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Rare Earth and Critical Element Chemistry of the Volcanic Ash-fall Parting in the Fire Clay Coal, Eastern Kentucky, USA

  • Original Paper
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Clays and Clay Minerals

Abstract

In the search for rare earth and other critical elements in coal measures, the coals are emphasized with lesser consideration for the accompanying rocks. In this investigation, the focus is on a lanthanide-rich, 315–317 Ma (after Machlus et al., Chemical Geology, 539, art. no. 119485, 2020) volcanic ash-fall trachyandesite to trachyte tonstein which occurs in association with the Middle Pennsylvanian Duckmantian-age Fire Clay coal in eastern Kentucky. The tonstein was deposited largely during peat accumulation, although it is known to occur at the base of the coal or within the underclay. The mineralogy is dominated by kaolinite with illite and quartz as minor to major minerals. A number of accessory minerals, as detected by X-ray diffraction + Siroquant XRD software and scanning and transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM), include REE-bearing phosphates (apatite, crandallite, florencite, monazite), and Y-bearing zircon. The highest rare earth element + Y concentrations occur in the weathered tonsteins, probably due to the concentration of these minerals after weathering of kaolinite from the rock.

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Data availability

All of the data are available in the tables. The remaining samples are stored at the Kentucky Geological Survey’s Earth Analysis Research Laboratory in Lexington, Kentucky, USA and at the China University of Mining & Technology.

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Acknowledgements

The samples were collected during the period 1990–1992 by Eble and Hower and colleagues. The collection effort and the supporting chemical analyses were supported by grants to the Kentucky Geological Survey and to the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The analytical work at the China University of Mining & Technology was supported by the National Key Research & Development Program of China (No. 2021YFC2902003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42272194), and the 111 Project (No. B17042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Geosciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China

    Jingjing Liu

  2. College of Geoscience and Survey Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Shifeng Dai, Mengjun Dong & Yan Gao

  3. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843–3146, USA

    Debora Berti

  4. Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA

    Cortland F. Eble

  5. Center for Applied Energy Research, University of Kentucky, 2540 Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY, 40511, USA

    James C. Hower

  6. Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA

    James C. Hower

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Liu, Dai, Dong, Gao – chemical, mineralogical, and SEM analyses; Berti – TEM analysis; Eble and Hower – collection of samples; Liu, Dai, Berti, Eble, Hower – writing of manuscript.

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Correspondence to James C. Hower.

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Liu, J., Dai, S., Berti, D. et al. Rare Earth and Critical Element Chemistry of the Volcanic Ash-fall Parting in the Fire Clay Coal, Eastern Kentucky, USA. Clays Clay Miner. 71, 309–339 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42860-023-00237-5

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