Rare Earth Element Enrichment in Late Archean Manganese Deposits from the Iron Ore Group, East India

Abstract

The major, trace and rare earth element (REE) composition of Late Archean manganese, ferromanganese and iron ores from the Iron Ore Group (IOG) in Orissa, east India, was examined. Manganese deposits, occurring above the iron formations of the IOG, display massive, rhythmically laminated or botryoidal textures. The ores are composed primarily of iron and manganese, and are low in other major and trace elements such as SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , P 2 O 5 and Zr. The total REE concentration is as high as 975 ppm in manganese ores, whereas concentrations as high as 345 ppm and 211 ppm are found in ferromanganese and iron ores, respectively. Heavy REE (HREE) enrichments, negative Ce anomalies and positive Eu anomalies were observed in post-Archean average shale (PAAS)-normalized REE patterns of the IOG manganese and ferromanganese ores. The stratiform or stratabound shapes of ore bodies within the shale horizon, and REE geochemistry, suggest that the manganese and ferromanganese ores of the IOG were formed by iron and/or manganese precipitation from a submarine, hydrothermal solution under oxic conditions that occurred as a result of mixing with oxic seawater. While HREE concentrations in the Late Archean manganese and ferromanganese ores in the IOG are slightly less than those of the Phanerozoic ferromanganese ores in Japan, HREE resources in the IOG manganese deposits appear to be two orders of magnitude higher because of the large size of the deposits. Although a reliable, economic concentration technique for HREE from manganese and ferromanganese ores has not yet been developed, those ores could be an important future source of HREE.

Genesis for Rare Earth Elements Enrichment in the Permian Manganese Deposits in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, SW China

“…It is noteworthy that, the ΣREE contents of these manganese deposits are significantly high, such as Zunyi (ΣREE=509.54 ppm, tuffaceous clay rock=1394 ppm), Shuicheng (ΣREE=712 ppm), Qianxi (ΣREE=1175.11 ppm) and Xuanwei (ΣREE=493 ppm) (Table 4; Liu et al, 2008;Yang et al, 2009;Xu et al, 2018). This is similar to the hydrothermal manganese deposits in Sardinia, Western Italy (REE= 3309.15 ppm) (Mongelli et al, 2013), the Neptuno manganese deposits in the Santa Rosalía basin and adjacent areas in Baja California Sur, México (REE=563.10 ppm) (Del RioSalas et al, 2008), and the late Archean hydrothermal HREE-rich manganese deposit in eastern India (REE highest=563.10 ppm) (Mohapatra et al, 2006;Mishra et al, 2006;Moriyama et al, 2008). Hence, these obvious geological and geochemically characteristics indicate that manganese mineralization and REEs enrichment have been related to hydrothermal activity in Zunyi and its adjacent areas during the middle to late Permian.…”

Anoxic photogeochemical oxidation of manganese carbonate yields manganese oxide

“…Indeed, rhodochrosite is a major manganese mineral in hydrothermal manganese deposits (e.g., ref. 47), and Archean manganese-rich rocks show a strong signal of hydrothermal input (48,49). It is worth mentioning that Archean sedimentary rocks have experienced at least low-grade metamorphism which may undermine the preservation of rhodochrosite via decarbonation to form MnO or Mn-silicate, which often cooccurs with rhodochrosite in metamorphosed sediments (50,51).…”

Iron and Manganese Mineralization Associated with Archean Greenstone Belt in Joda-Noamundi Sector, Odisha, East Indian Shield

“…Grant et al [37],Avasthy [38],Sarkar [39] and Raha and Moitra [40] reported algal stromatolites and spheroidal & filamentous microfossils in the BIF and manganese ore horizon of the Noamundi basin. Beukes et al [25] studied the Fe-ores of the Noamundi basin and concluded that the original magnetite rich Fe-ore protolith evolved to high grade hematite ore in three stages i.e.…”