Minerals - Science topic

According to the recommendation of the International Mineralogical Association, the names küstelite and electrum were recommended to be excluded from the description of gold. But I can't find an official document or reference to this recommendation anywhere. Maybe someone can clarify this issue?

I found most of the papers used magnetic survey (airborne or ground) to explore new gold mine. However, almost all papers uses additional geophysics method (IP, SP, Conductivity, resistivity, EM etc.) to support the magnetic data.

I wonder why do we need support since the magnetic data can gives precise reading on the magnetic anomalies of those associate minerals (Sulfides especially) in the field.

Thank you so much in advance.

I’m seeking reliable data on the typical construction timeline for setting up a processing plant, specifically for industrial/construction minerals and metallic ores. Below is a breakdown I’ve encountered, but I would appreciate feedback or references to studies or reports that validate or refine these estimates:

Are these timelines consistent with industry standards, and could anyone provide more detailed insights or case studies related to such projects? Any references to credible sources or personal experiences with processing plant construction would be very helpful.

Thank you!

What are the other evidences we look for in addition to the mineral chemical compositional signatures like phengitic substitutions of white mica?

What is the method of measuring sulfur for minerals such as metal oxide or molybdenum oxide through Leco furnace (or similar furnaces) at different temperatures, times and weights after leaching and after cleaning by titration method (gravimetry)?

ESSAY COMPETITIONTheme:Considering Tanzania’s abundant extractive resources (Minerals and natural gas), how can the country harness its resources to drive sustainable development in the context of climate change?

Dear Experts..

I thought it was muscovite (attached image..Xrd Pattern, this is bulk sample!!).

And its chemical composition is SiO2 about 40%, Al2O3 about 40%, K2O about 10% and CaO 6%.

But,, In the XRD Peaks, the almost peaks intensity fits well, but the highest peak(about 2theta 26.853) intensity isn't strong enough. So I think it might be some other minerals.

In my XRD database, it doesn't match other materials except the muscovite.

Because it is a smooth-surface bead(like gems), it is difficult to see the layers(like mica or usual muscovite).

Its color is grayish green. (The beads of similar data are green and ivory.)

Although the analysis data is lacking, is this muscovite or some other minerals?

If so, what is it..and What additional analysis should be done(non-destructive analysis)?

Please give me your opinions. Thank you very much!!

The real way of synthesis of simplest living matter from minerals under natural and laboratory conditions is described in the fundamental review paper: Kadyshevich E.A., Ostrovskii V.E. From minerals to simplest living matter: Life Origination Hydrate Theory. Acta Biotheoretica. 71 (2023) article 13 (pp. 1–67); https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-023-09463-9.

This paper represents generalization of the research works published over the period from 2000 to 2023 in several tens of publications and presented at about 30 international scientific conferences in about 20 countries in the form of lectures and oral presentations. All publications relating to the problem of living matter origination are available at the ResearchGate site in the Victor Ostrovskii's and Elena Kadyshevich's pages.

How can we differentiate between calcite, dolomite, siderite, magnesite and ankerite minerals in carbonatite rocks in thin section under optical microscope?

Material and method

Are there any techniques at ore exploration that could replace the compass-tape measure of mineralized structures?

Various Waste materials as biomass of Plants and Animal,have different organic Complex compounds as Proteins,Carbohydrates,Fats,Lipids,Vitamins and more Minerals .As Carbon di oxide ,water and minerals form Food for us,

So Reverse of Waste can gives more useful materials,

Its like economy is recycles

I am trying to perform the quantitative analysis of minerals in my samples. I have the XRD raw data of my samples. I started Rietveld refinement in X'pert Highscore and Match!* software but there was an error showing in these two software.

I have attached the image which shows the error during Rietveld refinement.

Please help me, If there are any other method for quantitative analysis of mineral percentage.

Today, I found that our following Preprint PDF is available on ResearchGate

This manuscript was rejected by Minerals

Minerals deleted it already

We are in the process of communicating with other journals

This Preprint on ResearchGate is creating problems for us when we communicate this manuscript to any other journals

Since the preprint is available online, our manuscript is not passing through the Similarity Test.

