Microbial processes in the Negev phosphorites (southern Israel)

ABSTRACT Microscopic and SEM observations indicate that cyanobacterial activity was important during the formation of the Campanian Negev phosphorites. One aspect of such activity is the development of phosphorites through the binding of phosphate particles. These sediments often demonstrate a conspicuous smooth cryptalgal lamination. The algal binder was fossilized as intertwined phosphatic sheaths that coat and seal off the phosphate grains. Different types of sheaths representing the remnants of an algal community were found. Thick apatite overgrowth commonly deforms the microbial fossils converting them into barely recognizable forms. Fabrication of phosphate particles is another aspect of the microbial activity. Phosphate algal coated grains are a common constituent of the Negev phosphorites. The algal coating consists of stacked phosphatic tubes and colonies of coccoid unicells with an apatite infilling. Fragmented phosphatic sheath bundles form another type of phosphate particle produced by algae. Obliteration of algal structures is common, resulting in undifferentiated groundmasses of cryptocrystalline apatite. The extremely close connection between microbial structures and phosphatization processes suggests cyanobacterial participation in phosphorus enrichment.     

震旦纪灯影组磷块岩及其生成特点

灯影组磷块岩有四种类型,即泥晶磷块岩、内碎屑磷块岩、藻磷块岩和细晶磷块岩。组成磷块岩的主要矿物是磷灰石、白云石、石英和少量伊利石等。磷块岩主要沉积在陆缘海内,它的沉积环境是与深水有联系的浅水地区。深水和浅水环境的地质背景分别为构造拗陷和碳酸盐岩台地。前者提供成矿物质,后者提供有利于磷质成矿的沉积环境。     

富磷矿三阶段动态成矿模式:黔中开阳式高品位磷矿成矿机制

震旦系陡山沱组沉积期形成的黔中开阳、瓮安富磷矿沉积区,矿石产量大、品位高,是国内外重要的磷矿资源产区。黔中磷矿主要分布于黔中古陆周缘的滨浅海环境中,矿石类型以碎屑状磷块岩为主,间夹原生泥晶磷块岩、生物结构磷块岩和次生土状结构磷块岩。开阳式高品位磷块岩的动态沉积成矿过程通常为“三阶段成矿”: 第一阶段为初始成磷作用阶段,在新元古代大规模成磷背景下,上升洋流携带深部富磷海水进入滨浅海地区,并通过生物化学作用使磷质聚集并形成原生磷块岩沉积;第二阶段为簸选成矿作用阶段,高能波浪、风暴水流对原生磷块岩持续的破碎、磨蚀、搬运和再沉积过程中,簸选去除了原生沉积物中的陆源细碎屑、砂泥质成分,保留并聚集磷质碎屑颗粒,形成品位较高的碎屑状矿石;第三阶段为淋滤作用阶段,海平面升降变化使之前形成矿石受暴露事件影响,遭受强烈的风化淋滤作用,碎屑状磷矿石内的碳酸盐岩胶结物和白云石条带被淋滤运移,导致矿层发育大量溶蚀孔洞,甚至形成土状磷块岩,矿石品位再次得到大幅度提升。三阶段成矿作用随古地理条件和海平面变化在沉积成岩过程中多期次、动态进行,最终形成工业价值极高的磷矿石。     

云南晋宁梅树村下寒武统砾屑磷块岩的扫描电镜研究

通过扫描电镜观察.发现云南梅树村中谊村段砾屑磷块岩中的磷质砾屑主要由磷质鲕球、磷质微球和磷质雏晶堆积体组成.磷质微晶是磷酸盐的基本晶体.磷质雏晶是在扫描电镜下所能观察到的最小的磷酸盐颗粒,但它们晶形不完全.砾屑磷块岩的形成过程可以分为三个阶段:磷质鲕球、微晶和雏晶形成阶段,磷质砾屑形成阶段,和砾屑磷块岩形成阶段.磷质砾屑的形成环境为浅水近岸,水动力条件不稳定,沉积速率和通量不高.     

