Rare-earth elements in groundwaters from the Osamu Utsumi mine and Morro do Ferro analogue study sites, Poços de Caldas, Brazil

Data are presented on rare-earth elements (REE) in prefiltered (<450 nm) near-surface and deeper groundwaters and in corresponding particulate matter (>450 nm) from the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine and the Morro do Ferro thorium-REE-deposit. Groundwaters from both sites typically contain between 1–50 μg/l of total REE, but can reach values of up to 160 μg/l in the deepest borehole F4 (U-Mine: 150–415 m). Even higher REE concentrations of up to 29 mg/l were measured in acidic, sulfate-rich near-surface waters of the same site. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns in deeper, more reducing groundwaters and in their corresponding suspended particle fractions are similar to those observed in the bedrock (phonolites), indicating that bedrock leaching and secondary mineral sorption occurred without significant fractionation between these elements, in accordance with the only small variations in the stability constants of the expected REE-sulfate complexes in these waters. Groundwaters from the unsaturated zone of both sites show a very characteristic cerium depletion (less pronounced than that observed in the corresponding suspended particulate fractions), which is most probably related to the oxidation of Ce (III) under the prevailing E_h-conditions of these waters (600 to 800 mV), and to sorption/precipitation reactions of the much less soluble Ce(IV) species. Coarse particulate matter (>450 nm), composed mainly of amorphous ferric hydrous oxides, has a strong capacity for sorption of REE. This is shown by its very high REE concentrations, in some boreholes > 8,000 μg/g (total REE), and by the calculated association ratios R_a (ml/g), which are in the order of 10⁵ to 10⁶. The implications of these findings for the migration behavior of REE in both environments are discussed.     

Lysimeter soil water balance evaluation for an experiment developed in the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest region

This study aims at monitoring the behaviour of the rainfall, runoff, drainage, soil water storage, and evapotranspiration variables involved in the water balance measured by lysimeter data. The evaluation of the water balance considered different time scales, where the components were monitored daily and in 10‐day accumulated period intervals. The results demonstrated that in wet periods the soil water content was greater at a depth of 10 cm, whereas in the dry periods a greater concentration was observed at 70 cm depth. At the depth of 30 cm, the lowest values of soil water content were observed for both wet and dry periods. The results, obtained through the use of tensiometers and time domain reflectometry installed internally and externally to the lysimeter, were very close, which was more noticeable during the periods of lower water loss by the soil. The water balance, calculated from the lysimeter data, demonstrated that 70% of the total rainfall was lost by the process of evapotranspiration. The drainage accounted for 27·5% of the precipitated water, highlighting the fact that this component should not be disregarded in the water balance calculation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Die Tektonik des Lüderich-Gangzuges im Bergischen Land

Zusammenfassung Aufgrund struktureller Untersuchungen wurde versucht, Natur und Altersfolge der Störungen des variszischen Lüderich-Gangzuges und ihre Beziehungen zur Blei-Zinkerzführung zu klären.Träger der Vererzung sind ältere Auf- und Abschiebungen, in deren Bilbungszeit die Vererzung fällt. Die Erzgänge wurden durch jüngere Störungen zerstückelt und auseinandergezerrt.     

Content analysis of dam break studies for tailings dams with high damage potential in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero,Minas Gerais: technical weaknesses and proposals for improvements

Natural Hazards - Tailings dams are civil structures that have an intrinsic potential risk of failure that, if poorly managed or neglected, can lead to severe societal, environmental, and economic...     

