Prograde suites of pelitic rocks were examined with electron microprobe INTRODUCTION and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to Monazite [(Ce,La,Th)PO4] plays an important role in determine the systematics of element partitioning between coexisting studies of igneous and metamorphic petrogenesis. Foremonazite, xenotime, and garnet. Monazite grains that grew in most, mona...

Zircon and monazite from granitic sheets and dikes in the Monashee complex, Canadian Cordillera, were investigated to determine whether igneous crystallization occurred at 1.9 Ga or 50 Ma with 1.9 Ga inherited zircon and monazite. Four of the five samples are weakly deformed to undeformed, despite occurring in a gneiss dome at the structurally deepest exposed level of the orogen that elsewhere ...

Mineral compositions and reaction textures found in migmatitic gneisses from near Gilsum, New Hampshire, constrain both peak metamorphic pressure (P) and temperature (T) conditions and the PT path. Large K-feldspar porphyroblasts indicate isobaric heating of the samples at P < 4 kb (Spear et al. 1999), and relict cordierite + garnet assemblages record the occurrence of biotite vapor-absent melt...

High resolution X-ray maps of Th, U, Pb, and Y in monazite can be used to construct age maps, which reveal the continuous spatial distribution of ages in a single grain of monazite. The age mapping algorithm and three examples are presented to illustrate the capabilities and applications of this mapping technique, the insights it can provide into monazite geochronology in general, and its limit...

Monazite [(Ce,Th)PO4] from the Llallagua tin ore deposit in Bolivia is characterized by low radiogenic element contents. Previously reported field evidence and mineral associations suggest the mineral formed via direct precipitation from hydrothermal fluids. Monazite compositions thus may provide insight into characteristics of the fluids from which it formed. Chemical compositions of three Lla...

Monazite grains from Greater Himalayan Sequence gneisses, Langtang valley, Nepal, were chemically mapped and then dated in situ via Th–Pb ion-microprobe analysis. Correlation of ages and chemistry reveals at least five different generations of monazite, ranging from c. 9 to >300 Ma. Petrological models of monazite chemistry provide a link between these generations and the thermal evolution of t...

The conditions at which monazite and allanite were produced and destroyed during prograde metamorphism of pelitic rocks were determined in a Buchan and a Barrovian regional terrain and in a contact aureole, all from northern New England, USA. Pelites from the chlorite zone of each area contain monazite that has an inclusion-free core surrounded by a highly irregular, inclusion-rich rim. Texture...

Three fungal strains were found to be capable of bioleaching rare earth elements from monazite, a rare earth phosphate mineral, utilizing the monazite as a phosphate source and releasing rare earth cations into solution. These organisms include one known phosphate solubilizing fungus, Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015, as well as two newly isolated fungi: an Aspergillus terreus strain ML3-1 and a Pae...

We report measurements of Pb diffusion in both synthetic (CePO4) and natural monazites run under dry, 1-atm conditions. Powdered mixtures of prereacted CePO4 and PbZrO3 were used as the source of Pb diffusant for “in-diffusion” experiments conducted in sealed Pt capsules for durations ranging from a few hours to several weeks. Following the diffusion anneals, Pb concentration profiles were meas...

Multi-step chemical abrasion thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-TIMS) methods were developed for monazite using six samples that vary in composition and age—Amelia, Jefferson County, Burke, Elk Mountain, 554 and Madagascar. To evaluate whether the multi-step CA-TIMS approach reveals complexities in either age or composition that might be masked by single-step analysis, this study presents...