Nodular Fraction of Phosphatic Sand from the Namibia Shelf

Morphology, microstructure, and chemical composition of the nodular fraction of phosphatic sand from the outer Namibia shelf are considered. The nodules are divided into three varieties: concretions, phosphatic casts of shells pelecipod and gastropod, and phosphatized sea lion coprolites. A part of nodules shows massive homogeneous structure, whereas other nodules contain sand-size phosphatic grains derived from the host phosphatic sand. All nodules display the same spectrum of microstructures, including colloform, granular-globular, and crystallomorphic ones. The crystallomorphic nodules are composed of scattered and aggregated crystallites of isometric, rod-shaped, and dumbbell-shaped forms, as well as crystallized shells on grains incorporated into nodules. Phosphatized remains of diatoms, foraminifers, and embryonic gastropods, as well as vermicular and filamentous bacterial forms occur among biogenic components of the nodules. Framboidal pyrite is present in all nodules. In terms of phosphate microstructure, character of organic remains, and chemical composition, the nodules are similar to phosphate grains of the host sand, recent phosphorites from the inner Namibia shelf, and some ancient phosphorites.     

Phosphate-rich sedimentary rocks: Significance for organic facies and petroleum exploration

Phosphorus-bearing rocks and sediments can be divided into two genetically distinct classes: phosphatic shales or limestones and phosphorites. Phosphatic shales are primary sediments in which phosphate nodules or micronodules have formed diagenetically by precipitation of calcium phosphates derived mainly from organic phosphorus. The nodules form in reducing environments at shallow depths within the sediments, where loss of phosphate by diffusion to the overlying water column is minimized. Highly biogenic sediments containing large amounts of organic matter and some fine clastic debris provide ideal environments for the formation of phosphate nodules.Phosphorites, in contrast, represent concentrated accumulations of reworked phosphate nodules which originated in phosphatic shales or limestones. Currents, wave action, recrystallization, and erosion and resedimentation are important mechanisms in the concentration process.Phosphatic shales and limestones may become excellent oil source rocks if thermal maturity is achieved. They are useful facies indicators for anoxic or nearly anoxic depositional environments, and are often associated with restricted basins, or, during certain geologic periods, with broad shelves developed during transgressions. Phosphorites, in contrast, are often correlated with sea-level regressions or uplifts. They are modest source rocks because of their low organic carbon contents and the fact that they were reworked under oxidizing conditions. Nevertheless, because phosphorites are derived from, and often grade into, phosphatic shales, they also are of potential utility in the search for oil source beds.     

Phosphate-rich deposits associated with the Mio-Pliocene unconformity in south-east Australia

Phosphates are present on the surface of the Mio-Pliocene unconformity in the Otway, Port Phillip and Gippsland basins of south-east Australia. The phosphates occur as lenticular lag deposits and include reworked phosphatic intraclasts, vertebrate bone and teeth. In situ phosphatized burrows are also found in sediments of Late Miocene and Early Pliocene age. The phosphatic intraclasts on the unconformity are interpreted as reworked phosphatized burrows derived from latest Miocene sediments (6 to 5 Ma). The phosphatization of these intraclasts is temporally related to the unconformity. The timing of phosphogenesis coincides with a period of transgression across the south-east Australian margin following Late Miocene uplift. This transgression is responsible for initial marine erosion of the underlying Miocene sequence, creation of a period of very slow sedimentation that was favourable to phosphate formation and subsequent deposition of the latest Miocene through to Pliocene sediments. The continental weathering of the uplifted highlands adjacent to the sedimentary basins, global phosphorus enrichment in the Late Miocene oceans and localized upwelling may all have contributed to phosphatization in south-eastern Australia.     

Geochemistry of phosphate bearing sedimentary rocks in parts of Sonrai block,Lalitpur District,Uttar Pradesh,India