Hence, I request you to kindly delete the above preprint PDF from ResearchGate and help us publish this manuscript in a Good Journal

Regards

V. Balaram

NF membranes sit between Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Ultrafiltration (UF) in terms of pore size. This allows them to remove a wider range of contaminants than UF but not as much as RO. However, current NF membranes aren't perfect at selectively removing certain contaminants while allowing desirable minerals to pass through. In optimizing NF membrane selectivity, could machine learning algorithms be used to design or predict ideal pore structures or surface functionalities for NF membranes?

There are many methods are available to predict soil available nutrients such as soil testing, plant testing, nutrient deficiency / toxicity symptoms on plant foliage etc. and recommending fertilizers without assessing the existing natural minerals resources. In this connection, study on the identification and quantification soil mineral resources, release pattern and prevailing environment may be highly useful not only to recommend nutrients and forms of nutrients suitable for particular crop besides saving of cost on unwanted application of fertilizers.

The execution of pedological and soil mineral resource based fertilizer application may also pave way for organic farming to great extend. Soil Scientist, pedologist and geomorphologist may start new dimension of discussion on this topic.

Please provide an explanation according to the classification of primary and secondary uranium ore

Good afternoon!

Can anyone tell me where I can find a map of a particular country (or a complete world map) bordering the Arctic zone, and where the solid minerals located on the Arctic shelf will be mapped? For example, I have a map of a part of Russia that shows solid mineral occurrences on the shelf (https://www.americangeosciences.org/sites/default/files/igc/3286.pdf), and I want to make a map of the entire Arctic zone (including Norway, Canada, USA, Greenland, etc.). Interested in solid minerals, and specifically on the Arctic shelf (i.e., those that are expected to be mined underwater).

Dear all, we found these empty cylindrical cocncretions in severals ponds and lakes from different mountain range in Uzbekistan.

Any ideas of what it could be ?

The pictures have been took under binoculare lens (the structure are from 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm).

May be a root concretion of Cyperaceae or other hydrophytes from the ponds ?

Thank you for your help,

Lucas

Dear Scientists and Colleagues,

I trust this message finds you well. I am reaching out to seek your valuable expertise and guidance on a matter related to my current research.

My focus revolves around the calculation of ore-forming temperatures for lead-zinc ores, utilizing the elemental composition analysis (ICP-MS) of sphalerite minerals. In my efforts, I have thoroughly reviewed relevant literature and attempted to replicate some published results, as outlined in the attached paper (Table 2 in Chen Wei et al., 2018). Regrettably, my findings do not align with the calculations presented by the original author.

Given the intricacies of this research, I am eager to benefit from the collective knowledge and insights of fellow scientists. I would be immensely grateful for any suggestions or guidance you may provide to help navigate through this challenge.

Thank you in advance for considering my inquiry. Your expertise is highly valued, and I look forward to any assistance you can offer.

Additionally, what specific conditions may occur during the crystallization process of minerals in the formation of meteorites?

How to differentiate minerals like illite, muscovite, biotite in xrd analysis?

I want to know more about Au deposits.

Hello to all. I have recently been working on growth and sporulation of B.coagulans BC³⁰ (isolated from a probiotic product which was claimed to contain it) and I have had problems with its sporulation. Based on my experience, sporulation in B.coagulans is not as simple as other Bacillus species. This isolate sporulates just on “sporulation agar medium” after 48 hours (I did not see any spores in Nutrient agar or MRS agar even when the agar medium had been dried and cracked caused by long incubation time at 48°C). I need this bacterium to grow well and sporulate in broth medium but spores could not be seen even after one week of fermentation (in a rich medium containing glucose, peptone, yeast extract, and minerals such as MnSO₄ 0.17 g/l and MgSO₄ 0.25 g/l). Then, I used minerals such as FeSO₄ (0.00028 g/l), Mncl₂ (0.0016 g/l), CaCl₂ (0.073 g/l) and MgSO₄ (0.25g/l) in the culture medium (in concentrations similar to sporulation agar medium) and incubated it at 48°C for 85 hours, but again no spores were formed. I used a rich medium to improve its growth, so I guessed that nutritional enrichment suppressed sporulation, however even in “sporulation broth medium” with low nutrients, no spores were observed after 3 days. Apparently, for this bacterium, nutritional depletion could not induce sporulation alone. I don’t know what the problem is? Does sporulation depend on a factor that I have not applied? Lower or higher growth temperature? Heat shock? Cold shock? Oxygen restriction? Or…?

