Definitions
Chemists refer to the six heaviest elements in group VIIIA: Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt; as platinum metals (Cotton and Wilkinson, 1966). However, since the mid-1960s geologists have used the expression platinum-group elements (PGE) to refer to these elements. In igneous rocks Au and Ag frequently behave in a similar manner to the PGE, and the PGE together with Au and Ag are called the precious metals or noble metals (Bates and Jackson, 1987). Barnes et al. (1985) divided the PGE into two groups: Os, Ir, Ru (Ir-PGE) and Rh, Pt, Pd (Pd-PGE) based on the fact that Os, Ir, Ru behave as compatible elements during partial melting and crystal fractionation while Rh, Pt and Pd behave as incompatible elements. As more data have become available it has become clear that Rh should have been classified with Os, Ir and Ru as a compatible PGE.
Geochemical cycle
The PGE are extremely siderophile, and most of the original PGE budget of the Earth probably partitioned into the core. The PGE...
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Bibliography
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Barnes, S.J. (1998). Elements: Platinum group . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_108
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_108
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