Major, trace and rare earth elements of phosphatic rocks around Sonrai block of Paleo-Mesoproterozoic age having phosphatic breccia, quartzite, shale, sandstone, limestone and ironstone, have been determined to evaluate their correlation, relationship with the phosphorus content, the nature of possible substitution of various elements and regional distribution pattern over the area. The study indicates that the number of elements is substituted in the apatite structures; few of them are associated with phosphate and carbonate minerals. The variable concentration of major, trace and rare earth elements in the phosphatic rocks has been influenced by various physico-chemical processes involved during weathering and leaching of the source rocks. The distribution of the major, trace and rare earth elements is controlled by the environmental variations in the sediment water interface. The majority of trace elements were mainly influenced by the principle adsorbents like the phosphate minerals in addition to clay, iron oxides and silicate minerals. The PAAS normalized REE patterns of Sonrai block of phosphorites are characterized by negative Ce anomalies and Positive Eu anomalies. It is inferred from the distribution and interrelationship of major, trace and rare earth elements that the deposition of phosphate minerals might have occurred in highly oxidizing to slightly reducing conditions in supratidal to intertidal continental margins and shallow marine environment. The deposition was controlled by marine upwelling leading to excess charge of phosphate in certain zones of phosphogenic basins, lithologic facies variations in restricted circulations of basinal waters and electrochemical factors such as negative Eh, pH and other factors, which influenced the deposition of phosphates. The replacement, precipitation in voids and fissures and diagenesis were also important mechanisms of phosphate generation in Sonrai basin. The main source for various elements may be the minerals of cratonic mass of Bundelkhand Granitic Complex, a basement of Bijawar Basin, which also provided land derived phosphorus through weathering of the terrestrial cover.     

鲕粒,豆粒磷块岩的显微结构和生成特点

晚震旦世陡山沱组和早寒武世渔户村组、辛集组磷矿中有各种鮞粒、豆粒磷块岩。豆粒、鮞粒内核的成分和结构复杂,有来自陆地的各种岩石砂屑、细砾,也有盆内沉积物破碎成的各种内碎屑。鮞粒、豆粒的壳层是同心纹层状磷灰石,它是内核在富磷海水扰动中逐层淀积而成。大部分豆粒、鮞粒在滨海高能浅水中与陆源砂、砾和岔内碎屑沉积在一起,少量鮞粒则沉积在滨外深水低能环境巾。豆粒、鮞粒和碎屑等沉积后又被不同物质胶结。     

沉积磷块岩结构类型、成因及成矿阶段

磷块岩的岩石类型和成矿阶段划分是磷块岩研究的一项基础性工作,早在50年代后期,叶连俊等人就对磷块岩及其分类进行过研究[1],随着沉积学的发展,尤其是近年来碳酸盐岩研究的进展,磷块岩岩石学研究也有了一些新的突破。磷块岩分类从矿体形态(层状、透镜状、结核状)、大地构造(地台型、地槽型)等分类走向了结构成因分类。在这方面,工作较多,较系统的有美国的S.R.Riggs和法国的M.S1ansky[9][10]。我国的孙枢、陈其英、赵东旭[2][3]及孟祥化[4]、周茂基[5]、东野[6]等人也先后对磷块岩的结构成因类型进行过研究。这些研究给磷块岩的分类奠定了一个很好的基础。     

贵州织金寒武系磷矿沉积特征及灯影组古喀斯特面控矿特征研究

在上扬子地台早寒武纪梅树村期,沉积了许多大型磷块岩矿床。贵州寒武系底部磷块岩发育,是我国重要含磷层位。贵州寒武系底部磷矿的研究历史比较悠久,研究方向主要还是集中于含磷物质来源以及磷块岩成因方面的研究。前者主要解决的是磷质来源与磷质赋存问题,但对于磷矿的就位问题研究较少。因此,对于磷矿控矿规律及含磷岩系沉积微相等有待深入。在总结前人研究的的基础上,对贵州织金-清镇一带寒武系底部含磷岩系进行大量的野外调查、剖面测试以及地质资料总结分析。认为清镇地区处于潮下低能泻湖环境,以条带状磷块岩和条带状磷质硅质岩为特征;织金戈仲伍一线,属于潮间-潮下高能沉积环境,沉积碎屑状磷块岩为主,局部沉积小壳生物磷块岩;织金熊家场浅滩和生物滩发育,属于潮上沉积环境。另外通过钻孔资料分析,发现织金地区寒武系底部磷块岩厚度变化很大,主要受灯影组顶部古喀斯特不整合面控制,滨岸磷质碎屑受沿岸海流的改造,搬运至古喀斯特洼地地区堆积,形成较厚度的碎屑状磷块岩。古喀斯特高地地区,受滨岸海流影响,沉积的磷块岩较薄,因此,建立织金寒武系磷块岩成矿控矿模式。该研究对贵州寒武系底部磷矿找矿预测工作有一定的理论和实际意义。     

