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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
USGS1974

The scavenging of silver by manganese and iron oxides in stream sediments collected from two drainage areas of Colorado

Stream sediments of two well-weathered and aerated drainage areas of Colorado containing anomalous amounts of silver were allowed to react by shaking with nitric acid of different concentrations (1–10M). Silver, manganese, and iron simultaneously dissolved were determined by atomic absorption. The relationship between silver dissolution and the dissolution of manganese and/or iron was evaluated by linear and multiple regression analyses. The highly significant correlation coefficient ( r = 0.913) between silver and manganese dissolution suggests that manganese oxides are the major control on the scavenging of silver in these stream sediments, whereas iron oxides only play a secondary role in this regard.

Colorado↗
USGS1975

The determination of specific forms of aluminum in natural water

A procedure for analysis and pretreatment of natural-water samples to determine very low concentrations of Al is described which distinguishes the rapidly reacting equilibrium species from the metastable or slowly reacting macro ions and colloidal suspended material. Aluminum is complexed with 8-hydroxyquinoline (oxine), pH is adjusted to 8.3 to minimize interferences, and the aluminum oxinate is extracted with methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) prior to analysis by atomic absorption. To determine equilibrium species only, the contact time between sample and 8-hydroxyquinoline is minimized. The Al may be extracted at the sample site with a minimum of equipment and the MIBK extract stored for several weeks prior to atomic absorption analysis. Data obtained from analyses of 39 natural groundwater samples indicate that filtration through a 0.1-μm pore size filter is not an adequate means of removing all insoluble and metastable Al species present, and extraction of Al immediately after collection is necessary if only dissolved and readily reactive species are to be determined. An average of 63% of the Al present in natural waters that had been filtered through 0.1-μm pore size filters was in the form of monomeric ions. The total Al concentration, which includes all forms that passed through a 0.1-μm pore size filter, ranged 2–70 μg/l. The concentration of Al in the form of monomeric ions ranged from below detection to 57 μg/l. Most of the natural water samples used in this study were collected from thermal springs and oil wells.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1975

Rare earths in the Leadville Limestone and its marble derivates

Samples of unaltered and metamorphosed Leadville Limestone (Mississippian, Colorado) were analyzed by neutron activation for ten rare-earth elements (REE). The total abundance of the REE in the least-altered limestone is 4–12 ppm, and their distribution patterns are believed to be dominated by the carbonate minerals. The abundances of the REE in the marbles and their sedimentary precursors are comparable, but the distribution patterns are not. Eu is enriched over the other REE in the marbles, and stratigraphically upward in the formation (samples located progressively further from the heat source), the light REE become less enriched relative to the heavy REE. The Eu anomaly is attributed to its ability, unique among the REE, to change from the 3+ to 2+ oxidation state. Whether this results in preferential mobilization of the other REE or whether this reflects the composition of the pore fluid during metamorphism is unknown. Stratigraphically selective depletion of the heavy REE may be attributed to more competition for the REE between fluid and carbonate minerals in the lower strata relative to the upper strata. This competition could have been caused by changes in the temperature of the pore fluid or to the greater resistance to solution of the dolomite in the lower parts of the formation than the calcite in the upper parts.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1976

Concentration and mineralogical residence of elements in rich oil shales of the Green River Formation, Piceance Creek basin, Colorado, and the Uinta Basin, Utah - A preliminary report

Ten samples from drillcore of two rich oil-shale beds from the Parachute Creek Member of the Eocene Green River Formation, Piceance Creek basin, Colorado, and Uinta Basin, Utah, were analyzed for 37 major, minor, and trace elements. For 23 of these elements, principal mineralogical residence is established or suggested and such studies may provide data which are useful for predicting the kinds and amounts of elements and compounds that might be released into the environment by oil-shale mining operations. ?? 1976.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1976

Chromium in rocks and minerals from the southern California batholith

Chromium, determined by neutron-activation analysis in a suite of rocks and minerals from the southern California batholith, shows Cr concentrated in the mafic differentiates, decreasing as the more felsic rocks are approached. This trend is evident for samples of the Woodson Mountain Granodiorite from a single differentiated stock. The distribution of Cr in the minerals from the rocks of the southern California batholith shows that Cr was depleted in the magma during the course of crystallization. The data indicate that the minerals were in equilibrium with the magma during crystallization, and the distribution coefficient (Cr in biotite/Cr in hornblende) is correlated with differentiation indices, indicating either temperature or compositional dependence. The average distribution coefficient (Cr in biotite/Cr in hornblende) is 1.18, which compares favorably with the average values found by other investigators for other suites. ?? 1976.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1978

Redox processes at surfaces of manganese oxide and their effects on aqueous metal ions

