Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Eion Cameron Geochemical Inc., 865 Spruce Ridge Road, Carp, Ontario, K0A 1L0, Canada
2
Ontario Geological Survey, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 6B5, Canada
3
Department of Geosciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083-0688, USA
4
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0E8, Canada
ABSTRACT: It has become increasingly common for geologists to drill through
100 m or more of cover in search for buried mineral deposits. Geochemistry is one
tool applied to this search, using a variety of approaches, including selective leaching
of soils to extract the mobile component of elements, and the measurement of
inorganic and organic gases. This paper provides an overview of some of the work
carried out by the project Deep-Penetrating Geochemistry, sponsored by the
Canadian Mining Industry Research Organization (CAMIRO), and supported by
26 Canadian and international companies and by the Ontario Geological Survey and
the Canadian Geological Survey. The objective was to provide the mining industry
with information relating to processes that may form anomalies at surface over
buried deposits and to provide comparative data on methods used to detect these
anomalies.
Phase I of the project considered the theoretical and experimental framework for
the movement of material from deeply buried deposits to the surface; much of this
information has come from research on the containment of buried nuclear waste. In
arid or semi-arid terrain, with a thick vadose zone, advective transport, which is the
mass transfer of groundwater or air along with their dissolved or gaseous
constituents, is the only known viable means of moving elements to the surface;
diusion of ions in water or gases in air is orders of magnitude slower. Examples of
advective transport are pumping of mineralized groundwater to the surface during
seismic activity and the extraction of air plus gas by barometric pumping. Both
mechanisms require fractured rock and the interpretation of the derived anomalies
requires consideration of neotectonic structures. In wetter climates, where water lies
close to the surface, a variety of mechanisms have been proposed for creating
anomalies at the surface. Diusion-based models again suer from slow rates of
migration. Electrochemical models show a cathodic zone at the top of a buried
sulphide conductor. Cations are attracted to the cathode, rather than to the surface,
yet metals that most commonly migrate as cations are found to form anomalies at the
surface.
Phase II of the CAMIRO study involved field studies at ten test sites. The test sites
included buried porphyry deposits in northern Chile, a goldcopper deposit in the
Carlin district of Nevada, and volcanogenic massive sulphide bodies covered by
glacial sediments in the Abitibi greenstone belt of Ontario. In all cases anomalies
were found in soils above buried mineralization. It is suggested that anomaly
formation is an episodic and cyclic process, in which batches of metal in
water-soluble form are introduced and the metal is then progressively incorporated
with time into the secondary minerals of soil. Selective leaches have been developed
to dissolve specific phases in the soil to detect these anomalies. We have compared
the results for five selective leaches that are available from commercial laboratories:
deionized water, ammonium acetate, hydroxylamine hydrochloride, Enzyme Leach
and Mobile Metal Ion (MMI) plus one non-selective decomposition, aqua regia. In
addition, the Institute of Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration laboratory in
China has supplied data for four sequential selective leaches: water-extractable,
adsorbed, organic-bound and iron- and manganese-bound. The weakest leaches
dissolve mainly the most recently introduced metals that remain in water-soluble
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, Vol. 4 2004, pp. 732
INTRODUCTION
The most frequently used geochemical method to identify
buried mineral deposits is selective leaching of soil samples.
These leaches remove only a fraction of the metal that might be
dissolved by aqua regia or by total dissolution, in the expectation that this fraction represents a more readily dissolved
mobile phase, perhaps derived from an ore deposit. Leaches
include the proprietary reagents, Enzyme Leach and Mobile
Metal Ion (MMI), and others that have been developed,
principally by soil scientists, to dissolve specific secondary
minerals in soils, such as carbonates, or Fe and Mn oxides. The
leach solutions are most frequently analysed by inductively
coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This technique
has shown progressive evolution, so that detection limits of rare
elements have been lowered to levels thought unobtainable a
few years ago. This has had the eect of increasing the number
of elements that can be measured with precision; now 50 or
more are being reported. This benefit also presents a challenge.
With 50 elements at hand and the many ratios that may be
derived from these primary data, it is not too dicult to find an
anomaly over every known deeply buried deposit. The ease
with which data may be obtained has led to the widespread
application of selective leaches, with some successes, but many
dry holes and a poor understanding of the processes that might
be involved in the creation of real or false anomalies.
