Niobium mineralization of sedimentary carbonates, Lewisian Complex, UK

John Parnell; Ryan Michie; Eleanor Heptinstall; John S. Still

doi:10.1080/25726838.2021.1902729

Niobium mineralization of sedimentary carbonates, Lewisian Complex, UK

John Parnell^*, Ryan Michie, Eleanor Heptinstall, John S. Still

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of Aberdeen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

5 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Proterozoic limestone in a north British terrane contains a newly recognised occurrence of Nb-REE minerals. The mineralized Loch Shin Limestone is in the Lewisian Complex of the Northern Highlands of Scotland, intruded by alkaline plutons above a Caledonian (∼0.43 Ga) subduction zone. The mineral assemblage includes columbite, calcium niobate minerals, and niobian rutile and also includes W- and Sn-bearing phases. The interval between limestone deposition and mineralization was over a billion years. Other limestones in the Lewisian Complex that were not affected by alkaline plutons are not mineralized by Nb. The occurrence indicates that there may be exploration potential for Nb in limestones mineralized by hydrothermal activity above subduction zones with alkaline intrusions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	133-142
Number of pages	10
Journal	Applied Earth Science: Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Volume	130
Issue number	3
Early online date	29 Mar 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/25726838.2021.1902729
Publication status	Published - 29 Mar 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding
This work was supported by the NERC under Grant NE/M010953/1.

Acknowledgements
Skilled technical support was provided by J. Johnston and J. Bowie. We are very grateful to three reviewers whose comments helped to focus the manuscript. Conceptualization, J.P.; Formal Analysis, J.S., E.H. and J.P.; Investigation, R.M., E.H., J.S. and J.P.; Data Curation, J.S.; Writing, Review & Editing, J.P., E.H. and R.M.; Project Administration, J.P.; Funding Acquisition, J.P.

Open access via T&F agreement

Keywords

Caledonian
Columbite
Lewisian
Niobium
Northern Highlands
Scotland
Silurian
tantalum

Access to Document

10.1080/25726838.2021.1902729Licence: CC BY

Parnell_etal_AES_Niobium_mineralization_of_VOR
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrest- ricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 2.73 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{15c234e9acff46979c2dc8df646d1986,

title = "Niobium mineralization of sedimentary carbonates, Lewisian Complex, UK",

abstract = "Proterozoic limestone in a north British terrane contains a newly recognised occurrence of Nb-REE minerals. The mineralized Loch Shin Limestone is in the Lewisian Complex of the Northern Highlands of Scotland, intruded by alkaline plutons above a Caledonian (∼0.43 Ga) subduction zone. The mineral assemblage includes columbite, calcium niobate minerals, and niobian rutile and also includes W- and Sn-bearing phases. The interval between limestone deposition and mineralization was over a billion years. Other limestones in the Lewisian Complex that were not affected by alkaline plutons are not mineralized by Nb. The occurrence indicates that there may be exploration potential for Nb in limestones mineralized by hydrothermal activity above subduction zones with alkaline intrusions.",

keywords = "Caledonian, Columbite, Lewisian, Niobium, Northern Highlands, Scotland, Silurian, tantalum",

author = "John Parnell and Ryan Michie and Eleanor Heptinstall and Still, {John S.}",

note = "Funding This work was supported by the NERC under Grant NE/M010953/1. Acknowledgements Skilled technical support was provided by J. Johnston and J. Bowie. We are very grateful to three reviewers whose comments helped to focus the manuscript. Conceptualization, J.P.; Formal Analysis, J.S., E.H. and J.P.; Investigation, R.M., E.H., J.S. and J.P.; Data Curation, J.S.; Writing, Review & Editing, J.P., E.H. and R.M.; Project Administration, J.P.; Funding Acquisition, J.P. Open access via T&F agreement",

year = "2021",

month = mar,

day = "29",

doi = "10.1080/25726838.2021.1902729",

language = "English",

volume = "130",

pages = "133--142",

journal = "Applied Earth Science: Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy",

issn = "2572-6838",

publisher = "Taylor and Francis Ltd.",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Niobium mineralization of sedimentary carbonates, Lewisian Complex, UK

AU - Parnell, John

AU - Michie, Ryan

AU - Heptinstall, Eleanor

AU - Still, John S.

N1 - Funding This work was supported by the NERC under Grant NE/M010953/1. Acknowledgements Skilled technical support was provided by J. Johnston and J. Bowie. We are very grateful to three reviewers whose comments helped to focus the manuscript. Conceptualization, J.P.; Formal Analysis, J.S., E.H. and J.P.; Investigation, R.M., E.H., J.S. and J.P.; Data Curation, J.S.; Writing, Review & Editing, J.P., E.H. and R.M.; Project Administration, J.P.; Funding Acquisition, J.P. Open access via T&F agreement

PY - 2021/3/29

Y1 - 2021/3/29

N2 - Proterozoic limestone in a north British terrane contains a newly recognised occurrence of Nb-REE minerals. The mineralized Loch Shin Limestone is in the Lewisian Complex of the Northern Highlands of Scotland, intruded by alkaline plutons above a Caledonian (∼0.43 Ga) subduction zone. The mineral assemblage includes columbite, calcium niobate minerals, and niobian rutile and also includes W- and Sn-bearing phases. The interval between limestone deposition and mineralization was over a billion years. Other limestones in the Lewisian Complex that were not affected by alkaline plutons are not mineralized by Nb. The occurrence indicates that there may be exploration potential for Nb in limestones mineralized by hydrothermal activity above subduction zones with alkaline intrusions.

AB - Proterozoic limestone in a north British terrane contains a newly recognised occurrence of Nb-REE minerals. The mineralized Loch Shin Limestone is in the Lewisian Complex of the Northern Highlands of Scotland, intruded by alkaline plutons above a Caledonian (∼0.43 Ga) subduction zone. The mineral assemblage includes columbite, calcium niobate minerals, and niobian rutile and also includes W- and Sn-bearing phases. The interval between limestone deposition and mineralization was over a billion years. Other limestones in the Lewisian Complex that were not affected by alkaline plutons are not mineralized by Nb. The occurrence indicates that there may be exploration potential for Nb in limestones mineralized by hydrothermal activity above subduction zones with alkaline intrusions.

KW - Caledonian

KW - Columbite

KW - Lewisian

KW - Niobium

KW - Northern Highlands

KW - Scotland

KW - Silurian

KW - tantalum

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103385751&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/25726838.2021.1902729

DO - 10.1080/25726838.2021.1902729

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85103385751

SN - 2572-6838

VL - 130

SP - 133

EP - 142

JO - Applied Earth Science: Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

JF - Applied Earth Science: Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

IS - 3

ER -

Niobium mineralization of sedimentary carbonates, Lewisian Complex, UK

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this