Mn oxides precipitated from aerated solutions of Mn2+ by raising the pH are reported in various publications to have the approximate composition Mn3O4 or MnOOH. These oxyhydroxides in turn can disproportionate to Mn2+ and MnO2 resulting in a substantial decrease in equilibrium Mn solubility. The disproportionation can catalyze the oxidation of Mn2+ and other metals by facilitating electron-transfer processes. Diversion of some electron transfers from Mn species to other metal ions can greatly decrease the equilibrium solubility of Co, Pb, Ni and some other elements in the presence of mixed-valence Mn oxides. Some scavenging and coprecipitation effects involving Mn oxides may be attributable to redox processes. Equilibrium solubilities for Mn, Co and Pb are summarized in four graphs. ?? 1978.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1978

Stability of fluoride complex with silica and its distribution in natural water systems

Fluoride reacts with silicic acid to form SiF 2− 6 . A fluoride electrode was used to obtain an equilibrium constant of 10 30.18 for the reaction: Si(OH) 0 6 + 6 F − +4 H + = SiF 2− 6 + 4 H 2 O "> Si(OH)06+ 6F−+4H+=SiF2−6+ 4H2O at 25°C Although there may be some experimental evidence for existence of traces of species containing less than six F − ions per silicon ( n = 6), the species SiF 2− 6 predominates for n values from about 0.1 to 6. Silicic-acid complexing with fluoride is important only in solutions which have rather low pH and low concentrations of other cations which compete with silicon for fluoride. Computations for cold volcanic condensates from Hawaii indicate that for some samples much of the silicon is complexed by fluoride as SiF 2− 6 . However, in most cooled acidic natural water samples Al and Fe are more important than Si in complexing fluoride.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1979

Diagenetic changes in the elemental composition of unrecrystallized mollusk shells

The Mg, Sr, Mn, Fe, Na and K contents were determined for 230 apparently unrecrystallized mollusk shells (gastropods and bivalves) ranging in age from late Cretaceous to Holocene. Consistent differences between the Holocene and fossil shells with respect to concentrations of all these elements are attributed to postburial diagenetic changes. Fossil-Holocene shell comparisons are made on the intergeneric level, a more severe test of compositional differences than was previous work involved with few species. The observed differences re-emphasize the need for extreme caution in the use of the many geochemical tools which assume that no compositional changes have taken place prior to recrystallization of calcareous materials. ?? 1979.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1979

Uranium mobility during interaction of rhyolitic obsidian, perlite and felsite with alkaline carbonate solution: T = 120° C, P = 210 kg/cm 2

Well-characterized samples of rhyolitic obsidian, perlite and felsite from a single lava flow are leached of U by alkaline oxidizing solutions under open-system conditions. Pressure, temperature, flow rate and solution composition are held constant in order to evaluate the relative importance of differences in surface area and crystallinity. Under the experimental conditions U removal from crushed glassy samples proceeds by a mechanism of glass dissolution in which U and silica are dissolved in approximately equal weight fractions. The rate of U removal from crushed glassy samples increases with decreasing average grain size (surface area). Initial rapid loss of a small component (≈ 2.5%) of the total U from crushed felsite. followed by much slower U loss, reflects variable rates of attack of numerous uranium sites. The fractions of U removed during the experiment ranged from 3.2% (felsite) to 27% (perlite). An empirical method for evaluating the relative rate of U loss from contemporaneous volcanic rocks is presented which incorporates leaching results and rock permeability data.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1980

Comparison of three techniques for the determination of uranium and thorium in rocks

U and Th concentrations have been determined in a series of selected whole-rock samples, using three different techniques: neutron activation analysis (INAA), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and isotope dilution mass spectrometry (ID). The INAA technique yields U and Th data that are comparable with those obtained by ID over the entire concentration range studied. XRF only provides data with comparable precision at relatively high concentrations (> 10 ppm) but has the advantage of being able to determine other useful elements such as Rb, Sr, Pb and K. The choice between INAA and XRF therefore depends on the concentration levels anticipated, together with the overall requirements for the particular study. ?? 1980.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1980

Kinetic model for the short-term dissolution of a rhyolitic glass

Aqueous dissolution experiments with the vitric phase of a rhyolitic tuff were performed at 25??C and constant pH in the range 4.5-7.5. Results suggest interchange of aqueous hydrogen ions for cations situated both on the surface and within the glass. At time intervals from 24 to 900 hr., dissolution kinetics are controlled by ion transport to and from sites within the glass. Experimental data indicate that parabolic diffusion rate of a chemical species from the solid is a nonlinear function of its aqueous concentration. A numerical solution to Fick's second law is presented for diffusion of sodium, which relates it's aqueous concentration to it's concentration on glass surface, by a Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The pH influence on sodium diffusion in the model can be accounted for by use of a pH-dependent diffusion coefficient and a pH-independent adsorption isotherm. ?? 1980.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1980

Geochemical evolution of brines in the Salar of Uyuni, Bolivia.