This uncertainty caused a number of companies to propose
a scoping study to the Canadian Mining Industry Research
Organization (CAMIRO) to see how they might better understand the processes that have caused anomalies to form above
deeply buried deposits. This scoping study, Phase I of this
study, was carried out by Cameron over a six-month period
from October 1997. It was generously supported by 28
companies, both Canadian and international. Several of these
companies provided data from their own orientation studies
over known deposits.
During the development of selective leach geochemistry,
ideas have emerged about processes for the dispersion of
elements from buried targets, the most prominent being electrochemical dispersion. Research on dispersion mechanisms by
the exploration community, including researchers in universities
10
11
12
the surface, since the height over which the water can be drawn
is dependent on the parameter known to soil scientists as soil
suction. Soil suction depends on the nature of the soil and the
degree of dryness. Clay soils exert greater suction than sand or
silt and dry soils more than damp. Fontes et al. (1986) describe
a site in the Sahara Desert where capillarity draws water to the
surface from a depth of 10 m. They suggest that 20 m may be
a limiting depth for this process.
Migration of gases and the eects
Lovell et al. (1983); McCarthy et al. (1986) and others have
shown that gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are more
abundant in soils above some deposits, whereas oxygen is
depleted. Clark et al. (1997) have argued for the migration of
halogens and volatile metal compounds to the surface. Chinese
geochemists (e.g. Xie et al. 1997) have suggested that a variety of
elements, Au, As and Sb, are carried to the surface in mobile
form by gases, including very fine particulates, in the submicrometre to nanometre range. Hydrocarbons are currently
being measured in soils. The SGH method of Actlabs Ltd
(Ancaster, ON, Canada) desorbs and measures hydrocarbons in
the C5 to C17 range from B-horizon soils. A similar method,
soil desorption pyrolysis (SDP, St. Lucia, Queensland,
Australia), has also been developed for hydrocarbon gases in
soils. Similar to dissolved solids in water, gases may migrate by
diusion through air or water, or advectively, as a result of the
movement of a mass of air or water containing the gases. For
gases, as for dissolved solids in water, advective flow is a far
more rapid transport mechanism than diusion.
Barometric pumping. Carrigan et al. (1996) carried out a simulated
underground nuclear test. A charge of 1.3 106 kg of chemical
explosives, equivalent to a 1 kt nuclear charge, was detonated at
a depth of 400 m in bedded tu at Rainier Mesa in the Nevada
Test Site (NTS) (Fig. 6). Two bottles of gas were placed near to
the charge. One contained 3He and the other SF6. The amounts
of gas involved were not large, for 3He, 1.3 m3 and for SF6,
8 m3. The detonation chamber was close to a fault. After the
explosion, sampling sites were established at the surface to
detect these gases. The first gas to be detected was SF6 along
the fault at site OS6, 50 days after detonation, during a strong
barometric depression. The fault along where OS6 is sited is not
the one that runs close to the detonation cavity. Thereafter, SF6
was detected at sites OS1, OS2 and OS3. 3He was first detected
at the surface at OS6, 375 days after detonation.
These empirical observations are entirely contrary to migration by gaseous diusion. 3He has a much higher diusivity than
SF6 and, if diusion was the dominant mechanism, should
reach the surface long before the other gas. The diusivity of
SF6 is such that it would require 10 s to 100 s of years to reach
the surface, yet it has happened in days. Why? The reason is that
gaseous diusion is overridden by a much faster mechanism,
barometric pumping. The description of barometric pumping
given here is largely derived from Nilson et al. (1991), work
carried out at the NTS.
Barometric pumping refers to the process where cycles of
high and low barometric pressure first force air into the earth
and then withdraw a mixture of the air plus gases that were in
rock. For all practical purposes, barometric pumping applies
only to fractured rock. For reasons discussed below, barometric
pumping is not a significant process for non-indurated, unfractured material, even if permeable. When the permeability of
NTS alluvium is measured on small samples in the laboratory or
large volumes are measured in situ in the field by borehole
injection, results are similar, in the range 1 to 15 darcy (D).
When the permeability of NTS volcanic rock is measured on
core samples in the laboratory and again by borehole injection,
results are very dierent, only 106 to 102 D on core, but 1
to 15 D for borehole injection, the same as for the alluvium.
The higher permeability of the bulk rocks is because fractures,
not present in the small laboratory core samples, control the
permeability.
