Mineralogy of rare earth elements of the Jeirud phosphorites, western Alborz

The phosphorites horizon related to the Jeirud area is located in the central part of the Jeirud Formation, in the northern Tehran. The Late Devonian sediments of this formation is composed mainly of detrital rocks such as sandstone, sandy shale and sandy limestones. Phosphorite mineralization is mainly concentrated in the sandy shale horizon. Optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that fluoroapatite is the main phosphate mineral and other gangues minerals composed of quartz, calcite, pyrite, iron oxides (mostly goethite) and clay minerals. The X-Ray Probe Micro Analysis (XPMA) results showed that fluoroapatite is the main host mineral for REEs. Other REE-bearing minerals include monazite and very rarely zircon. The Ce concentration (as representative of REEs) is highly variable in the decomposed apatite grains and the amount of Ce and other REEs in sedimentary apatite originating from primary rare earth elements. The concentration of REE in this phosphorites are related to the deposition environment, duration of seawater interaction during and after apatite formation, chemical composition of pore-water, organic source, apatite crystal network and the effect of the allogenic events.