Kindly let me know if anybody has expertise in the geochemical modeling of arsenic using PHREEQC or similar geochemical models. I need to calculate the saturation indices of some arsenic-bearing minerals.

Currently, I’m studying the literature on the relation between the PRAL value of food and how this affects cancer patients. Very interesting but what I cannot find is how the body mechanistically handles the acid base balance. I understand the role of proteins and phosphates but how can a higher intake of the three minerals potassium, calcium and magnesium lead to positive PRAL values and therefore alkalizes the body? It has to do with exchange of ions but is there a paper or book that explains the mechanism?

The APS minerals in my samples (the major composition is dickite) could be divided into two kinds, including aggregations (acicular and scale-like) and zoned structured crystals (mainly cubic). And we have already obtained the chemical compositions of the APS minerals in our samples.

I learned from some articles that APS minerals may form through intense weathering or hydrothermal fluids. So I wonder whether we could judge their genesis from their morphologies (maybe combined with their component information).

I would be really grateful if any specialist could answer my questions. Thank you so much.

What would be best a multivariate time series model or a uunivariate time series models when you want to forecast about 8 minerals for your research paper

As title.

The similar sediments can be deposited at the river and lake system. Is there any detrital mineral difference of these similar sediments (such as mudstone) between the fluvial and lacustrine facies?

Dear, there are hundred and one food items in the world. Every item is rich in 1 Carbohydrates, 2. Proteins, 3 Lipids (Fats and Oils), 4. Vitamins and 5. Minerals. So eat ALL but restrict to 4 or 5 items daily. No diabetes.

Hi everyone,

I apologize for disrupting you.

I would like to ask about how to calculate the amount of Hedenbergite and Johannsenite from the EPMA analyses of pyroxene minerals.

Many thanks and regards.

I have precipitated minerals using artificial seawater and attached a SEM image of the resulting minerals. Initially, I thought they were aragonite. However, based on the XRD analysis, they appear to be vaterite. I'm wondering if vaterite can form as shown in the attached image, particularly if magnesium is involved in the process.

There are many large tourmalines in Aplite, and the core of tourmalines is replaced by the hydrothermal solution to form fine Epidote and other minerals. There are also some Magnetite in aplite and very few fluid inclusions in quartz. I'm not sure which specific geological processes this rock has gone through.

I am studying the formation process of minerals (i.e., Ca2SO4) on polymer-coated surfaces. For my results, the frequency changes for different overtones are slightly different. In literature, n=3 is typically used. Can I use n=5 or n=7?

or there is another suggestion!

What causes the Shrimp larval rearing tank culture water turns into GREEN COLOR ? which has (live Thalassiosira weissflogii microalgae& industry standard Probiotic & other growth minerals). Also Vorticella infestation problem occurred it leads to high mortality rate in shrimp early post larval stage. Any suggestion to prevent/ reduce VORTICELLA in larval rearing tank

I obtained orientation data of Minerals by using the EBSD single point setting of the Aztec Software. Usually, I proceed the data with the HKL Channel 5 Software (Mambo pole figures, Tango Maps and so on). To this end, I export the data obtained with the Aztec Software to Channel 5 compatible cpr-files. Since a few weeks during the Channel 5 Export of EBSD Point measurements the option to choose between cpr and ctf-files is faded out and inhibited and I can not proceed my raw data to pole figures. Is anybody familiar with this Problem?

sobre los métodos de extracción que hay o que esta en estudio de los minerales en el fondo marino de la Zona, establecida por la Convemar

Greetings.

Up until now didn't need to quantify minerals, a qualitative analysis was enough, but I wonder if needed what are the best and more feasible/acessible methods to quantify the percentage(even approximately) of different phases in a mineral precipitate?

I know there is one method that if we know that one ion is only present in a mineral in our sample, ththenan we may infer how much of that mineral is present, but is still based on suppositions so I wanted to avoid it and doesn't give a full picture.

The other one I know of is the Rietveld method using X-Ray Diffraction that allows quantification. But I guess if the sample has amorphous materials it leaves those minerals out right? and is it common to be able to perform this method in any XRD devices or only the most recent ones?

