Mineral systems, their types and distribution in Nature. 3. Otto Mountain (USA) and El Dragon (Bolivia) deposits
Krivovichev V. G., Charikova M. V.
Zapiski RMO (Proceedings of the Russian Mineralogical Society). 2018. V. 147. N 4. P. 14-28
https://doi.org/10.30695/zrmo/2018.1474.01
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Language: Russian
Abstract
It was found that in minerals 27 chemical elements are essential, species-defining constituents in all known up to 2018 tellurium-bearing mineral species (166). Number of minerals containing these leading elements were calculated as following (parentheses): O (85), H (47), Cu (42), Pb (39), Bi (30), S (26), Fe (20), Ag (18), Pd (15), Cl (13), Zn, Au (11 mineral each), Ca, Se (7 mineral each), Mg, Mn, Sb, As (6 mineral each), Ni, Hg (5 mineral each), U (4), Ir (3), Al, K, C, Sn, Pt (2 mineral each). It has been revealed that distribution of majority of the species-defining elements by mineral systems corresponds to the normal distribution. The comparative analysis of the mineral species distribution by various systems was carried out for Otto Mountain (USA) and El Dragon (Potosi, Bolivia) deposits, as well as comparison of these objects by character of distribution of these species-defining elements. It was found that Cu, Pb, Au, S, C are the «superfluous» species-defining in minerals of both deposits, and Si, Ca, K, Al are the deficient, «scarce» elements in both cases. Minerals containing Te, Cr, Cl, Ag, I, As, Mo, P, Sr, V, U, Na, F are present only in the Otto Mountain mine, and minerals with Mg, Ba, Ni, Hg, Co were detected only in the El Dragon. Numbers of O, H, Si, Pb-bearing minerals is substantially higher in Otto Mountain ores than in El Dragon.
Key words: selenium, tellurium, mineral species, species-defining elements, mineral systems, mineral clarks.
