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Redox states of uranium in samples of microlite and monazite

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Published/Copyright: July 31, 2016
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 101 Issue 8

Abstract

By applying the method of chemical shifts of the uranium Lα1 and Lβ1 X-ray emission lines, the oxidation state of U has been determined in select samples of microlite and monazite. From the relative contents of U4+, U5+, and U6+ species, the oxygen coefficients have been calculated as a characteristic of U-oxidation rate. It is shown that the oxidation state of U is higher in the studied microlite than in monazite. Possible mechanisms of U oxidation in these two types of minerals are discussed, and it appears that the crystal structure of monazite plays an important role in stabilizing the U redox state. Spontaneous purification of the monazite structure from alien atoms, including U, may be possible via recrystallization of the a-recoil tracks. An explanation is suggested for intensive U oxidation in microlite and in other minerals of the pyrochlore group.

Key words: Microlite; monazite; oxidation states of uranium; chemical shifts of X-ray lines; metamict state; spontaneous recrystallization

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and to Peter Burns and Keith Putirka for their valuable suggestions and critical remarks, which have helped us in improving the manuscript.

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Received: 2015-6-22
Accepted: 2016-3-27
Published Online: 2016-7-31
Published in Print: 2016-8-1

© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2016-5475
Keywords for this article
Microlite; monazite; oxidation states of uranium; chemical shifts of X-ray lines; metamict state; spontaneous recrystallization

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. A new approach to the ionic model
  3. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  4. Na-P concentrations in high-pressure garnets: A potentially rich, but risky P-T repository
  5. Special Collection: Perspectives on Origins and Evolution of Crustal Magmas
  6. Crystal accumulation in a tilted arc batholith
  7. Research Article
  8. A tale of two garnets: The role of solid solution in the development toward a modern mineralogy
  9. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  10. The crystal structure of svabite, Ca5(AsO4)3F, an arsenate member of the apatite supergroup
  11. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  12. From phosphates to silicates and back: an experimental study on the transport and storage of phosphorus in eclogites during uplift and exhumation
  13. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  14. Fluorapatite-monazite-allanite relations in the Grängesberg apatite-iron oxide ore district, Bergslagen, Sweden
  15. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  16. Solid solution in the apatite OH-Cl binary system: Compositional dependence of solid-solution mechanisms in calcium phosphate apatites along the Cl-OH binary
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  30. Optical phonons, OH vibrations, and structural modifications of phlogopite at high temperatures: An in-situ infrared spectroscopic study
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