What other methods are there that maybe of use, that aren't excessively expensive or hard to find where to perform them? Even if it mainly gives us a distribution of the percentage of each of the known phases.

I'm researching a series of U-REE-Cu-Au deposits in Australia, which host REE in epidote-group minerals. Following the approach of Deer, Howie and Zussman, I calculated the chemical formulas based on EPMA data using 12 ideal O, 8 ideal cations and all Fe as Fe3+.

I tried correcting the total Fe content for Fe2+ and Fe3+ following Droop (1987). However, this approach doesn't seem to work well. I think it's because the minerals are slightly metamict and contain vacancies.

I'm also trying to recreate the REE vs Al plot of Petrik et al (1995) and use it to estimate the Fe3+ to total Fe ratio. However, I can't find formulas to calculate the ratios of Fe3+ to total Fe based on this plot. Does anyone have the formulas or could recommend a publication that explains the workflow?

Thank you,

Christina Loidolt

I am preparing synthetic sugarcane wastewater but in literature, the composition of minerals and trace elements are very diverse so want to ask on what basis should it be decided, is there any rule similar to CNP ratios? or any other source for deciding the Trace element composition?

As a Russian, I easily get confused by how these terms are applied in petrography. This is because Russian 'structure' and 'texture' swop their meaning when translated to English. At least that's what I thought until today, when I decided to describe a metamorphic rock, something I haven't done in a while and never in English, and did some reading online to check my use of terminology. To my surprise, I came across multiple uses of the words 'structure' and 'microstructure' in places where I've learned to say 'texture'. Here is a quote of Ron H. Vernon advocating this approach:

"because ‘texture’ means ‘preferred orientation’ to most materials scientists and an increasing number of structural geologists, it would be best not to use it instead of ‘microstructure’ as many petrologists do"

However, I have a couple of problems with this suggestion. Firstly, the same book by Ron H. Vernon defines 'foliation' using the word 'structure', so what's the point of abolishing 'texture' then? Secondly, and this is a much bigger issue to me, how to describe textures of individual crystals then? Surely, calling say tartan twinning a feldspar structure would be rather confusing... And if 'texture' is reserved for such cases, what would be a consistent use of the word 'texture' in application to rocks? Would foliation be a texture then, which would be consistent with the Russian use of this word? What about things like (micro)layering and (micro)folding? And would 'porphyritic' become structure then, as in Russian?

My background is in geology/geochemistry so I have never dealt with preserved organic specimens before. I recently acquired some preserved modern crinoids that I would like to process and analyze for major/trace element concentrations (mainly Ca, Mg, Sr, Mn) and calcium isotopes. I will be analyzing the mineralized skeleton of the crinoids, which are composed of high-Mg calcite, and have an established procedure to eliminate the organic mater from the samples involving a multi-step treatment with HCl and hydrogen peroxide. However, this procedure was established for calcified algal mats that were stored in water in a fridge, and not alcohol/formaldehyde.

These crinoid samples were collected in the early 90s and have been sitting in alcohol/formaldehyde for the past ~30 years. While alive many crinoids are brilliant in colour (reds, oranges, yellows, etc); however the preserved samples I have are dull brown or pale white in colour. Does this mean the preservation solution has leached or broken down some of the organic pigments? If the preservation solution is leaching/breaking down the organic matter, would it also affect the mineralized skeleton? I will be analyzing the crinoid sample on an ICP-OES, so maybe it would be worth it to analyze some of the preservation solution?

Thanks for any help or insight!

As the question is, in many natural gem stones, the color distribution is not uniform, so is there a suitable method to separate and quantify the color clusters?

Hi, I'm studying a rather peculiar mafic sample that contains a good amount of oxides (titanomagmetite mostly) but also some iron oxides that contain up to 4wt% NiO. The rest of the minerals are quite depleted in Ni. This is quite outside of my field. Which process can result in Ni-enrichment in iron oxides?

Combining feed enzymes, and minerals with probiotic microbes will affect the efficiency of microbes??

How to make the Composition by mixing the 3 of them?. (Probiotic, Feed enzymes, Minerals)

I want to classify rock minerals

I am running some flotation experiments with limited sample availability. One alternative i have is to recombine the products, destroy the chemicals and use it again as feed in other flotation experiments. I wonder if there is any method that can be used to destroy the chemicals absodbed on the surface of minerals effectively. The collector that i use is an alkyl hydroxamate (Aero 6494).