Recent analyses of brines from the Salars of Uyuni and Coipasa have been compared with published data for Lakes Titicaca and Poopo to evaluate solute compositional trends in these remnants of two large Pleistocene lakes once connected by overflow from the N to the S of the Bolivian Altiplano. From Titicaca to Poopo the water shows an increase in Cl and N somewhat greater than the total solutes. Ca and SO4 increase to a lesser extent than total dissolved solids, and carbonate species are relatively constant. Between Poopo and Coipasa proportions of Ca, SO4 and CO3 continue to decrease. At Coipasa and Uyuni, the great salars frequently evaporate to halite saturation. Halite crystallization is accompanied by an increased K, Mg and SO4 in residual brines. - from Authors

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1981

Manganese cycles and the origin of manganese nodules, Oneida Lake, New York, U.S.A.

Oneida Lake is a large shallow lake in central New York that is characterized by high algal productivity and concentrated deposits of freshwater manganese nodules. Budgets for Mn in the lake and its tributaries show a net loss of 23 metric tons of manganese within the lake per year with ???95% deposited in manganese nodules and the rest incorporated in the sediments. Erosion of nodules in the shallow well-oxygenated central part of the lake produces fragments of nodules as well as Mn-coated sand grains that are transported to adjacent deeper, more reducing parts of the lake where they sink into the anoxic sediments and MnO2 is reduced to Mn2+. This produces a high concentration of Mn2+ in the pore waters of these sediments and Mn2+ diffuses back into the water column. Growth of manganese nodules in Oneida Lake is characterized by periods of rapid accretion (> 1 mm 100 yr.) alternating with periods of no-growth or erosion. Rapid growth of nodules may be aided by the stripping of Mn from the water column by algae and bacteria. In addition, the high algal productivity of Oneida Lake produces a high-pH high-oxygen environment during the summer months that is maintained throughout the water column in the central part of the lake by almost continuous wind mixing. Thus, the cycle of Mn within the lake involves an interaction of the weather, the biota, the sediments, the nodules, and Mn dissolved in the lake and interstitial waters. ?? 1981.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1981

Factors affecting the partitioning of Cu, Zn and Pb in boulder coatings and stream sediments in the vicinity of a polymetallic sulfide deposit

A sequential extraction scheme is utilized to determine the geochemical partitioning of Cu, Zn and Pb among hydrous Mn- and Fe-oxides, organics and residual crystalline silicates and oxides in the minus-80-mesh (< 0.18 mm) sediments and in boulder coatings from a stream in Lincoln County, Georgia (U.S.A.). The stream drains an area containing a CuZnPb-sulfide deposit (Magruder Mine). The boulder coatings contain mainly Mn-oxides and organics, with minor hydrous Fe-oxides. In the sediment, the chemically active phases are mainly hydrous Fe-oxides and organics, probably because Mn is leaching out of the sediments and precipitating on the exposed surfaces of boulders. In the boulder coatings, competition among Fe- and Mn-oxides and organics for Cu, Zn and Pb follows the order: Cu, organics > Fe-oxides > Mn-oxides; Zn, Mn-oxides {reversed tilde equals} organics > Fe-oxides; Pb, Fe-oxides > organics > Mn-oxides. In the sediments, organics are the most efficient scavengers of all three ore metals. These results emphasize the importance of organics as sinks for the ore metals, even in environments with high concentrations of Mn- and Fe-oxides. Of the ore metals, Zn appears to be the most mobile, and is partitioned most strongly into the coatings. However, anomaly contrast for hydromorphic Zn, normalized to the MnFe-oxide or organic content, is similar in sediments and coatings. Cu shows the highest anomaly on the boulder coatings, probably due to precipitation of a secondary Cu mineral. In contrast, detrital Pb in the pan concentrates shows a better anomaly than any hydromorphic Pb component. ?? 1981.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1981

Antipathetic magnesium-manganese relationship in basal metalliferous sediments

Basal metalliferous sediments from sites 77B, 80 and 81 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project represent mixtures of pelagic clay, biogenic ooze, and a metalliferous component of hydrothermal origin. The metalliferous end-member of the sediments displays a strong inverse relationship (r = -0.88) between Mg and Mn. Mg is most likely tied up in an X-ray amorphous Mg-silicate ("sepiolite"), whereas Mn occurs almost exclusively in an oxide phase. Precipitation of the Mg-rich phase is favored by high flow rates and limited mixing of the hydrothermal end-member (source of silica) with seawater (source of Mg). Under those conditions much of the hydrothermal Mn2+, with its slow oxidation kinetics, may escape to the free water column. In contrast, in highly-diluted hydrothermal fluids, which provide a source solution for Mn-rich sediments, dissolved silica is diluted below saturation with respect to "sepiolite". The separation of the Mn and Mg phases may be further compounded by hydraulic fractionation. ?? 1981.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1981

