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M. L. Zientek

Publications and source records attributed to M. L. Zientek.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2018

Origin of placer laurite from Borneo: Se and As contents, and S isotopic compositions

We examined grains of the platinum-group mineral, laurite (RuS2), from the type locality, Pontyn River, Tanah Laut, Borneo, and from the Tambanio River, southeast Borneo. The grains show a variety of morphologies, including euhedral grains with conchoidal fractures and pits, and spherical grains with no crystal faces, probably because of abrasion. Inclusions are rare, but one grain contains Ca-Al amphilbole inclusions, and another contains an inclusion of chalcopyrite+bornite+pentlandite+heazlewoodite (Ni3S2) that is considered to have formed by a two-stage process of exsolution and crystallization from a once homogeneous Fe-Cu-Ni sulphide melt. All grains examined are solid solutions of Ru and Os with Ir (2.71-11.76 wt.%) and Pd (0.31-0.66 wt%). Their compositions are similar to laurite from ophiolitic rocks. The compositions show broad negative correlations between Os and Ir, between As and Ir, and between As (0.4-0.74 wt.%) and Se (140 to 240 ppm). Laurite with higher Os contains more Se and less Ir and As. The negative correlations between Se and As may be attributed to their occupancy of the S site, but the compositional variations of Os. Ir and As probably reflect the compositional variation of rocks where the crystals grew. Ratios of S/Se in laurite show a narrow spread from 1380 to 2300, which are similar to ratios for sulphides from the refractory sub-are mantle. Sulphur isotopic compositions of laurite are independent of chemical compositions and morphologies and are similar to the chondritic value of 0???. The data suggest that S in laurite has not undergone redox changes and originated from the refractory mantle. The data support the formation of laurite in the residual mantle or in a magnia generated from such a refractory mantle, followed by erosion after the obduction of the host ultramafic rocks. ?? 2004 The Mineralogical Society.

Mineralogical Magazine↗
USGS2006

Platinum-group element, Gold, Silver and Base Metal distribution in compositionally zoned sulfide droplets from the Medvezky Creek Mine, Noril'sk, Russia

Concentrations of Ag, Au, Cd, Co, Re, Zn and Platinum-group elements (PGE) have been determined in sulfide minerals from zoned sulfide droplets of the Noril'sk 1 Medvezky Creek Mine. The aims of the study were; to establish whether these elements are located in the major sulfide minerals (pentlandite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and cubanite), to establish whether the elements show a preference for a particular sulfide mineral and to investigate the model, which suggests that the zonation in the droplets is caused by the crystal fractionation of monosulfide solid solution (mss). Nickel, Cu, Ag, Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Rh and Pd, were found to be largely located in the major sulfide minerals. In contrast, less than 25% of the Au, Cd, Pt and Zn in the rock was found to be present in these sulfides. Osmium, Ir, Ru, Rh and Re were found to be concentrated in pyrrhotite and pentlandite. Palladium and Co was found to be concentrated in pentlandite. Silver, Cd and Zn concentrations are highest in chalcopyrite and cubanite. Gold and platinum showed no preference for any of the major sulfide minerals. The enrichment of Os, Ir, Ru, Rh and Re in pyrrhotite and pentlandite (exsolution products of mss) and the low levels of these elements in the cubanite and chalcopyrite (exsolution products of intermediate solid solution, iss) support the mss crystal fractionation model, because Os, Ir, Ru, Rh and Re are compatible with mss. The enrichment of Ag, Cd and Zn in chalcopyrite and cubanite also supports the mss fractionation model these minerals are derived from the fractionated liquid and these elements are incompatible with mss and thus should be enriched in the fractionated liquid. Gold and Pt do not partition into either iss or mss and become sufficiently enriched in the final fractionated liquid to crystallize among the iss and mss grains as tellurides, bismithides and alloys. During pentlandite exsolution Pd appears to have diffused from the Cu-rich portion of the droplet into pentlandite. ?? Springer-Verlag 2006.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗
USGS2002

Preliminary cellular-automata forecast of permit activity from 1998 to 2010, Idaho and Western Montana