Natural responses of Neoproterozoic dynamic karst springs to rainfall events,São Miguel Watershed,Minas Gerais,Brazil

Karst aquifers consist of complex networks of conduits in which groundwater flows and recharge/discharge processes are generally more dynamic than in other types of aquifers. Due to their intrinsic heterogeneity and anisotropy, monitoring, quantifying, and analysing natural responses of karst springs is an efficient tool. Unlike Cenozoic and Mesozoic rocks, in Neoproterozoic karst systems, groundwater circulates and stores generally in dissolution features known as tertiary porosity, as the rock's primary porosity is recrystallized, considered negligible. This article studies the hydrodynamics of a karst portion of the São Miguel River basin, southwest of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The region is predominantly composed of Neoproterozoic carbonate rocks, dating from about 570 to 540 million years ago. During a hydrological year (2019–2020), three karst springs (S1, S2, and S3) were daily monitored through their natural responses (variations of electrical conductivity, EC, temperature, T, and discharge, Q) to rainfall episodes. The data were interpreted based on the analysis of spring hydrographs, time series, recession curves (seasonal and intra-annual), and statistics of EC, T, and Q variations. The results show the three springs generally exhibit quick flow, typically karstic, in the case of hydrosystems with a well-structured and functional underground drainage network. The time series indicate the hydrosystem drained by S1 presents slower circulation and a lower degree of linearity, resulting from the higher sinuosity of the system, while the hydrosystems of S2 and S3 have similar behaviours, of quick water circulations immediately after a rainy episode. The degrees of karstification classify S1 and S2 as complex and extensive karst systems consisting of several subsystems, and S3 as a system in which the conduit network is more developed at the upper epiphreatic zone than near the outlet.     

First Palaeozoic arachnid from Portugal and implications for Carboniferous palaeobiogeography

The first occurrence of arachnids (Aphantomartus pustulatus) in the Carboniferous strata of Portugal is documented and its palaeobiogeographic significance is assessed. The Aphantomartidae species are thought to be native to Central Europe where its oldest example is recorded in Middle–Upper Mississippian strata. Known occurrences are preserved along the flanks of mountains such as the Appalachian Mountains, the Cantabrian Mountains and the Valongo Anticline (Portugal, Iberian Massif) and provide clear evidence that the Aphantomartidae species probably lived in upland or mountainous environments. The Iberian Massif may have served as a ‘link’ between the migration routes of several terrestrial animals from North America and Eurasia, and this linkage constrains the palaeogeographic and palaeoenvironmental conditions in equatorial Pangaea during the Carboniferous and Early Permian. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

U–Pb dating of granites in the Neoproterozoic Sergipano Belt,NE-Brazil: Implications for the timing and duration of continental collision and extrusion tectonics in the Borborema Province

The Sergipano Belt is the outcome of collision between the Pernambuco–Alagoas Massif and the São Francisco Craton during Neoproterozoic assembly of West Gondwana. Field relationships and U–Pb geochronology of granites intruded in garnet micaschists of the Macururé Domain are used to constrain the main collisional event (D₂) in the belt. The granites are divided into two groups, the pre-collisional granites (pre- to early-D₂) and the syn-collisional granites (syn- to tardi-D₂), the latter were emplaced as sheets along the S₂ axial plane foliation or they were collected at the hinge zones of F₂ folds. A U–Pb SHRIMP zircon age of 628 ± 12 Ma was obtained for the pre-collisional Camará tonalite. Two U–Pb TIMS titanite ages were obtained for the syn-collisional granites, 584 ± 10 Ma for the Angico granite and 571 ± 9 Ma for the Pedra Furada granite, and these ages are close to the garnet-whole rock Sm–Nd isochron of 570 Ma found for the peak of metamorphism in the Sergipano Belt. The ages of the Camará tonalite (628 Ma) and the Pedra Furada granite (571 Ma) mark respectively the maximum age for beginning of the D₂ event and minimum age for the end in the Macururé Domain. Using these ages, the main Neoproterozoic D₂ collisional event has been in operation in the Sergipano Belt for at least 57 million years. Correlation with coeval granitoids farther north in the Borborema Province indicate that while in the Sergipano Belt the syn-D₂ granites (ca. 590–570 Ma) were emplaced under compression, in the Borborema Province they emplaced under extensional conditions related to regional strike-slip shear zones. These contrasting emplacement settings for contemporaneous Neoproterozoic granitoids are explained by a combination of continent–continent collision and extrusion tectonics.     

