Abstract
THE recent article by Deans and Powell1 has demonstrated that few selected trace elements can be used to distinguish carbonatites from limestones in India and Pakistan. This work supports my conclusions from investigations in East Africa2 in which I concluded that lanthanum was a critically significant element in carbonatites. Trace element analysis has now reached a stage where one or two elements can be shown to be diagnostic for carbonatites and there is now no doubt that lanthanum and cerium are probably the most significant elements in distinguishing carbonatites from limestones. I consider, however, that it is unnecessary to determine other elements such as strontium, barium, yttrium and niobium during routine investigations for the following reasons.
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References
Deans, T., and Powell, J. L., Nature, 218, 750 (1968).
Bowden, P., Nature, 196, 570 (1962).
Schofield, A., and Haskin, L., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 28, 437 (1964).
Gold, D. P., Min. Soc. India IMA Volume, 83 (1966).
Heinrich, E. W., The Geology of Carbonatites, 229 (Rand McNally and Co., Chicago, 1966).
Cherepanov, V. A., Doklady Earth Sci. Sec., 173, 187 (1967).
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BOWDEN, P. Trace Elements in Carbonatites and Limestones. Nature 219, 716 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/219716a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/219716a0
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Trace Elements in Carbonatites and Limestones
Nature (1968)
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