Thallium in deep-seated crustal rocks

A Precambrian granulite terrain of the Brazilian shield presents an average Tl content of 350 ppb, very near to Shaw's figure for the lower continental crust. Thallium, as in other rock types, shows close coherence with Rb and K. The mean Rb/Tl value (193 for 53 samples) falls in the range of the ‘normal’ crustal values, while the K/Tl values (145,000 average) are higher than values for igneous rocks, as are the values for K/Rb. The results support the authors' hypothesis that granulitic rocks have undergone partial melting with contemporaneous depletion of Rb and Tl in relation to K.