Caritat, P.; McInnes, B.I.A.; Walker, A.T.; Bastrakov, E.; Rowins, S.M.; Prent, A.M. The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia: Vision and Pilot Project. Minerals2022, 12, 961.
Caritat, P.; McInnes, B.I.A.; Walker, A.T.; Bastrakov, E.; Rowins, S.M.; Prent, A.M. The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia: Vision and Pilot Project. Minerals 2022, 12, 961.
Caritat, P.; McInnes, B.I.A.; Walker, A.T.; Bastrakov, E.; Rowins, S.M.; Prent, A.M. The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia: Vision and Pilot Project. Minerals2022, 12, 961.
Caritat, P.; McInnes, B.I.A.; Walker, A.T.; Bastrakov, E.; Rowins, S.M.; Prent, A.M. The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia: Vision and Pilot Project. Minerals 2022, 12, 961.
Abstract
We describe a vision for a national-scale heavy mineral (HM) map generated through automated mineralogical identification and quantification of HMs contained in floodplain sediments from large catchments covering most of Australia. The composition of the sediments reflects the dominant rock types in each catchment, with the generally resistant HMs largely preserving the mineralogical fingerprint of their host protoliths through the weathering-transport-deposition cycle. Heavy mineral presence/absence, absolute and relative abundance, and co-occurrence are metrics useful to map, discover and interpret catchment lithotype(s), geodynamic setting, magmatism, metamorphic grade, alteration or mineralization. Underpinning this vision is a pilot project, focusing on a subset of the national sediment sample archive, which is used to demonstrate the feasibility of the larger, national-scale project. We preview a bespoke, cloud-based mineral network analysis (MNA) tool to visualize, explore and discover relationships between HMs as well as between them and geological setting or mineral deposits. We envisage that the Heavy Mineral Map of Australia and MNA tool will contribute significantly to mineral prospectivity analysis and modeling here, particularly for technology critical elements and their host minerals, which are central to the global economy transitioning to a more sustainable, decarbonized paradigm.
Keywords
heavy minerals atlas; heavy mineral maps; National Geochemical Survey of Australia; mineral network analysis; geological setting; mineral system; mineral prospectivity; critical minerals; critical elements
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Geochemistry and Petrology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
