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Published December 1983 | public
Journal Article

Low-temperature glass quenched from a synthetic, rare earth carbonatite; implications for the origin of the Mountain Pass Deposit, California

Abstract

Synthetic carbonatite magmas are represented by melts in the system CaO-CO_2H_2O (Wyllie and Tuttle, 1960), and the relation between carbonatites and silicate magmas has been investigated by addition of other components (e.g., Wyllie, 1966, 1978). We are presently determining the phase relations in a. series of systems involving CaO-CaF_2-La(OH)_3-CO_2-H_2O and other components in an effort to delineate the conditions for the precipitation of rare earth carbonates and fluocarbonates (bastnaesite-type minerals) from synthetic carbonatite magmas. As a supplement to the construction of phase diagrams in systems characterized by limited numbers of com portents, we have studied a more complex bulk composition which we believe approximates that of the Sulphide Queen carbonatite at Mountain Pass, California-prior to crystallization.

Additional Information

© 1983 Society of Economic Geologists. April 14, May 24, 1983. We thank A. N. Mariano for bringing our work to the attention of R. J. Floran of Union Oil Research, and R. J. Floran for his encouragement and for information about the Sulphide Queen carbonatite. This research was supported by the Earth Sciences Section of the U. S. National Science Foundation, grant EAR-8108599.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023