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Geoscience ›› 2018, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (05): 1063-1073.DOI: 10.19657/j.geoscience.1000-8527.2018.05.19

• Applied Geochemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Regional Geochemistry of Niobium and Tantalum Across the Boundary of China and Mongolia in the Altay Metallogenic Belt

LIU Hanliang1,2(), WANG Xueqiu1,2(), NIE Lanshi1,2, WANG Wei1,2, CHI Qinghua1,2, LIU Dongsheng1,2   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Geochemical Exploration, Ministry of Natural Resources, Institute of Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Langfang, Hebei 065000, China
    2. UNESCO International Center on Global-scale Geochemistry, Langfang, Hebei 065000, China
  • Received:2018-05-11 Revised:2018-08-29 Online:2018-10-10 Published:2018-11-04

Abstract:

Niobium and tantalum are indispensable rare metal materials for high technology, and Altay is an important rare metal metallogenic belt, so it is crucial to carry out the potential prospect areas of niobium and tantalum resources in this area. This paper discussed the background values of niobium and tantalum in different tectonic belts and the regional geochemical anomalies based on the 1∶1,000,000 geochemical data across the boundary of China and Mongolia in the Altay metallogenic belt. The median and average values of niobium in the whole area are 13.80×10-6 and 14.93×10-6, and the two values in China side (12.19×10-6 and 13.31×10-6) are lower than those in Mongolia side (14.90×10-6 and 16.39×10-6). The median and average values of tantalum in the whole area are 1.11×10-6 and 1.31×10-6, and the two values in China side (1.02×10-6 and 1.20×10-6) are also lower than those in Mongolia side (1.20×10-6 and 1.41×10-6). The median and average values of the arc basin system in the Gobi Altay, the arc basin system in the southern margin of Altay and the Altay tectonic belt are higher than other tectonic belts, showing that niobium and tantalum are enriched in those area. The total of 13 niobium and 13 tantalum geochemical anomalies have been delineated respectively based on the 85% cumulative percentage, and 7 niobium and 10 tantalum geochemical provinces have been selected. The work fills the gap in the niobium and tantalum geochemical distribution and provides important data for the comparison of deposits in the study area.

Key words: niobium, tantalum, regional geochemistry, Altay metallogenic belt, boundary of China and Mongolia

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