Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain
Abstract Although the origin of the snow is atmospheric, heat and gasses coming from underlying soil affect the concentration of hydrocarbons and elements in snow. For testing the use of snow in geochemical exploration, a test campaign was carried out in three different mineralization types in north...
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ftunivoulu:oai:oulu.fi:nbnfi-fe2019061220250 2023-07-30T04:05:50+02:00 Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain Taivalkoski, A. (Anne) Sarala, P. (Pertti) Lahaye, Y. (Yann) Lukkari, S. (Sari) Sutherland, D. (Dale) 2019 application/pdf http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2019061220250 eng eng Elsevier info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess © 2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Exploration Finland Geochemistry Mobile metal ions SC-HR-ICP-MS Sampling Snow Spatiotemporal Geochemical Hydrocarbons info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion 2019 ftunivoulu 2023-07-08T19:57:29Z Abstract Although the origin of the snow is atmospheric, heat and gasses coming from underlying soil affect the concentration of hydrocarbons and elements in snow. For testing the use of snow in geochemical exploration, a test campaign was carried out in three different mineralization types in northern Finland: Au-Co, P-REE and Cu mineralizations. The snow samples were collected from the bottom of snow cover in two consecutive years. Two methods for analysing geochemical signatures of mineralized bedrock were applied to these snow samples: Spatiotemporal Geochemical Hydrocarbons (SGH) and ultra-trace elements determination by single collector high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SC-HR-ICP-MS). The SGH method is based on detection of the hydrocarbons that are decomposition products of bacteria that use specific mineralization in their growth phase. In the case of the inductively coupled mass spectrometry, the content of a wide range of elements was determined. The results of both methods showed that the traces inherited from the tested mineralization can be observed in snow. The SGH signature located the Au-Co mineralization using an Au template and the Cu mineralization using a Cu template, although low signal repeatability may be the weakness. The response to the P-REE mineralization with a Polymetallic template was unclear. An improvement was achieved by reinterpreting the result with a customized template for REE. In addition, the repeatability with reinterpreted results showed similarities in the results between the sampling rounds. In the case of the SC-HR-ICP-MS method, results for several elements (e.g. As, Cu, Fe) showed a clear response over the mineralized zones for all three mineralization types. Mineral exploration would benefit using of snow as sampling material: this activity leaves virtually no footprint. Further studies are needed to improve the confidence and reliability in the use of snow as a sampling medium in mineral exploration. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Finland Jultika - University of Oulu repository |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Jultika - University of Oulu repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivoulu |
language |
English |
topic |
Exploration Finland Geochemistry Mobile metal ions SC-HR-ICP-MS Sampling Snow Spatiotemporal Geochemical Hydrocarbons |
spellingShingle |
Exploration Finland Geochemistry Mobile metal ions SC-HR-ICP-MS Sampling Snow Spatiotemporal Geochemical Hydrocarbons Taivalkoski, A. (Anne) Sarala, P. (Pertti) Lahaye, Y. (Yann) Lukkari, S. (Sari) Sutherland, D. (Dale) Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain |
topic_facet |
Exploration Finland Geochemistry Mobile metal ions SC-HR-ICP-MS Sampling Snow Spatiotemporal Geochemical Hydrocarbons |
description |
Abstract Although the origin of the snow is atmospheric, heat and gasses coming from underlying soil affect the concentration of hydrocarbons and elements in snow. For testing the use of snow in geochemical exploration, a test campaign was carried out in three different mineralization types in northern Finland: Au-Co, P-REE and Cu mineralizations. The snow samples were collected from the bottom of snow cover in two consecutive years. Two methods for analysing geochemical signatures of mineralized bedrock were applied to these snow samples: Spatiotemporal Geochemical Hydrocarbons (SGH) and ultra-trace elements determination by single collector high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SC-HR-ICP-MS). The SGH method is based on detection of the hydrocarbons that are decomposition products of bacteria that use specific mineralization in their growth phase. In the case of the inductively coupled mass spectrometry, the content of a wide range of elements was determined. The results of both methods showed that the traces inherited from the tested mineralization can be observed in snow. The SGH signature located the Au-Co mineralization using an Au template and the Cu mineralization using a Cu template, although low signal repeatability may be the weakness. The response to the P-REE mineralization with a Polymetallic template was unclear. An improvement was achieved by reinterpreting the result with a customized template for REE. In addition, the repeatability with reinterpreted results showed similarities in the results between the sampling rounds. In the case of the SC-HR-ICP-MS method, results for several elements (e.g. As, Cu, Fe) showed a clear response over the mineralized zones for all three mineralization types. Mineral exploration would benefit using of snow as sampling material: this activity leaves virtually no footprint. Further studies are needed to improve the confidence and reliability in the use of snow as a sampling medium in mineral exploration. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Taivalkoski, A. (Anne) Sarala, P. (Pertti) Lahaye, Y. (Yann) Lukkari, S. (Sari) Sutherland, D. (Dale) |
author_facet |
Taivalkoski, A. (Anne) Sarala, P. (Pertti) Lahaye, Y. (Yann) Lukkari, S. (Sari) Sutherland, D. (Dale) |
author_sort |
Taivalkoski, A. (Anne) |
title |
Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain |
title_short |
Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain |
title_full |
Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain |
title_fullStr |
Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain |
title_sort |
snow in mineral exploration:examples and practices in glaciated terrain |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2019061220250 |
genre |
Northern Finland |
genre_facet |
Northern Finland |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess © 2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
_version_ |
1772818090071949312 |