removed by automatic filtrations made simultaneously rather than by the longer chloroform extraction method. Uranium is reduced from VI to IV by addition of an excess of titanous sulfate solution, cupric ion serving as an indicator by forming red metallic copper when reduction is complete. The copper is reoxidized by addition of mercuric perchlorate. The reduced uranium is then determined by addition of excess ferric sulfate and titration with ceric sulfate. The method has proved to be rapid, accurate, and economical.

Analytical Chemistry

Distribution of fluorine in unaltered silicic volcanic rocks of the western conterminous United States

An investigation of more than 170 samples of glass-rich volcanic rocks of rhyolitic or rhyodacitic composition shows marked regional variations in the fluorine content. The uniformity of the class of rocks was controlled by index of refraction determinations on fused beads and by chemical analyses of about one-seventh of the total number. The fluorine content ranges from 20 to 4,900 ppm. The frequency distribution closely approaches a log-normal one; the median value is 520 ppm, the 90 percentile 1,820 ppm. The mean for 167 samples is 820 ppm. These correspond fairly well with earlier averages for similar types of rocks . The highest values are predominantly from a belt in central Colorado and west-central New Mexico, from the Big Bend region of Texas, and from southeastern Idaho and western Utah and northeastern Nevada. The distribution of the fluorine in these rocks correlates well with the distribution of significant fluorspar deposits and somewhat less well with areas where volcanic rocks are prevalent and ground waters carry large amounts of fluorine .

Economic Geology

New chemical determinations of zinc in basalts, and rocks of similar composition

New determinations of zinc in 124 basalts by the chemical method described ( Huff-Man et al. 1963) are reported. Average zinc values, in per cent, for basalts from diverse regions are as follows: Idaho, 28 samples, 0.013; Hawaii, 33 samples, 0.010; Connecticut, 27 samples, 0.0090; Oregon, 17 samples, 0.0081; California, 8 samples, 0.0071; and New Mexico, 11 samples, 0.0086; average, all samples, 0.0099 per cent zinc. A plot of differentiation indicator ratios calculated from the conventional rock analyses, CaO/(Na 2 O + K 2 O) as the ordinate and SiO 2 /MgO as the abscissa, was used to select, from different localities, samples essentially the same in chemical composition that were to be used for comparisons of zinc and other minor elements. Zinc correlates with MnO and with total iron as FeO. An inverse relationship found for zinc and manganese is related to the total iron content of the basalts. Thus for a given iron concentration as zinc increases, manganese decreases and vice versa. Ratios of zinc, the common denominator, to 11 other minor elements determined spectro-graphically show correlations with cobalt, gallium, scandium, yttrium, and zirconium.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Spectrophotometric determination of micro quantities of zinc in rocks

A chemical method is presented for the determination of microgram amounts of zinc in rocks. Zinc is absorbed on anion-exchange resin from 1.2 M hydrochloric acid and eluted with 0.01 M hydrochloric acid. A diethyldithiocarbamate separation removes traces of interfering elements from the eluate. The zinc-diethyldithiocarbamate complex is extracted into chloroform at pH 8.5 and reextracted from other elements in the chloroform solution with 0.16 M hydrochloric acid and finally determined spectrophotometrically as the zincon complex at 621 mμ. The coefficient of variation of the method determined from replicate determinations of zinc on 75 selected samples of basalt, ranging in zinc content from 0.004 to 0.018 per cent, was found to be 6.3 per cent and essentially constant in the range of zinc content studied. This method of analysis has been used extensively for a study of zinc in basalts reported by Rader, Swadley, Huffman and Lipp (companion paper, 1963).

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta