Trace
Minerals in West Virginia Coals
Monazite:
Cerium-Lanthanum-Thorium-Neodymium-Yttrium Phosphate
(Ce, La, Th, Nd, Y)PO4
Monazite is a rare igneous mineral present in granite which weathers
free, and because of its great resistance to chemical attack, is concentrated
as a detrital mineral in sands. Monazite in coal occurs as micron-size,
and smaller, detrital grains introduced into the coal swamp as a windblown
or waterborne detrital mineral, and very rarely in volcanic ash falls,
and because of its great resistance is unaffected by acids in the swamp.
Cerium in coal is primarily a component of the mineral monazite and correlations
between Ce and other rare earth elements present in monazite suggest that
these elements are also primarily present in monazite. The very high
correlation between Ce and La strongly suggests that these two elements
are primarily in monazite, and in the 2:1 ratio shown in the graph because
of their similar atomic weights. Other trace element components of
monazite, Th, Nd, Dy and Gd also correlate with Ce at 6:1 for Ce:Th ( =
3.5:1 corrected for differing atomic weights), Ce:Nd = 2:1, Ce:Dy = 10:1
and Ce:Gd also at 10:1. These elements do not correlate with Ce as well
and are probably present in other minerals as well. Yttrium displays
a bifurcating graph, probably showing its presence in both monazite and
xenotime.
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