High barometric pressure forces air down fractures and into
pore space in the rock around the fractures. Gases within the
rock, such as CO2 or hydrocarbons, mix with air by molecular
diusion. When the barometric pressure drops, air in the
porous rock, now containing the gases, returns to the fracture
and, after several cycles of high and low pressure, reaches the
surface. Pumping occurs because the volume of air entering
rock porosity is much greater than the volume of air present in
the fractures. The rock porosity provides the breathing volume
that permits large vertical movements during high pressure
inhalation and low pressure exhalation. By contrast, in
non-fractured permeable media, such as alluvium, air movements are piston-like and nearly reversible, so that there is little
upward transport of a gas of deep origin. For a fractured
permeable medium, barometric transport can be several orders
of magnitude greater than molecular diusion, whereas for
unfractured soil and alluvium, molecular diusion is more
important.
Using data from NTS volcanic rock, simulations were carried
out on the removal by barometric pumping of a deep gas. With
the condition of fresh air from the surface to 200 m, then air
plus radioactive gas from 200 m to the water table at 500 m,
10% of the contaminated gas was removed in one year. In terms
of geological processes this is rapid. The overall eciency of
deep gas transport to the surface is critically dependent on the
spacing of fractures. For closely spaced fractures, say only a few
centimetres or less, each fracture has only a small breathing
volume of porous rock around it. The transport eciency
increases with increasing fracture spacing up to a few metres.
But after about 10 m spacing there is no incremental benefit
because the air can only penetrate a few metres in the half
period of about 100 hours that is usual between high and low
barometric phases. Maximum transport eciencies are reached
for spacing in the range 2 to 10 m. Although it may initially
appear counterintuitive, transport eciencies are decreased
with increasing molecular diusivities of gases. This is because
a gas with high molecular diusivity can more readily diuse out
Fig. 7. Heavy metal enrichments in the marine atmosphere. Enrichment is measured relative to crustal abundance normalized to Al.
Data from Rahn (1976) and for Hg from Crozat et al. (1973).
13
14
Fig. 10. Iron and Cu by Enzyme Leach in soils over the Ruby Star
copper deposit, Arizona. Data are moving average of three sites.
Deposit contains 100 Mt 1% Cu and consists of massive slump
blocks enclosed within fanglomerate and covered by 40 to 300 m of
gravel. Data from Kelley (1995).
15
more than deionized water (Fig. 12), but the analytical reproducibility is better. The other main proprietary leach, Mobile
Metal Ion (MMI), comes in several forms, two of which are an
acidic MMI-A and a basic MMI-B. The MMI-A leach (targeting
Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd) dissolves more metal than the Enzyme Leach,
which indicates that it is dissolving secondary minerals. However, the formulations of the MMI solutions have not been
published and, because major elements are not determined by
the laboratories carrying out MMI analyses, it is not possible to
interpret which mineral phases are being dissolved.
The second approach is to use a leach that dissolves one or
more secondary minerals that contain a favourable ratio of
exogenic to endogenic material at a particular site. Ammonium
acetate at pH 5 dissolves carbonate minerals. For oxide
minerals, hydroxylamine hydrochloride is widely used. Cold
(room temperature) hydroxylamine in an acidic solution, pH c.
1.5, (HX Mn) dissolves Mn oxides, whereas hot (60 oC)
hydroxylamine in a more strongly acidic solution (HX Fe)
dissolves both Mn and Fe oxides. Because both hydroxylamine
leach solutions are acidic, they will also dissolve carbonate, so
that the element phases extracted are the sum of those present
in carbonates and oxide minerals, plus, of course, that present
in water-soluble form. In general, the more acidic the leaches,
the less selective they become. For organic material, such as
humus, sodium pyrophosphate is the most commonly used
leach, although it tends to dissolve large amounts of elements of
endogenic origin, unrelated to mineralization. Aqua regia should
also be mentioned. This is not a selective leach, but dissolves
most secondary minerals and partially extracts some silicates.
Because it dissolves a high proportion of endogenic phases, the
anomaly to background contrast is generally low. However, it
provides useful information on the overall composition of the
soils, which assists in the interpretation of the selective leach
data. And it may give good results for mature anomalies, where
elements of external origin are no longer being introduced.
