{"title":"Niobium ore genesis in a capsule","authors":"A. Williams-Jones, O. Vasyukova, A.V. Kostyuk","doi":"10.1130/g52169.1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that carbonatite-hosted Nb deposits owe their origin to the metasomatic alteration of K-feldspar-rich fenite by carbonatitic magma. This involved reacting K-feldspar with a synthetic mixture of CaCO3, MgCO3, Mg(OH)2, CaF2, and Nb2O5. At the experimental conditions, a phlogopite-rich calcite-bearing metasomatic rind containing pyrochlore formed on the K-feldspar. This supports the above hypothesis and also explains the origin of fenite-associated glimmerite, the association of glimmerite with calcite carbonatite, and the genesis of the carbonatite-hosted ores that supply the bulk of the world’s niobium.","PeriodicalId":503125,"journal":{"name":"Geology","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Geology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1130/g52169.1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that carbonatite-hosted Nb deposits owe their origin to the metasomatic alteration of K-feldspar-rich fenite by carbonatitic magma. This involved reacting K-feldspar with a synthetic mixture of CaCO3, MgCO3, Mg(OH)2, CaF2, and Nb2O5. At the experimental conditions, a phlogopite-rich calcite-bearing metasomatic rind containing pyrochlore formed on the K-feldspar. This supports the above hypothesis and also explains the origin of fenite-associated glimmerite, the association of glimmerite with calcite carbonatite, and the genesis of the carbonatite-hosted ores that supply the bulk of the world’s niobium.