Origin of Cretaceous phosphorites from the onshore of Tamil Nadu,India

Cretaceous phosphorites from the onshore of Tamil Nadu have been investigated for their origin and compared with those in the offshore. Cretaceous phosphorites occur as light brown to yellowish brown or white nodules in Karai Shale of the Uttatur Group in the onshore Cauvery basin. Nodules exhibit phosphatic nucleus encrusted by a chalky shell of carbonate. The nucleus of the nodules consists of light and dark coloured laminae, phosphate peloids/coated grains and detrital particles interspersed between the laminae. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies reveal trapping and binding activity of microbial filaments. A mat structure with linearly arranged microbial filaments and hollow, cell-based coccoid cyanobacterial mat are present. Nodules contain abundant carbonate fluorapatite, followed by minor calcite, quartz and feldspar. The P₂O₅ content of the phosphorites ranges from 18 to 26%. The CaO/P₂O₅, Sr and F contents are higher than that of pure carbonate fluorapatite. Concentrations of Si, Al, K, Fe, and Ti are low. We suggest that the nuclei of the nodules represent phosphate clasts related to phosphate stromatolites formed at intertidal conditions. At high energy levels the microbial mats were disintegrated into phosphate clasts, coated with carbonate and then reworked into Karai Shale. On the other hand, Quaternary phosphorites occur as irregular to rounded, grey coloured phosphate clasts at water depths between 180 and 320m on the continental shelf of Tamil Nadu. They exhibit grain-supported texture. Despite Quaternary in age, they also resemble phosphate stromatolites of intertidal origin and reworked as phosphate clasts onto the shelf margin depressions. Benthic microbial mats probably supplied high phosphorus to the sediments. Availability of excess phosphorus seems to be a pre-requisite for the formation of phosphate stromatolites.     

贵州瓮安陡山沱组磷块岩稀土元素地球化学特征与沉积期后变化

贵州瓮安陡山沱组磷块岩保存了可能是全球最早的后生动物化石 (瓮安动物群 ),对于瓮安动物群出现过程中的古海洋环境重建具有重要科学意义。但必须对成岩后生作用对磷块岩中的稀土元素改造进行评估。通过对贵州瓮安陡山沱组磷块岩的磷质碎屑、磷质和白云质胶结物、磷条带和泥条带等的稀土元素地球化学特征研究,确定沉积期后变化对稀土元素的改造影响不大。上矿层磷块岩沉积期形成的磷质碎屑、成岩期形成的白云质和磷质胶结物具相同的稀土元素配分模式,暗示了沉积期后的改造作用对瓮安陡山沱组磷块岩保存的原生沉积信息影响不大。瓮安陡山沱组磷块岩具有显著的重稀土亏损特征。磷块岩的磷质和白云质胶结物、伴生磷质碎屑、强风化磷块岩相近的ErN/LuN 比值,表明沉积期后的改造作用不是重稀土元素亏损的主要原因。磷块岩的ErN/LuN、LaN/NdN 与Ce/Ce 间的相关性,表明越氧化的沉积环境中,轻和重稀土元素亏损越强。     

荆襄地区陡山沱组磷块岩的类型、成因和沉积环境

本文根据野外调查和室内初步研究成果并结合有关地质资料,分析、讨论了荆襄陡山沱组含磷岩系的磷块岩类型、成因和沉积环境。通过分析可知,组成磷块岩的磷灰石有不同的形成方式;磷块岩沉积在海退旋回中粘土和硅质沉积向碳酸盐沉积的转变阶段;磷块岩矿床形成在陆缘海内与深水有联系的浅水地带。 矿区含磷岩系特征综合于图1。     