There are complexities involved in the use of selective
leaches, which require consideration during survey planning,
analysis and interpretation. When significant amounts of carbonate are present in soils, this can partially neutralize leach
solutions that contain acid, so that their leaching capacity is
degraded. For example, 1215% CaCO3 in samples can increase
the pH of a cold hydroxylamine (HX Mn) solution from c.1.5 to
5.5 and MMI-A from c. 2.5 to 6. Element contents that might
be extracted in the absence of carbonate may not be fully
16
Fig. 13. Relative standard deviation (RSD) for ten pairs of analytical
duplicates of B-horizon soils from the Abitibi belt analysed by
Enzyme Leach.
(Table 1). Only in the case of the deionized water leach is the
RSD for the analytical duplicates so high that it approaches the
RSD of the field duplicates.
Measuring gases. Soil gases are commonly measured directly in the
field using instrumentation. This confers the advantage that
anomalies may be investigated immediately. The disadvantage is
that the instantaneous flux of gas so measured is subject to
many environmental variables that may change the estimated
concentration. In a study of radon activities from sites in
Pennsylvania, Rose et al. (1990) found that readings from depths
below 70 cm varied by factors of 3 to 10 during the year for
dierent sites. At shallower depths, seasonal variability is even
greater. Temperature and moisture variations, rain, wind and
barometric change may all aect the measured concentration.
Carbon dioxide shows variation due to seasonal, sampling
depth and environmental changes similar to that of radon. The
flux of CO2 in soils increases by between 1.5 to 3 times for
FIELD TRIALS
Study areas and methods
Phase II of the CAMIRO Deep-Penetrating Geochemistry
project was to carry out studies at test sites where known
mineralization is covered by 30 to 240 m of rock or consolidated or unconsolidated overburden. Sites were chosen in the
Abitibi greenstone belt of Ontario, the Carlin district of
Nevada, and the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The
characteristics of these sites are summarized in Table 2 and the
individual studies carried out at each site are listed in Tables 3
and 4. These three regions were chosen because of their
geological and climatic contrasts. The Atacama is the driest
large desert area of the world and is host to some of the
largest and lowest-cost Cu deposits. Carlin is the most productive district for Au in North America and has a semi-arid
climate. The Abitibi, a glaciated region with a boreal cool
humid climate, contains many major lode Au and volcanogenic
massive sulphide (VMS) deposits.
Work in Chile and Nevada was entirely funded by company
sponsors through CAMIRO. Much of the work in Ontario was
funded by the Ontario Geological Survey (OGS). Reports on
individual studies were provided to the company sponsors on
an ongoing basis starting in 1999. In November 2001, a
CD-ROM containing 31 reports and seven database files was
distributed. These results were reviewed at a meeting held in
17
Table 1. Relative Standard Deviations (RSD) for ten pairs of analytical duplicates and ten pairs of field duplicates taken from three test areas in the Abitibi greenstone belt in 1999
Analytical method
Number of elements for median RSD Median RSD for analytical duplicates
Aqua regia
Cold hydroxylamine
Enzyme Leach
Deionized water leach
MMI
52
35
29
49
7
7
11
21
56
(14)*
11
22
38
60
(53)*
Samples of B-horizon soils are composites of sub-samples from five auger holes within a 2 m radius. Duplicate composite samples were collected at a 4 m distance
from the first sample.
*
RSDs for MMI are not directly comparable with that of the other methods. MMI samples are single (not composite) samples taken by auger at a fixed interval
1025 cm below the Ao-horizon. Analytical RSDs for the MMI samples are derived from in-house laboratory duplicates, not blind duplicates as with other
methods.
