Ge distribution in the Wulantuga high-germanium coal deposit in the Shengli coalfield, Inner Mongolia, northeastern China

The geological and geochemical controls of the Ge distribution in the Cretaceous Wulantuga high-Germanium coal deposit in the Shengli coal field, Inner Mongolia are investigated. This paper focuses mainly on the spatial distribution of the Ge contents in coal. The high-Ge coals mainly occur in three splits of the #6 coal in the southwestern part of the Shengli coal field. Mean germanium contents in the coal range from 32 to 820 mu g/g, with a mean value of 137 mu g/g, on a bulk coal basis (mean of 939 coal samples from 75 boreholes in the #6 coal seam) in an area of 2.2 km(2). The highest Ge content occurs SW of #6 coal seam, close to the margins of the coal basin, decreasing with a fan-shaped trend towards NW, the direction of the coal basin. There is an negative correlation between the mean Ge content and the thickness of the coal seam. Different distribution patterns of Ge content were found in vertical profiles. High Ge concentrations may occur in the middle parts of coal seams, at the bottom and/or the top of thick coal seams and inconspicuous variation. A major organic affinity was determined for Ge, with a special enriched in the banded bright and semibright coal. The high-Ge coals and the coalified wood in the sandstone overlaying the #6-1 coal highly enriched in Ge, As, Sb, W, Cs. Tl, Be, and Hg. The Late Jurassic silicified volcanic rocks in the NW of the Ge coal deposit relatively high enriched in Ge, Ga, Sb, As, Cs, Be, Ge and Hg. The correlation coefficients among the elements enriched showed marked variations at close sites in this deposit, suggesting a possible diagenetic origin of the geochemical anomaly. The main Ge anomaly was attributed to early Cretaceous hydrothermal fluids circulating through the fault systems and porous volcanic rocs, probably from the subjacent granitoid rocks. The fault systems, the porous coarse clastic rocks overlying coal seam and the lithotype of coal played an important role in the transport and trapping of Ge. A main diagenetic origin (overlapping a slight synsedimentary accumulation) is deduced for the Ge anomaly. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.