Chemical modifications accompanying blueschist facies metamorphism of Franciscan conglomerates, Diablo Range, California

As part of an investigation of blueschist-facies mineral parageneses in pebbles and matrix of some Franciscan metaconglomerates of the Diablo Range, California, textural and major-element chemical analyses were conducted on a number of igneous pebbles that comprise a range of rock types from granite and dacite to gabbro and basalt. Compositions of the igneous pebbles differ significantly from common igneous rocks, particularly with respect to Ca, K, Na, Si and H2O. The SiO2 and H2O contents are characteristically high and the K2O contents low. The CaO and Na2O contents may be relatively enriched or reduced in different pebbles. The igneous pebbles show little evidence of alteration prior to their incorporation into the Franciscan conglomerates, and the chemical modifications are considered to have been produced during metamorphism of the conglomerates to (lawsonite + albite + aragonite ?? jadeite)-bearing assemblages. The observed variations in the pebbles are shown to be functions of: (1) bulk chemistry; (2) the igneous mineral assemblage; (3) the stable metamorphic mineral assemblage; and (4) the composition of pore fluids in the conglomerates. The relative proportions of Mg and Fe in most of the pebbles apparently have been unaffected by the metamorphism, and these parameters, along with other textural and chemical factors, were used to determine the petrogenetic affinities of the igneous pebbles. The plutonic and most of the volcanic pebbles correspond to calc-alkaline rock series, whereas a few volcanic pebbles show apparent Fe-enrichment characteristic of tholeiitic rocks. A continental margin arc-batholith complex would be the best source for these igneous detrital assemblages. Conglomerates in local areas differ in igneous lithologies from conglomerates in other areas and probably differ somewhat in age, perhaps reflecting varying degrees of unroofing of such a complex during deposition of Franciscan sediments. ?? 1981.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1981

Multiple-element semiquantitative analysis of one-milligram geochemical samples by D.C. arc emission spectrography

A modified method is described for a 1-mg sample multi-element semiquantitative spectrographic analysis. This method uses a direct-current arc source, carbon instead of graphite electrodes, and an 80% argon-20% oxygen atmosphere instead of air. Although this is a destructive method, an analysis can be made for 68 elements in all mineral and geochemical samples. Carbon electrodes have been an aid in improving the detection limits of many elements. The carbon has a greater resistance to heat conductance and develops a better tip, facilitating sample volatilization and counter balancing the cooling effect of a flow of the argon-oxygen mixture around the anode. Where such an argon-oxygen atmosphere is used instead of air, the cyanogen band lines are greatly diminished in intensity, and thus more spectral lines of analysis elements are available for use; the spectral background is also lower. The main advantage of using the carbon electrode and the 80% argon-20% oxygen atmosphere is the improved detection limits of 36 out of 68 elements. The detection limits remain the same for 23 elements, and are not as good for only nine elements. ?? 1981.

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1982

The mobility of uranium and other elements during alteration of rhyolite ash to montmorillonite: A case study in the Troublesome Formation, Colorado, U.S.A.

An unusual occurrence of juxtaposed glassy and clay-altered ash was sampled to estimate the degree and type of element mobility during alteration of glass to montmorillonite. The results are particularly interesting in that major mobilization of uranium is indicated. Closely spaced samples of glassy and montmorillonitic ash were collected from the same 20-50 cm thick stratigraphic horizon in the Troublesome Formation (Miocene) of northwestern Colorado. Sharp contacts exist between glassy ash and underlying pink montmorillonite and indicate that water-saturated conditions were restricted to basal ash layers. Formation of montmorillonite instead of zeolites suggests that the water was not highly saline or alkaline. Isotopic and chemical analyses of glassy and clay-altered samples indicate the following: 1. (1) Montmorillonite has U concentrations which are only 10-15% of the concentrations in coexisting glass. Similarly depleted elements include Cs, Rb, Na and K. Much smaller depletions of these elements in some glassy samples serve as sensitive indicators of incipient alteration of glass to montmorillonite. 2. (2) Abundances of relatively insoluble elements such as Th, Ta, Hf and Al are slightly higher (5-50%) in clay-altered ash and serve as indicators of the maximum levels of enrichment in residual material. Greater enrichment of elements such as Ca, Mg, Sr, Sc, P, Cr and Co indicate structural incorporation, adsorption, or ion-exchange uptake by clay or secondary hydrous oxides of Fe and Mn. 3. (3) The rare-earth-element patterns and abundances in glass are sufficiently mimicked by detritus-free montmorillonite to document the compositional equivalency of the two. 4. (4) Radioactive equilibrium exists between 238U and its decay products 234U and 230Th. This documents minimal open-system mobility of U within the last ??? 0.3 Ma. ?? 1982.

Chemical Geology↗