For public land management in Idaho and western Montana, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has requested that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) predict where mineral-related activity will occur in the next decade. Cellular automata provide an approach to simulation of this human activity. Cellular automata (CA) are defined by an array of cells , which evolve by a simple transition rule, the automaton . Based on exploration trends, we assume that future exploration will focus in areas of past exploration. Spatial-temporal information about mineral-related activity, that is permits issued by USFS and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the last decade, and spatial information about undiscovered resources, provide a basis to calibrate a CA. The CA implemented is a modified annealed voting rule that simulates mineral-related activity with spatial and temporal resolution of 1 mi 2 and 1 year based on activity from 1989 to 1998. For this CA, the state of the economy and exploration technology is assumed constant for the next decade. The calibrated CA reproduces the 1989–1998-permit activity with an agreement of 94%, which increases to 98% within one year. Analysis of the confusion matrix and kappa correlation statistics indicates that the CA underestimates high activity and overestimates low activity. Spatially, the major differences between the actual and calculated activity are that the calculated activity occurs in a slightly larger number of small patches and is slightly more uneven than the actual activity. Using the calibrated CA in a Monte Carlo simulation projecting from 1998 to 2010, an estimate of the probability of mineral activity shows high levels of activity in Boise, Caribou, Elmore, Lincoln, and western Valley counties in Idaho and Beaverhead, Madison, and Stillwater counties in Montana, and generally low activity elsewhere.

Idaho, Montana↗
USGS1992

Placer and lode platinum-group minerals in south Kalimantan, Indonesia: Evidence for derivation from Alaskan-type ultramafic intrusions

Platinum‐group element minerals (PGM) occur in significant proportions in placer deposits in several localities in South Kalimantan. They consist of Pt‐Fe alloy that may be intergrown with or contain inclusions of Ir‐Os‐Ru alloy, laurite and chromite. Alluvial PGM found along Sungai Tambanio are in part derived from chromitite schlieren in dunitic bodies intruded into clinopyroxene cumulates that may be part of an Alaskan‐type ultramafic complex. A chromitite schlieren in serpentinite from one of these dunitic bodies is anomalous in PGE (Pt: 580 ppb; Pd: 3.4 ppb; Rh: 1 ppb; Ru: 9 ppb; Ir: 21 ppb; and Os: 3.9 ppb). The chondrite‐normalized PGE pattern for this rock, pan concentrates from this area, and PGM concentrates from diamond‐Au‐PGM placer deposits have an ‘M'‐shaped pattern enriched in Ir and Pt that is typical of PGE‐mineralization associated with Alaskan‐type ultramafic complexes.

South Kalimantan↗
USGS1990

Sulfur isotope studies of the Stillwater Complex and associated rocks, Montana

The Stillwater Complex in south-central Montana is a late Archean layered, ultramafic to mafic intrusion emplaced into middle to late Archean metagraywacke, metashale, and ironformation. Sulfide minerals are concentrated near the base of the intrusion in some chromitite layers, podiform pegmatoids, discontinuous discordant pods or pipes, and numerous thin, stratiform layers. This investigation focuses on the isotopic composition of sulfur in metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, Stillwater-associated sills and dikes, sulfide accumulations near the base of the complex, and platinum-group element-enriched sulfide mineralization that constitutes the J-M reef and the Picket Pin deposit.The delta 34 S values for 233 samples analyzed in this study have a mean of 0.4 per mil, a standard deviation of 1.7, and a maximum and minimum of-3.8 and 7.8 per mil, respectively. Despite the very narrow range of values, analysis of variance calculations confirms that the data comprise three statistically distinct groups. These groups are (1) metagraywackes and metashales (mean = 2.8ppm); (2) iron-formation, Stillwater-associated sills and dikes, and basal sulfide accumulations in the complex (mean = -0.7ppm); and (3) disseminated sulfide minerals that occur above the basal accumulations in the Stillwater Complex (mean -- 1.2ppm). The isotopic composition of sulfur in the basal sulfide accumulations indicates that assimilation of substantial amounts of sulfur from iron-formation may have occurred. The low tenor of the basal sulfide ores is also consistent with assimilation of sulfur into a limited volume of magma near the base of the intrusion.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1986

Palladium, platinum, and rhodium contents of rocks near the lower margin of the Stillwater complex, Montana

S Palladium, platinum, and rhodium concentrations are reported for rocks belonging to the Peridotite zone of the Ultramafic series and the Basal series of the late Archcan Stillwater Complex, a suite of Stillwater-associated sills and dikes, and the metamorphic rocks lying within the contact aureole of the complex. Mean values do not exceed 20 ppb for any rock unit and the tenth percentile rarely exceeds 200 ppb. The concentration of Pd is greater than Pt for most rock groups; both of these elements have higher concentrations than Rh.A large part of the variability in the data appears to be related to rock types containing different proportions of sulfide. It is also notable that sulfur does not correlate with the platinum-group element concentrations for many lithologies, and when it does, it commonly is not a useful predictor of platinum-group element content. Further, calculated values of R, the mass ratio of silicate liquid which has equilibrated with sulfide liquid, are low (1 to 320). Analysis of this information suggests that the immiscible sulfide liquids, from which the sulfides formed, did not completely equilibrate with the silicate liquids with respect to their platinum-group element contents and that the silicate liquids were characterized by different concentrations and ratios of platinum-group elements.

Economic Geology↗