Leonard Benjamin Riley | USGS Science

USGS1969

Platinum, palladium, and rhodium analyses of ultramafic and mafic rocks from the Stillwater Complex, Montana

Analyses by a combination fire- assay-solution-optical-emission spectrographic method of 137 rocks from the Stillwater Complex, Mont., indicate that platinum, palladium, and rhodium are preferentially concentrated in chromitite zones. The A chromitite zone (21 samples) has an average of 988.9 ppb (pans per billion, 10 -9 ) Pt, 2290.2 ppb Pd, and 245.9 ppb Rh and reaches a maximum (to date) of 8,000 ppb Pt, 11,000 ppb Pd, and 1,700 ppb Rh.

Montana↗

USGS1952

Distribution of ore deposits and spectrographic analyses of some rocks and ores on the Colorado Plateau

The geographic pattern of known igneous rocks and ore deposits on the Colorado Plateau suggests a zonal arrangement of several types of ore deposits around centers of igneous activity. Spectrographic analyses of rocks and ores on the Plateau have been obtained in an effort to determine the distribution of elements and to examine the relationships between types of ore deposits and between the ore deposits and igneous rocks. Over 170 analyses of rocks and ores are given in this report. A preliminary study of these analyses suggests that the proportion of uranium, vanadium, copper, and silver in the uranium ores varies geographically, and that the pattern of variation may be in part concentric about some of the major laccolithic intrusions. It is also suggested that the following ratios of metals contained in the uranium ores are possible guides to larger-than-average ore deposits: (1) lead/uranium greater than 1, (2) lead/zinc greater than 10, and (3) zinc/geometric mean of cobalt and nickel less than 10.

Colorado↗