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Secondary lanthanide phosphate mineralisation in weathering profiles of I-, S- and A-type granites

Part of: Frank Reith memorial issue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2020

Marcos Y. Voutsinos Open the ORCID record for Marcos Y. Voutsinos [Opens in a new window] ,
Jillian F. Banfield  and
John W. Moreau
Marcos Y. Voutsinos
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, ParkvilleVIC3010, Australia
Jillian F. Banfield
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Science; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management; University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
John W. Moreau*
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, ParkvilleVIC3010, Australia School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8QQ, UK
*
*Author for correspondence: John W. Moreau, Email: john.moreau@gla.ac.uk
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Abstract

Rare earth elements (REEs, ‘lanthanides’) constitute a vital commodity for technological applications. Although these elements occur at trace levels in many minerals, they can comprise major constituents of low abundance phosphate, carbonate, silicate and oxide minerals, some of which form during granite weathering. REE-phosphate phases can be a source of phosphorus for essential biomolecules and certain REEs are required by some bacterial enzymes involved in the oxidation of methanol, an important compound in the global biogeochemical carbon cycle. The mechanisms that promote the dissolution of lanthanide phosphate minerals are largely unknown, but probably vary with the lanthanide phosphate mineralogy of weathered rock and soil. Here, we studied weathering of five I-type, three S-type and one A-type granite to determine the extent of weathering of primary REE- and/or P-bearing minerals apatite, allanite and monazite, and the formation of secondary REE/P-bearing minerals. We found evidence for greater mobilisation of REE and P in weathered I-type and A-type granites than in S-types, reflecting the higher solubility of apatite and allanite relative to monazite. Although monazite persisted in highly weathered S-type granites, some alteration was detected. Secondary REE/P-bearing minerals were not detected in two S-type profiles, while spherical secondary REE/P-bearing mineral aggregates were abundant throughout the third S-type profile. Secondary euhedral REE/P-bearing crystals were abundant even in the slightly weathered I-type and A-type granite material, yet they were not detected in the highly weathered material, indicating that these minerals had dissolved. Our findings indicate that mineralogy constrains substantially, but does not control completely, lanthanide availability as a function of degree of weathering. These results have implications for predicting REE and phosphate bioavailability in soils derived from granitic rock types and suggest that highly weathered I-type granites may provide inocula for bioleaching experiments.

Keywords

granite weatheringphosphate mineralsrare earth elementsscanning electron microscopybiomining
Type
Article – Frank Reith memorial issue
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 82 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

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Footnotes

This paper is part of a thematic set in memory of Frank Reith

Guest Associate Editor: Jeremiah Shuster

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