X-ray fluorescence analysis applied to geochemistry of quartz in Argentina.

PÉREZ, DANIEL; RUBIO, MARCELO; BONALUMI, ALDO; SFRAGULLA, JORGE; LÓPEZ, ALEJANDRA; GUERESCHI, ALINA BEATRIZ; VÁZQUEZ, C.; GOZÁLVEZ, M.; LUCHESI, M.; BADINI, R.; CUFFINI, SILVIA; SPAHN, G.; INGA, M.; GERMANIER, A.; SERVANT, R.

X-RAY SPECTROMETRY

JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2005 vol. 34 p. 59 - 63

0049-8246

The growing demand for high-purity quartz in the internationalmarket led to the systematic investigation of the geochemical quality of this mineral in deposits Argentina. This study is a contribution to the scarce information on the geochemistry of quartz in Argentina. A total of 525 multielemental chemical analyses were performed with XRF spectrometry in less than 3 months. SiO2 concentration was calculated by difference from XRF impurity determinations. As a result of this study, 36 sites over 141 sampled deposits were identified as being of desirable quality. Low-Z oxides, considered critical impurities for quartz, were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry, only in samples of these selected sites, because of high XRF detection limits. The analytical results allowed the classification of the quality of quartz according to its environment and geological genesis. It could be determined that better purity quartz corresponds to veins far away from the Achala and Alpa Corral batholith and occurs in metamorphic rocks, followedby pegmatitic quartz from inside the batholith and lastly by quartz of well-known hydrothermal origin.