Major elements mobility

Major element mobility in co mmon rock types under a variety of hydrodiermal conditions... 

Rollinson H.R and Roberts CJL, 1986, Ratio correlation and major element mobility in altered basalts and komatiites. Contrib. MiaeraL PetroL, 93, 89. 

Mattigod, S. V., Rai, D., Eary, L. E. Ainsworth, C. C. 1990. Geochemical factors controlling tire mobilization of inorganic constitutents from fossil fuel combustion residues I. Review of major elements. Journal of Environmental Quality, 19, 188-201. 

A Fischer assay simulates the conversion of oil shale to usable fuels in an above-ground retort. The results of an extensive program of chemical analysis of major and trace elements in spent shale, oil, and water collected from the Fischer assay of a standard oil shale are presented. The concentration of major elements in raw and spent shale can be determined only to 10% in this study. Two criteria show that fluorine and zinc may have been mobilized during the assays. The concentrations of arsenic and selenium in the Fischer assay retort water exceed the maximum permissible concentrations for drinking water. 

The abundances of trace elements in rivers depends both on their abundances in the continental crust and their mobility during weathering and transport. In order to depict a global solubility trend of trace elements, dissolved concentrations (Cw) are normalized to those of the upper continental crust (Cc) (Figure 2). Data from the continental crust are from Li (2000). In this figure, major elements in river waters are also shown and all normalized concentrations are compared to the value for sodium. It is important to note that the Cw/Cc ratio is a global mobility index rather than a solubility index because, as will be shown below, a number of very different processes contribute to the occurrence of trace elements in river dissolved load. In addition, for a... 

Today, basin-scale mass transfer of some materials (e.g., helium, water, and petroleum) is unquestioned (e.g.. Hunt, 1996). OAer materials (e.g., titanium and the REEs) are sufficiently mobile to appear within authigenic precipitates, but are likely to be immobile on the scale of a hand specimen. Mobilities of the major elements that make up sandstones and shales (silicon, aluminum, calcium, sodium, potassium) remain controversial. Conflicting notions about processes in rock suites across the wide range of burial conditions and alteration show that fundamental questions remain unanswered about the nature of the volumetrically significant processes within a major segment of the rock cycle. It is very likely that something is wrong, or at least inadequate. 

Especially relevant to an understanding of elemental mobility in late diagenesis are reactions that are volumetrically minor on a formation scale (though, locally these may be major) that involve elements whose minerals have extremely low solubilities. All of these... 

Chesworth W., Dejou J., and Larroque P. (1981) The weathering of basalt and relative mobilities of the major elements at Belbex, France. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 45, 1235-1243. 

Zwolsman, J.J.G., Berger, G.W. Van Eck, G.T.M. (1993) Sediment accumulation rates, historical input, postdepositioned mobility and retention of major elements and trace metals in salt marsh sediments of the Scheldt estuary, SW Netherlands. Marine Chemistry 44, 73-94. 

Fedotov, P. S., Savonina, E. Yu., Wermrich, R., and Spivakov, B. Ya. (2006). A hyphenated flow-through analytical system for the study on the mobility and fractionation of trace and major elements in environmental solid samples. Analyst 131, 509-515. 

As Table 7-16 shows, the relative abundances of the major elements in the aerosol do not differ greatly from those in bulk soil, crustal rock, or average shale—that is, the elements are neither greatly enriched nor seriously depleted. A good match with any of the three reference materials is not obtained, however. The differences must be significant, since they are greater than conceivable analytical errors. Consider silicon as an example. Tables 7-13 and 7-16 indicate an average Si/Al ratio of 2.7, which is lower than that for either bulk soil or crustal rock and is more similar to that in shales. Fly ash exhibits a particularly low Si/Al ratio. It is possible that the low aerosol value in heavily industrialized Tees-side (Table 7-13) is due to a mixture of natural and combustion aerosols, but this explanation cannot be extended to the remote continental aerosol. A more likely explanation for the silicon deficiency is the size distribution of the Si/Al ratio in soil particles. The very coarse quartz particles, which are rich in silicon, are not readily mobilized. Since only the fine fraction of soil particles contributes to aerosol formation, the Si/Al ratio in the aerosol will be determined by that of silts and clays (see Table 7-7 for definitions). Common clay... 

Enrichment-depletion diagrams are also useful as a way of displaying element mobility this has been used particularly in alteration zones associated with hydrothermal mineralization. For example, Taylor and Fryer (1980) show the relative mobilities of trace and major elements in the zones of potassic and propylitic alteration associated with a porphyry copper deposit. In this case the enrichment/depletion is measured relative to the unaltered country rock. 

Among the criteria to assess which element or elemental species (beside its toxic potential) may be of major concern in ecological evaluations, one question deserved primary attention (Andreae et al. 1984) Is the element mobile in geochemical processes, mainly because of its volatility or solubility in water, so that the effect of geochemical perturbations can propagate through the environment "... 

---