Anatomy and origin of a Cretaceous phosphorite-greensand giant, Egypt

Late Cretaceous epicontinental phosphorites, porcelanites/cherts, dark-coloured shales, glauconitic sandstones and bioclastic and fine-grained carbonate rocks in Egypt are examined in terms of their overall depositional and diagenetic framework and stable isotopic and organic geochemical characteristics. Two main depositional realms are interpreted and correlated through sequence stratigraphic analysis: (1) a shallow hemipelagic environment accompanying initial stages of marine transgression and conducive to the formation of organic carbon-rich shales, biosiliceous sediments and thick phosphorites, and (2) a relatively high energy depositional regime accompanying sea-level fall during which deltas advanced, glauconites were reworked seaward and prograding oyster banks became periodically exposed to episodes of fresh water diagenesis, thereby promoting solution-collapse phenomena in associated cherts. Lenticular to massive phosphorites are viewed as the result of current winnowing and concentration of authigenic grains initially precipitated in associated reducing shales and biosiliceous sediments. In eastern Egypt the phosphorites form winnowed lag layers, some of which may have been redeposited down slope in structural lows. In the west, these sands were concentrated into giant phosphorite sand waves built by reworking of penecontemporaneously deposited phosphatic muds during marine transgression. Carbon isotopic results substantiate interpretations from modern deposits for limitation of phosphate mineral precipitation with depth in sediments as a result of lattice poisoning. However, direct desorption of phosphorus to pore waters from detrital iron-oxyhydroxide phases also may have been important in the Cretaceous setting, the iron reduced in this process being available for incorporation in glauconites. The main locus for authigenic glauconite precipitation appears to be where iron fluxes from regions of lateritic weathering were highest and near the boundary between oxygenated and reduced waters. This study suggests a model for the common coexistence of glauconites and phosphorites in the geological record. Although upwelling is often advocated as the origin of nearly all giant phosphorite deposits, we suggest that some of these may have been strongly influenced by fluvially derived phosphorus borne on particulates and desorbed from these compounds upon flocculation and/or reduction in bottom waters or pore waters.     

Paleoenvironments and origin of the sedimentary phosphorites of the Napo Formation (Late Cretaceous, Oriente Basin, Ecuador)

The Napo phosphorites were deposited at the edge of a stable marine shelf during the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian) oceanic anoxic event (OAE 3) at the transition from bioclastic limestone to organic-rich shale facies. Phosphogenesis was triggered in the shelf margin environment by a number of factors including strong upwelling currents, high biological activity, plankton blooms, and large amounts of organic matter production and subsequent accumulation. Dissolved phosphate levels increased in the sediment from a combination of anoxic conditions and microbial activity. Once dissolved phosphate concentrations were high enough, apatite began to form around nucleic sites including mineral grains, shells, wood fragments, and foraminifera tests forming peloidal fluorine rich carbonate fluoroapatite (francolite). As the peloids formed, sedimentation continued and dissolved phosphate concentrations diminished. A period of minor winnowing ensued, and as dissolved phosphate concentrations remained low, shale layers were deposited separating the various phosphate layers.     

Diverse mode of phosphatic rocks in the environs of Proterozoic Bijawar and Sonrai basins and its relevance to uranium mineralisation — A case study from central India

The Bundelkhand massif comprising a variety of Archean-Paleoproterozoic granitoids along with low grade and high-grade metamorphites and located in the centre of the Indian Plate, underwent extension during Paleoproterozoic period, resulting in the formation of homotaxial intracratonic Bijawar and Sonrai basins in the south and Gwalior basin in the northern margin. The Bijawar and Sonrai basins are typified by their characteristic sediments and basic volcanic rocks. A feature common to both the basins, is the overwhelming occurrence of phosphatic rocks across stratigraphy and lithotype in the Bijawar basin and its confinement to the basal part of the sedimentary column in Sonrai basin. Most of these rocks are primarily of marine origin, and later subjected to periods of repeated phosphatic redistribution. Multiple episodes of such phosphatisation culminates in the proliferation and enrichment of phosphate in the upper Bijawar rocks of Bijawar basin (phosphatic breccia of Hirapur-Mardeora) and lower Bijawar rocks of Sonrai basin (phosphatic breccia of Lalitpur). Apart from these established phosphatic rocks in both the basins, quartz reefs occurring in the basement as well as the lower Bijawar Malhera Chert Breccia Formation in Bijawar basin at places are endowed with anomalously high phosphate content. The phosphatic component in all the lithotypes is in the form of apatite varying in form from microcrystalline to well formed coarser crystal aggregate comprising cement, veins and botroidal encrustations. Irrespective of its spatial, temporal and paragenetic position, it invariably registers weak to moderate radioactivity, due to the presence of uranium within it, as is evident from microprobe data. Although intra-grain and inter-grain distribution of uranium is found to be random and erratic, in general, it is observed that uranium tends to be enriched in the later generation phosphates, due to secondary process of dissolution and reprecipitation. The present paper, with fresh inputs from petrological, geochemical, minerochemical and isotope data pertaining to apatite from all these diverse units, not only explores the already established association of uranium and phosphate in these basins but also provides new insight to the phosphatic quartz reef within the basement and the phosphatised arenaceous sediments of the lower Bijawar Formation.     

