Verónica Castro-AllendeDelve into cutting-edge research unveiling the significance of carbonate melts in transporting essential minerals from the Earth’s mantle. This breakthrough, highlighted in Science Advances, elucidates how low-temperature carbonate melts facilitate the transfer of crucial minerals vital for alternative energy technologies. Led by Dr. Isra Ezad from Macquarie University, the study underscores the potential of carbonate melts in bolstering international efforts towards efficient metal prospecting. Through high-pressure experiments simulating mantle conditions, the team reveals the capacity of carbonate melts to dissolve and transport a diverse array of minerals, revolutionizing future mineral exploration endeavors. Dr. Ezad emphasizes the implications for sustainable resource extraction, as sulphur-enriched carbonate melts unveil new avenues for base and precious metal deposits. This research not only enhances our understanding of Earth’s geological processes but also offers a fresh perspective on mineral exploration, crucial for meeting the escalating demand for metals in renewable energy technologies.
Researchers at Macquarie University have discovered how important minerals can be transported from the Earth’s interior mantle.
Low-temperature carbonate melts allow for the transportation of the crucial minerals used in alternative energy technologies from within the Earth’s interior mantle.
The findings, which were published in Science Advances, have the ability to boost international efforts to find minerals.
A wide range of crucial minerals are carried by carbon melts.
The team conducted high-pressure and high-temperature experiments under the direction of Dr. Isra Ezad, a doctoral research fellow from the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University, to produce smaller amounts of molten carbonate material.
This was done in conditions related to those around 90 kilometres depth in the mantle, below the Earth’s crust.
A range of crucial minerals and compounds from surrounding rocks in the mantle can be dissolved and carried by carbonate melts, according to the study. This will inform future metal prospecting.
We knew that carbonate melts carried rare earth elements, but this research goes more”, said Dr Ezad.
We demonstrate that this carbon-containing molten rock can absorb sulfur in its oxidized state while also removing valuable and base metals, the “green” metals of the future, that have been extracted from the mantle.
Sulphur-enriched carbonate melts may be more common than originally thought.
The majority of the rock that is found deep in the Earth’s crust and below in the mantle is made of silicate.
However, carbon and water are present in only a small portion of these heavy rocks, which makes them melt at lower temperatures than other parts of the mantle.
Base metals and precious metals are transported by carbonate melts, which distill these metals into possible deposits.
” Our findings suggest that phosphate melts enriched in sulphur may be more common than previously thought and may have a significant impact on the concentration of metal deposits,” said Dr. Ezad.
Two biological mantle compositions
The team used lush spinel Iherzolite from Cameroon and a mica pyroxenite from eastern Uganda as their natural earth compositions.
The researchers discovered that older inland regions of continents, where thicker western crust regions form as sponges to absorb carbon and water, are formed.
According to Dr. Ezad,” Carbon-sulphur melts appear to dissolve and concentrate these metals within discrete earth regions, moving them into shallower crustal depths, where energetic chemical processes can lead to ore deposit formation.”
A fresh important area for mineral exploration
The study concludes that monitoring hydroxide melts could provide a better understanding of large-scale metal redistribution and ore formation processes.
” As the world transitions away from fossil fuels to battery, wind and solar technology, demand for these necessary metals is skyrocketing, and it’s becoming harder to find trustworthy sources”, said Dr Ezad.
She said,” This new data gives us a mineral exploration space that previously was n’t given consideration for base and precious metals – deposits from carbonate melts.”
