Collaborative Research: GEO-CM: The occurrences of the rare earth elements in highly weathered sedimentary rocks, Georgia kaolins.

合作研究：GEO-CM：强风化沉积岩、乔治亚高岭土中稀土元素的出现。

• 批准号: 2327660
• 负责人: Yuanzhi Tang
• 金额: $ 27.76万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-15 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327660&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; GEO; CM; occurrences

Collaborative Research: GEO-CM: The occurrences of the rare earth elements in highly weathered sedimentary rocks, Georgia kaolinsW. Crawford Elliott, Georgia State UniversityYuanzhi Tang, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThe rare earth elements (REE) are a group of critical metals that are widely used in high-tech industries and in creating a green economy. The growing demand, high dependence on international supplies, and vulnerability to potential supply disruption have prompted the US to explore new REE resources, such as natural unconventional resources of REE located in highly weathered sedimentary/regolith settings in the US. Novel and sizeable occurrences of REE has been discovered by the project team in the Georgia Coastal Plain such as the mined kaolins. The overarching goal of this project is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the geochemical factors controlling the sequestration, redistribution, and fractionation of REE in clay-dominant weathering environments, such as the Georgia kaolins as compared to the occurrences of the REE in other weathering settings such as the Chinese laterites. This research will take a multi-scale approach and combine laboratory batch experiments, advanced microscopic and spectroscopic analyses, thermodynamic modeling, as well as characterization and comparison of natural samples from Georgia kaolins and Chinese laterites. Understanding the geochemical factors and processes controlling REE mobility, distribution, and fractionation in these environments can provide the foundation to identify domestic REE resources, and for the rational design of mining/extraction technologies. The proposed work will integrate research with education across multiple levels, both in the academy, industry, and general scientific community. The project will combine student training with undergraduate education and research, as well as K-12 and community outreach. Each activity will emphasize broadening participation of underrepresented groups in geological sciences. The impacts and effectiveness of the proposed activities will be assessed by a dedicated evaluator as well as through existing evaluation structures in campus outreach programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

合作研究：GEO-CM：强风化沉积岩、乔治亚高岭土中稀土元素的出现。 Crawford Elliott，佐治亚州立大学 Yuanzhi Tang，佐治亚理工学院稀土元素 (REE) 是一组广泛应用于高科技产业和创造绿色经济的关键金属。不断增长的需求、对国际供应的高度依赖以及对潜在供应中断的脆弱性促使美国探索新的稀土元素资源，例如位于美国高度风化沉积/风化层环境中的天然非常规稀土元素资源。 项目团队在乔治亚州沿海平原发现了大量新奇的稀土元素，例如开采的高岭土。该项目的总体目标是与其他风化环境中稀土元素的出现情况相比，对控制以粘土为主的风化环境（例如乔治亚高岭土）中稀土元素的封存、重新分布和分馏的地球化学因素有一个基本的了解比如中国的红土。这项研究将采用多尺度方法，结合实验室批量实验、先进的显微和光谱分析、热力学建模，以及来自格鲁吉亚高岭土和中国红土的天然样品的表征和比较。了解这些环境中控制稀土元素流动性、分布和分馏的地球化学因素和过程可以为识别国内稀土元素资源以及合理设计采矿/提取技术提供基础。拟议的工作将把学术界、工业界和一般科学界等多个层面的研究与教育结合起来。该项目将把学生培训与本科教育和研究以及 K-12 和社区外展结合起来。每项活动都将强调扩大地质科学领域代表性不足群体的参与。拟议活动的影响和有效性将由专门的评估员以及校园外展计划中的现有评估结构进行评估。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过利用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。