中国南方晚震旦世沉积相及磷块岩的时空分布

本文扼要阐述扬子地台及邻区晚震旦世地层的研究现状,沉积相带(台地相、斜坡相及盆地相)及古地理轮廓、磷块岩的时空分布(包括地理、地层及沉积相的分布)。同时还着重指出了台地边缘及斜坡相带的上部是寻找磷块岩的有利地区。     

Phosphatic series under Plio-Quaternary cover of Tadla Plain,Morocco: Gravity and seismic data

The Ouled Abdoun sedimentary basin in Morocco contains the largest phosphate reserves in the world. To the Northwest of the basin, the phosphate layers crop out or are at a shallow depth and are exploited in open pit mines. By contrast, towards the central and southwestern parts of the basin, the phosphate layers lay below the Plio-Quaternary sediments of the Tadla Plain. This study aims to characterize the distribution and structure of the phosphatic series at depth under this cover, in particular to guide the future exploration and exploitation of the phosphate deposits. The work is based on gravimetric and seismic data acquired in a previous oil exploration study, calibrated by borehole data. The analysis of the gravity data controlled by boreholes first reveals the existence of large regional faults in the basin, forming pronounced gradients in the gravity data. The faults are also seen in the seismic profiles. In the Southeast of the basin, the phosphatic series exhibit a stairway structure controlled by some of these regional faults.The drilling data and the isochron maps established from the seismic profiles show that the base of the phosphatic series is more than 500 m deep in the southeastern area of the basin. As the phosphatic layers get buried deeper, they also become thicker. The phosphate reserves thus increase towards the southeast, and our analysis identifies the areas where this reserve is larger. Our results eventually suggest that the mining methods currently adopted in the Khouribga mining district will need to be modified and adapted to the more complex situation of the phosphatic series deeply buried in the basin.     

中上扬子地区早寒武世(纽芬兰世－第二世)岩相古地理

由于受区域构造作用、海平面变化、上升洋流以及古气候等主控因素的制约,中上扬子地区纽芬兰世-第二世主要表现为浅海环境。早寒武世梅树村期,主要发育潮坪相碎屑岩、磷块岩、白云岩和硅质岩,陆棚相含磷结核硅质岩、泥岩以及陆棚深水盆地相碳质页岩、硅质岩等。筇竹寺期,海侵范围扩大,陆棚深水盆地向西北扩展,其余广大区域为碎屑岩浅海所覆盖。沧浪铺期,主要表现为碎屑岩和碳酸盐交互沉积的混积陆棚环境,盆地相则具有继承性,主要为碳质页岩沉积。早寒武世龙王庙期开始向碳酸盐台地演化,广大区域为碳酸盐沉积,盆地区范围有所缩小。早寒武世的岩相古地理演化表明,从早到晚沿着东南边缘始终存在一较深水沉积区,其沉积物质主要为碳质页岩和硅质岩,为烃源岩有利沉积区,奠定了油气生烃成藏的物质基础。同时在演化过程中还形成了相应的储层以及分布较广的膏盐层。根据这一油气地质条件组合及其空间分布,针对中上扬子地区早古生代海相地层的油气勘探应该首先围绕这一富烃沉积区来开展,集中对膏盐层下部目的层开展油气勘探工作。