Genetic and metamorphic conditions constrained by fluid inclusions from Paleoproterozoic (c. 1.8 Ga) magnesite ore deposits, NE Brazil

Precambrian magnesite occurrences hosted by metadolomites from the Orós belt, Ceará, Brazil, are part of a greenschist–amphibolite, metavolcano-sedimentary terrain, dated at 1.8 Ga, cut by Meso- to Neoproterozoic Brasiliano granites and Neoproterozoic basic sills. These rocks were affected by a shear zone between 580 and 500 Ma. The magnesite-bearing marbles can be grouped as medium-grained (1–9 mm) at the Riacho Fundo ore deposit or sparry magnesite (1–15 cm) at the Cabeça de Negro ore deposit. The sparry magnesite shows textural characteristics related to original sedimentary structures. Both types of magnesite-bearing marbles contain aqueous and aqueous-carbonic fluid inclusions that yield homogenization temperatures between 170 and 370 °C. Applying a pressure correction, these temperatures are compatible with the evolution from greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic conditions, as described in previous work on the Orós region. It also agrees with data in specialized literature on the metamorphism of carbonate rocks. Fluid inclusion distribution, composition, and physical-chemical characteristics suggest temperature increase, probably related to metamorphism on these rocks. The medium-grained magnesite records partial contamination of CO₂-rich inclusions by relict carbonaceous material (bitumen, hydrocarbons?) that favors, but does not confirm, a syngenetic sedimentary origin and could have caused the lowering of CO₂ melting point in these inclusions. Therefore, though textural evidence points to a sedimentary-diagenetic model, fluid inclusions record conditions of a metamorphic event.     

Fossil fuel compounds from fly dust in recent organic matter of southern Poland peats

Several samples of peat from 6 bogs located in southern Poland were investigated for occurrence and distribution types of biomarkers present in their extractable organic matter fraction. It was found that there are inputs from two different sources of organic compounds differing in their characteristics and origin: (1) recent immature peat organic matter deposited in situ which is the source of all polar functionalized compounds, most of n-alkanes, and acyclic isoprenoids, and (2) mature fossil fuels, most probably bituminous coals from the Upper Silesia Coal Basin of vitrinite reflectance equivalent values of 0.9–1.1%. The latter compounds were most probably transported with fly ash to bogs from nearby settlements utilizing such fuel in domestic ovens. This group includes pentacyclic triterpenoids (hopanes and moretanes), minor amounts of n-alkanes, and numerous alkyl naphthalenes and alkyl phenanthrenes. All these compounds show distributions and values of geochemical ratios characteristic for mature organic matter confirming there ex situ origin.     

Chemical and physical characterization of suspended particles and colloids in waters from the Osamu Utsumi mine and Morro do Ferro analogue study sites, Poços de Caldas, Brazil

Data are presented on suspended particles and colloids in groundwaters from the Osamu Utsumi mine and the Morro do Ferro analogue study sites. Cross-flow ultrafiltration with membranes of different pore sizes (450 nm to 1.5 nm) was used to prepare colloid concentrates and ultrafiltrates for analyses of major and trace elements and U- and Th-isotopic compositions. Additional characterization of colloidal and particulate material was performed by ESCA, SEM and X-ray diffraction. The results indicate the presence of low concentrations of colloids in these waters (typically < 500 μg/l), composed mainly of iron/organic species. Minor portions of uranium and other trace elements, but significant fractions of the total concentrations of Th and REE in prefiltered waters (< 450 nm) were associated with these colloids.Suspended particles (> 450 nm), also composed mainly of hydrous ferric oxides and humic-like compounds, show the same trend as the colloids with respect to U, Th and REE associations, but elemental concentrations were typically higher by a factor of 1,000 or more. In waters of low pH and with high sulphate content, these associations are considerably lower. Due to the low concentrations of suspended particles in groundwaters from the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine (typically <0.5 mg/l), these particles carry only a minor fraction of U and the REE (<10% of the total concentrations in unfiltered groundwaters), but a significant, usually predominant fraction of Th (30–70%). The suspended particle load in groundwaters from the Morro do Ferro environment is typically higher than in those from the mine by a factor of 5 to 10. This suggests that U, Th and the REE could be transported predominantly by particulate matter. However, these particles and colloids seem to have a low capacity for migration.