Table 2. Summary of sites studied during CAMIRO Deep-Penetrating Geochemistry Phase II project, 19992001
Location
Deposit type
Age
Chile
Spence
Gaby Sur
Mansa Mina
Tamarugal
Cu Porphyry
Cu Porphyry
Cu Porphyry
False Anomaly
Paleocene
Oligocene
Oligocene
n/a
Nevada
Mike
Cu-Au
Pre-Tertiary
Abitibi
Cross Lake Line 6
Cross Lake Line 40
Half-Moon Lake
Marsh Zone
Tillex
VMS
VMS
VMS
Gold
Copper
Archean
Archean
Archean
Archean
Archean
Grade
Cover
400 Mt 1.0% Cu
400 Mt 0.54% Cu
325 Mt 1.0% Cu
n/a
150 Mt 0.25%
Cu, 0.71 g/t Au
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
1.38 Mt 1.6% Cu
Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont
Cover thickness
Cover age
gravel
gravel
gravel
gravel
3180 m
2040 m
50>300 m
300 m
Miocene
Miocene
Miocene
Miocene
Carlin formation
150250 m
Miocene
Clay
Clay and sand
Clay
Clay and peat
Clay, till, peat
30 m
52 m
1215 m
1027 m
30 m
Quaternary
Quaternary
Quaternary
Quaternary
Quaternary
Deionized
water
Enzyme
Leach
MMI-A
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
WEM
AEM
OBM
FMM
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
WEM=Water-extractable, AEM=adsorbed extractable metal, OBM=organic-bound metal, FMM=iron- and manganese-bound metal
18
Chile
Spence
Gaby Sur
Mansa Mina
Tamarugal
Nevada
Mike
Abitibi
Cross Lake Line 6
Cross Lake Line 40
Half-Moon Lake
Marsh Zone
Tillex
Groundwater
Soil gas
CO2, O2
Soil:
stable
isotopes
U
U
Soil:
Metals in Soil pH, Soil CO3 Soil SO4 Biogeochemistry
Pb
soil gas
Cond
isotopes
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
Humus,
Na
pyrophosphate
Humus,
aqua regia
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
U
Fig. 15. Outline map of the basement geology of the Spence deposit,
based on drilling carried out by RioChilex. The basement is covered
by 30 to 180 m of piedmont gravels. On the soil sampling traverse,
the gap immediately to the east of the deposit is occupied by a road
and an aqueduct. UTM coordinates are in metres.
19
20
Fig. 16. Plots of Na extracted by deionized water and Cu by deionized water, Enzyme Leach, MMI, ammonium acetate, hydroxylamine (HX
Mn) and aqua regia from an eastwest traverse across the Spence copper deposit, Chile. Horizontal scale (eastings) in metres. The background
concentration of Cu away from the deposit represents the endogenic component and that over the deposit is a mixture of the exogenic and
endogenic phases. The aqua regia leach shows the highest proportion of the endogenic phase and, hence, the poorest anomaly to background
contrast.
21
Fig. 19. Distribution of Cu, Na and As in a vertical soil profile over the Spence deposit from the surface to 100 cm depth. There are no readily
discernible soil horizons. Extraction by hydroxylamine (HX Mn). Prior to sampling the profiles, the top few centimetres of the surface was
removed so as not to include any contaminated material.
22
Fig. 20. Vertical soil profile directly above the Spence deposit. On the left are the amounts of Cu in ppm extracted sequentially by: (1) ammonium
acetate (AA5) dissolving carbonate, (2) cold hydroxylamine (HX Mn) dissolving manganese oxides, (3) hot hydroxylamine (HX Fe) dissolving
Fe oxides, (4) aqua regia. In the centre is Cu in ppb by Enzyme Leach, extracting water-soluble material. On the right is (a) Ca extracted by
ammonium acetate (AA5), (b) Mn extracted by cold hydroxylamine (HX Mn), (c) Fe extracted by hot hydroxylamine (HX Fe).
(Fig. 22). The fault that cuts the deposit, and forms its eastern
boundary, is the West Fault, a major strike-slip fault of regional
extent that may have had an influence in localizing the
important cluster of porphyry deposits in the Chuquicamata
area (Fig. 22). Mansa Mina is an elongate, steeply dipping
deposit (Fig. 22), containing a mainly hypogene assemblage.
Sulphides account for 300 Mt at 0.95% Cu and oxides 25 Mt at
1.11% Cu. The deposit is up to 300 m in width and over 1000 m
in vertical extent and comprises four steeply dipping panels that
are delimited by faults subsidiary to the West Fault (Sillitoe
et al. 1996). The easternmost panel is barren, comprising
chloritized and pyritized andesitic flows. Panels 2 and 3 are of
sericitized granodiorite containing pyrite-poor, copper porphyry
mineralization. Panel 4 is also highly altered granodiorite, with
sericite and advanced argillic alteration, with a enargite- and
bornite-rich high sulphidation assemblage. There has been
supergene alteration, forming a leached zone and a partially
oxidized zone above the sulphide zone. The upper part of the
sulphide zone has been enriched by chalcocite. The deposit is
entirely covered by Miocene gravels, the minimum thickness of
these being 50 m on the west side of the West Fault and several
hundred metres on the east side. Depth to the water table is not
known.