Thanks

Baddeleyite is crucial to date mafic-ultramafic rocks. However, it is difficult to separate by physical processes. In a unique study, Guo et al. (2022) (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.1c06264) showed that baddeleyite can be very efficiently separated by digestion of relatively small amount of rock (19 gram) using acids (HF + HCl + HNO3) in which baddeleyite grains did not go into solution. SIMS dating (op. cit.) suggested that the U-Pb age of the separated baddeleyite grains were not affected by the acid based processes.

My question is that do you expect any disturbance of the U-Pb isotope systematics of baddeleyite by the acids in general? Should we use commercial grade acids (as done by the above authors) or purified acids? The aim is to date the baddeleyite grains by spot analysis (Ion probe or LA-ICPMS). Should't the relatively greater amount of acids used in the separation (120 mL 22 M HF and 60 mL 8 M HNO3) create some handling problem? If you have any experience with acid-based separation of baddeleyite, please share.

Thanks in advance.

Sukanta

I would like to know what is a reasonable price for rare earth minerals (e.g. cerium fluorocarbon, monazite, ionic, yttrium phosphate, brown yttrium niobium, etc.) in the international market, putting aside all political biases?

There seems to be a disagreement between the world's largest rare earths exporter (China) and other rare earths demand countries on this issue, (in fact I don't want to use the politically charged terms "China" and "West" to divide the two academic communities) In the "Chinese" academic community, scholars often criticize that the international trade market for rare earths is now a "buyer's monopoly" market, the export price of rare earths is so low that it cannot compensate for the environmental pollution and losses caused by mining. This is tantamount to China providing implicit subsidies to sellers at the cost of environmental pollution. (Luo et al., 2022)

However, the more dominant view among academics in REE-demanding countries is that the international REE market is a "seller's monopoly" and that China's REE trade policy is aimed at maximizing profits. (Muller et al., 2015) What's more important is that rare earth prices are significantly and negatively correlated with the extent of new energy promotion (Massari & Ruberti, 2012)

Let us discuss this question without bias, whether there is a reasonable price in the international trade market for rare earths such that.

1, for rare earth exporting countries, a price that compensates the user value and environmental value of non-renewable minerals while meeting the development costs and normal profits

2, for the importing countries, this price will not hinder the development and promotion of industries that depend on rare earth minerals (such as new energy, etc.).

And, most importantly, what is the literature that discusses the relationship between the two and calculates the possible appropriate price for rare earths?

I think we have to explore this issue, after all, for all countries, maximizing welfare is the ultimate goal of trade, not political interests.

In a project, the bedrock foundation for the ECRD dam is gneiss (quartz feldspathic/muscovitic/

micaceous quartz). Also, the rockfill was made up of the same gneiss. Some leakage captured downstream shows contents of sulfate. What is occurring in the leakage and why is the sulfate appearing? It’s worth to note gneiss has the following minerals: biotite, sphene, epidote, granite, and zoisite, among others. The reservoir water is Calcium-Bicarbonate type (according to Piper Diagram). The main recharge for the leakages mentioned before is the reservoir, according to hydrogeochemical studies, isotopic studies, and geoelectrical tests.

I need it as fillers into polymer

Please can anyone help us with the following? In an acidified headwater catchment underlain by paragneiss, we are using Mg, Ca and Sr isotope ratios to identify the proportion of these elements of geogenic and anthropogenic origin in the runoff. We isotopically analyzed 11 catchment compartments, including several organic pools and are aware of Mg, Ca isotope fractionations. We have the isotope composition of the main rock-forming and accessory minerals in addition to whole-rock isotope signatures. Individual minerals exhibit a wide range of Mg, Ca and Sr isotope ratios. For a rigorous interpretation of the data set we would need to know the relative dissolution rates of apatite, biotite, muscovite, albite, orthoclase and ilmenite. The reviewers will likely request a kinetic model to estimate the order of these six minerals from the fastest weathering to the slowest weathering mineral. We are aware of the complexity of such kinetic modelling. We believe a general sequence of weathering rates of these six minerals with some in-depth discussion of the uncertainties would do. As a rule, the reviewers are mostly sceptical about the relevance of equilibrium modelling, such as PHREEQC, and/or just invoking the Goldich (1938) and Bowen (1956) scheme. Would you know of a publication that would for any paragneiss site report kinetic modelling of mineral weathering considering as many minerals as possible, preferably also including ilmenite?

