gsminmag Mineralogical Magazine Mineralogical Magazine 0026-461X Mineralogical Society 10.1180/minmag.1994.058.393.01 Petrology and Geochemistry Use of Element-Mineral Correlations to Investigate Fractionation of Rare Earth Elements in Fine-Grained Sediments Temple J. T. Department of Geology, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK Walsh J. N. Department of Geology, RHB New College, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK 12 1994 58 393 533 541 9 3 1993 19 2 1994 Copyright © 1994, The Mineralogical Society 1994 Abstract

Relative concentrations of elements in the minerals of fine-grained sediments can be inferred from element-mineral correlation coefficients. The technique is applied to the distribution of REE in Middle Ordovician shales from South Wales analysed by ICPAES, Leco C/S125 and XRD. Phosphate and chlorite show mid-REE enrichment; muscovite + biotite shows mid-REE depletion. The complementarity of the chlorite and muscovite + biotite patterns may be due to fractionation during diagenetic recrystallisation. Partial correlation analysis is used to infer the presence of zircon.

 Keywords REE fractionation fine-grained sediments element-mineral correlations