Mansa Mina lies between the towns of Calama and
Chuquicamata and immediately east of the highway linking
these centres. Only a limited length of undisturbed ground was
available for a sampling traverse across the deposit (Figs 22, 23)
between the highway and gravel dumps to the east. Samples
were taken at irregular intervals to avoid vehicle tracks. The
ground slopes gently from north to south. Soils are marked by
23
Fig. 21. Plots of Na extracted by deionized water and Cu by deionized water, Enzyme Leach, ammonium acetate, hydroxylamine and aqua regia
for soils from an eastwest traverse across the Gaby Sur copper deposit, Chile. Horizontal scale (eastings) in metres.
24
Fig. 24. Map showing the Carlin Trend (shaded) and some of the 40
gold deposits found along this trend.
25
Enzyme Leach results for Au for this line are below the
detection limit, but this extraction also shows an anomaly on
the east side of Channel B. For Cu, the results by the four
extractions are shown in Figure 28. The Channel B anomaly is
shown clearly by the three leaches that extract the most Cu
aqua regia, hydroxylamine (HX Mn) and MMI but the
anomaly is not apparent in the Enzyme Leach results.
In an earlier section we have discussed anomaly formation as
an incremental process, with metal being introduced in watersoluble form and then progressively incorporated into the
secondary minerals of the soils. If the anomaly associated with
Channel B is related to Pleistocene faulting of the Carlin
Formation, then the anomaly has had up to 1.5 Ma to form.
This time span may account for the strong response shown by
the aqua regia extraction, which dissolves most secondary
minerals in the soil. Anomalies can also, presumably, stop
developing when new batches of elements in water-soluble
form are no longer introduced. This may account for the
anomaly response of the Enzyme Leach, which extracts watersoluble metal, being lesser than that of the stronger leaches that
dissolve secondary minerals.
Other elements that show strong anomalies on the steep
west-facing slope of Channel B include Mo by aqua regia, Cd by
hydroxylamine (HX Mn), Zn by MMI and by aqua regia, and
Hg by aqua regia. Elements that are anomalous in the soils are
those enriched in the ore, so that their ultimate source in the
deep mineralization is a reasonable supposition. Elements that
are not components of the ore, such as rare earth elements, do
not have anomalous patterns in the soil. Jackson (2000), after
collecting samples on a wide-interval grid over Mike, found that
several elements were depleted across the top of the deposit,
notably Mn; this was confirmed by our sampling (Fig. 27).
Jackson suggested that elements may be transported to the
surface laterally and vertically around the deposit to create
a central low with flanking highs. Manganese oxide is a
redox-sensitive mineral that may be dissolved in a reducing
environment. A sulphide deposit is a large mass of reduced
material, which, when oxidized, must reduce an equivalent mass
26
27
Fig. 29. The western portion of the Abitibi greenstone belt (shaded)
showing the location of the four study sites. Much of the area to the
west of Rouyn-Noranda and Matagami has a discontinuous cover of
fine-grained glaciolacustrine sediments.
28
29
Fig. 32. Zinc in ppb by sequential leaches of background sample A and samples B and C over a VMS subcrop below 30 m of clay. Samples
are from the upper 10 cm of the B-horizon, Line 6 at Cross Lake. Locations of samples are shown in Figure 31, Zn plot. Upward projection
of the VMS subcrop is indicated by the hatched block.
Table 5. Data for Ca, Mn, Fe and Zn for a series of sequential leaches and for two single leaches of samples from the 010 cm interval of the B-horizon on Line 6 at Cross Lake.
Sequential leaches
Sample
Ca (ppm)
A
B
C
Mn (ppm)
A
B
C
Fe (ppm)
A
B
C
Zn (ppb)
A
B
C
AA7
1710
560
490
1.2
4.1
2.2
2.2
14
10
42
435
317
AA5
288
106
84
5.1
5.2
2.5
HX Mn
654
62
213
48
3.5
2.0
Single leaches
HX Fe
Aqua regia
294
65
135
1513
1039
1032
64
46
39
100
79
76
1.1
2.1
0.9
2.7
15
10
23
164
135
118
344
252
2800
4500
3600
11400
7900
7200
103
1500
1410
303
970
590
8200
7700
7400
25000
19100
18700
Enzyme Leach
205
142
99
7
270
186
MMI-A
64
1930
1670
The location of the samples is shown in Figure 32. Sample A is from a background area, whereas samples B and C overlie the mineralization. The abbreviated
headings for the dierent sequential leaches are explained in the text.
30
31
REFERENCES
AMUNDSON, R.G. & DAVIDSON, E.A. 1990. Carbon dioxide and nitrogenous
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