Chemistry of quartz from the Knaben locality

Abstract

Trace element concentrations of quartz in the fine- to medium-grained granitic\/granodioritic gneiss from the Knaben locality were determined by laser ablation ICP-MS in order to determine the quartz raw material quality. Two quartz generations can be distinguished texturally and chemically within the provided sample: fine-grained quartz of the fine-grained gneiss host and quartz schlieren of the layered mineralised part of the sample. Both quartz types contain sub-microscopic inclusions of turile needles which will make the quartz processing (separation) difficult. Concentrations are in the range of 80 ppm for Al, 58 for Ti, 15 for Li, 4 for P, 7 for K and 2 for Fe in the schlieren quartz and 19 ppm for Al, 43 for Ti, 4 for Li and 4 for P in the fine-grained quartz. Ti is very high in both quartz generations which indicate crystallisation temperature >550 degrees C.