We are looking to destroy ferrocyanide and are trying to figure out under what conditions it might occur

Dear Researchers,

I am working on a petrographic analysis, and I have a thin-section database, referred to partially metamorphic rocks such as meta-basalt, meta-andesite, meta-gabbro and so on.

In the thin-section results, I have got the percentage of several main minerals such as Quartz, Epidote, Feldspar, Chlorite and some other minerals which are significantly varying among samples from one to another. For example, Quartz is fluctuating between 0 and 59 percent in various samples.

I would appreciate if you could share your ideas about this question.

Best,

Behzad

The Katanga basin of the Central African Copperbelt is a significant source of sedimentary-hosted copper deposits. The stratiform and vein-type deposits are distinguished along the belt. unlikely like porphyry deposits where the geochemistry of some hydrothermal minerals (e.g., chlorite) are applied to track the core of the orebody, such minerals seem to be lacking in CAC. Based on a specific prospect or deposit, how to develop a geochemical predictive tool for sedimentary hosted copper deposit? What can be elemental geochemical pathfinders for prospecting sediment-hosted copper deposits?

Commercial iron(II) sulfide (FeS) is available from several distributors, usually in powder form or as "sticks". But what minerals in what quantities does it actually contain? From XRD I found both troilite and pyrrhotite as mayor constitutents, but is there also possibly mackinawite (difficult to see in conventional XRD) as one of the components?

A CRISM spectrum of Mars, could any benevolent scientist please tell me the answer?

Dear fellow researchers,

I have been looking to buy some updated database for Raman spectroscopy of different organic, inorganic minerals, polymers etc., (updated with new entries at least in 2020). Could any of you suggest some sellers or links for the same.

Thank you all in advance.

Best regards

Would you give me a detailed protocol of liquids analyses by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (minerals: mg, fe,N,P,K.........) .?

Hi there,

I am working on basaltic rocks and I want to do sample preparation for chemical analyses (XRF, ICP-MS and Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd determinations). There are some vesicles and fractures which filled by secondary minerals such as zeolite, calcite and rarely chalcedony. After crushing I should eliminate the fragments of zeolite, calcite and chalcedony. If they are coarse it will be easy. In some cases the vesicles are fine and distributed in the rock. So the elimination of secondary minerals will be impossible. In the second state, I want to know the existence of calcite will be influenced in Rb-Sr determination?

Is it required to wash the crushed basalt samples with HCl 0.1 molar to eliminate calcite in vesicles and fractures before preparing powdered samples, in order to obtain more accurate chemical and isotopic analysis results?

If there is any references to do this washing method please let me know.

For performing Creep analysis by the application of Norton's Creep Power Law in Finite element analysis, three creep constants for Mineral Glass are required.

Dear community,

I am facing a problem with Fe(III) minerals that I cannot dissolve with my usual approach using oxalic acid solution and iron EDAS. I am studying bacteria that oxidize iron. In order to do some analysis, I need to remove the Fe(III) minerals formed in my system. In my current setup with ziro valent iron as source, the formed minerals do not dissolve easily. Adding, for example, 6 M HCl would probably also destroy my cells, so I would not be able to examine them. Therefore, I am looking for ideas to solve this problem. This could be a special fixation method, or reducing agents that dissolve iron without being extremely acidic.

Thank you very much for your comments!

Is there anybody suggest or describe this maize disease (cause) or Deficiency of minerals? This days common on some maize farmers in Ethiopia.

Thank you!

I need Hyperspectral remote sensing data for land degradation assessment and Mineral exploration.

I want to estimate the ultimate strength of Calcite using MD simulation with LAMMPS. I already did some simulation on random pure metals with usable potential file in pair_style. But, for minerals like Calcite, I studied few papers on that mineral, unfortunately couldn't get any proper idea about suitable potential for Calcite. And also found it hard to write anything on pair_style command. I am expecting help from you since I am new to learn this kind of simulation. Thank you.