Milli-PIXE determination of trace elements in osmium-rich platinum-group minerals from the Witwatersrand basin, South Africa

Osmium-rich platinum-group minerals (PGM), like osmiridium or native osmium, are an integral, though rare, part of the mineralogy of the Witwatersrand paleoplacer. Usually these grains are small, on average <100 μm in size, and the characteristics of their source areas are unknown. In the mineral...

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Published inNuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Vol. 158; no. 1-4; pp. 556 - 561
Main Authors Merkle, R.K.W, Franklyn, C.B
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 02.09.1999
Subjects
Os–Ir–Ru alloy
PIXE
Platinum-group minerals
Witwatersrand
PIXE
Platinum-group minerals
Witwatersrand
Os–Ir–Ru alloy
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Summary:Osmium-rich platinum-group minerals (PGM), like osmiridium or native osmium, are an integral, though rare, part of the mineralogy of the Witwatersrand paleoplacer. Usually these grains are small, on average <100 μm in size, and the characteristics of their source areas are unknown. In the mineralogical literature on these PGM in the Witwatersrand gold reefs, no information on the trace elements in these minerals is available. The milli-PIXE system at the van de Graaff accelerator at the Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa was used in a first attempt to determine a range of minor and trace elements, such as Co, Cu, Fe, Rh and Ru, in PGM from the Witwatersrand basin. This attempt is directed towards fingerprinting individual grains and to obtain possible information on the sources for these grains. It also serves as a first step towards a database of trace elements, which could allow a genetical classification of Os-rich PGM of unknown provenance.
ISSN:0168-583X
1872-9584
DOI:10.1016/S0168-583X(99)00499-1