Origin of minerals and critical metals in an argillized tuff from the Huayingshan Coalfield, Southwestern China

Abstract

This paper reports the minerals in an argillized tuff from the Lvshuidong mine, Huayingshan Coalfield, southwestern China. The clay assemblages of the samples are mainly kaolinite, varying proportions of illite and trace chlorite. Other minerals include various proportions of pyrite, small proportions of carbonates (calcite and ankerite), anatase, rutile, hematite, florencite and rare analcite. The clay mineralogy of the tuff profile changes vertically due to the change in the depositional environment. Although illite is minor in the middle and lower parts of the profile, it is relatively abundant in a few topmost samples where the proportion of illite is comparable to that of kaolinite. This is probably because the original volcanic ash was mainly deposited in a continental environment, but marine water may have percolated to the uppermost layers of the ash bed during early diagenesis, leading to the formation of concretions of concentric rings of kaolinite and illite. The samples of this study are derived from alkali mafic volcanic ash with relatively high concentrations of critical metals, including Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, rare earth elements and Y.