The Daehyun sericite deposit in socheon-myun, Bongwha-gun, Kyungsangbuk-do, Korea, has been formed by the hydrothermal alteration of the Hongjesa granite of Precambrian age, leaving the muscovite granite between ore body and the Hongjesa granite as the wall rock alteration zone. The process of sericitization of granitic rock as well as chemistry and structures of sericites were studied using polarizing microscope, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). There are two genetic types of sericites having different chemistry and structure. The early sericite is of 2M1 polytype and has octahedral composition close to muscovite. It has been formed from the primary muscovite, tourmaline and quartz under a relatively high temperature. The late sericite is of 1M, 2M1 and 3T polytypes and has phengitic composition. It has been formed form feldspar, biotite, muscovite and tourmaline under a relatively low temperature. Chemical analyses show t, the early sericite has less Mg+FeT content and lower Si/AlIV ratio in tetrahedral site than the late sericite.
The sericite ore is formed by the hydrothermal alteration of rhyodacitic welded tuff. The alteration zone of the host rock can be classified into four types based on the mineral assemblages ; sericite, quartz-sericite, silicified and propylite zone. The sericite ore mainly occurs as vein types and fault clay along the fault plane in the quartz-sericite zone. Mineral components of the sericite ore are mainly sericite with minor diaspore, corundum and pyrite. The sericitic porcelaineous ore is mainly composed of quartz and sericite. Accessory minerals are muscovite, diaspore, sphene, corundum, pyrite, iron-oxides and etc. The chemical compositions of K2O, Al2O3, and ignition loss in the sericite ore increase largely than that of the host rock, while the compositions of SiO2, Na2O and Fe2O3 decrease. XRD patterns of the heat-treated sericite ores show the formation of mullite at 1,200℃. and the diaspore-bearing sericite ore forms mullite and corundum at 1,200℃. The differential thermal analysis of the sericite ores show small endothermic peak at 645~668℃. and the diaspore-bearing sericite ore shows a strong endothermic peak at 517℃. It indicates that the decomposition of diaspore appear at lower temperature than that of sericite. The thermal expansivity of the sericite ores show the similar pattern. The sericite ores show the thermal expansivity of 3.3~4.7% at 900℃ and 0.39~0.75% at 1,200℃, respectively. DTA-TG curves of the sericite ores show closely relations with the thermal expansivity.
Weathering of biotite in Palgonsan granite was studied by using X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron probe micro analysis. Biotite altered to biotite/vermiculite regular mixed layer mineral (B/V) in the early stage of weathering. Although partially replaced by kaolinite with the progress of weathering. B/V is the major weathering product of biotite throughout the profile. During the formation of B/V, Mg, Fe and K are removed from a biotite layer to form a vermiculite layer by about 28%, 44% and 88%, respectively, whereas the Ti content is not changed. Considerable volume increase after the kaolinitization of B/V suggests that Al and Si are largely introduced from the external weathering solution. The silicate lattice templet of a weathering biotite facilitated the nucleation and growth of kaolinite. In the Palgongsan granite weathering profile, plagioclase weathered mostly into halloysite whereas biotite greatly contributes to the kaolinite crystallization though its small content in fresh rock.
The adsorption of Cs-137 and Sr-90 onto kaolinite in prescence of major groundwater cations (Ca2+, K+, Na+) with different concentrations was simulated by using triple-layer surface complexation model (TL-SCM). The site density (8.73 sites/nm2) of kaolinite used for TL-SCM was calculated from it's CEC and specific surface area. TL-SCM modeling results indicate that concentrations dependence on 137Cs and 90Sr adsorption onto kaolinite as a function of pH is best modeled as an outer-sphere surface reaction. This suggests that Cs+ and Sr2+ are adsorbed at the β-layer in kaolinite-water interface where the electrolytes, Nacl, KCl and CaCl2, bind. However, TL-SCM results on Sr adsorption show a discrepancy between batch data and fitting data in alkaline condition. This may be due to precipitation of SrCO3 and complexation such as SrOH+. Intrinsic reaction constants of ions obtained from model fit are as follows: Kintcs=10-2.10, KintSr=10-2.30, KintK=10-2.80, KintCa=10-3.10 and KintNa=10-3.32. The results are in the agreement with competition order among groundwater ions (K+〉Ca2+〉Na+) and sorption reference of nuclides (Cs-137〉Sr-90) at kaolinite-water interface showed in batch test.
Crystallization behavior of platinum minerals within Pt-Sb-Bi bearing ore magmas and mineralogical properties of the existing minerals were investigated at 1,000℃ by synthetic experiment. High purity reagents were used as starting materials and silica tubings as containers. Reaction products were analysed by reflecting microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron probe microanalysis, and micro-hardness test. Stable minerals at 1,000℃ are platinum, electron probe microanalysis, and micro-hardness test. Stable minerals at 1,000℃ are platinum, stump-flite (PtSb) and geversite (PtSb2). They are in equilibrium with liquid (ore magma). Platinum contains considerable amount of Sb of 7.5 at.%, whereas Bi only up to 0.9 at.%. Pure stumpflite is hexagonal with space group P63/mmc, and unit cell parameters are a=4.1318(6), c=5.483(1)a. VHN50=417(2)a. Geversite has cubic structure with space group Pa3. Cell parameters are a=6.4373(2)a and Vicker hardness values VHN50=663.5 (566~766). Both stumpflite and geversite show solid solution and their end-members are Pt48.8Sb40.7-Bi10.5, and Pt33.7-Sb59.8Bi6.5, respectively. Although stumpflite (m.p. 1,043℃) and unnamed PtBi (m.p. 765℃) do not form a complete solid solution at 1,000℃, they are known, at 600℃, to form a continuous solid solution. Geversit (m.p. 1,226℃) also forms complete solid solution with insizwaite (m.p. 660℃). Unit cell dimensions of the minerals above increases with the amount of Bi substituting for Sb.
Surface site and areas of particles are geometrically calculated for the cubic structures to investigate how the surface sites vary with the variation of morphology and particle size. The numbers of surface site and area become smaller when the particles become equi-dimensional shape. The ratios of surface site to surface area are almost constant except the case of anion of fluorite structure. The ratios of the number of surface site to area are almost constant regardless of particle size except the size of up to 5 to 10 times of the unit cell dimension. This quantification method can be used to obtain data related to the surface reaction.