The Journal of Geology, May-June 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazone of Geology and Related SciencesVarious
Science
The Journal of Geology, May-June 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazone of Geology and Related Sciences
Various
Geology -- Periodicals
the new deposit as they were in the rocks from which they were derived.
Four principal causes suggest themselves in explanation of this
separation:
(1) It might be supposed that the deposits containing mostly iron and
those containing mostly manganese received these constituents from
waters derived from different sources, and carrying iron and manganese
only in the proportions in which they deposited them. Under some
conditions this explanation might suffice, but in many cases, such as
when iron and manganese alternate along the same geologic horizon, and
yet in close proximity with each other, the explanation is entirely
inadequate, for the deposits are too close to each other to have been
formed from different supplies of surface waters.
(2) It might be supposed that the iron or the manganese had been
leached out of a deposit of the mixed ores, leaving one free from
the other and depositing the dissolved ore somewhere else. This
explanation, except in special cases, also appears inadequate, because
the reagents in surface waters, which dissolve iron and manganese, seem
to affect both about equally, so that if one were dissolved, the other
should be taken up in the same way. Doubtless small differences could
be found in the behavior of the organic and inorganic compounds in
surface waters towards iron and manganese minerals, but they would be
small as compared with the more active reactions which go on.
(3) It might be supposed that a separation could be produced by
secondary concentration such as segregation, replacement, etc. This
has doubtless sometimes been the case, but where the concentrating
action is not assisted by a difference in the chemical behavior of the
two substances, the separation would only be on a small scale. Even
in the case of concentration by replacement of limestone, if iron and
manganese both acted in the same way during the replacement, it would
be expected to find them deposited in an intimate mixture. Though this
secondary concentration, therefore, unassisted by other agencies, would
not produce all the results found in nature, yet, when it is thus
assisted, it often plays an important part.
(4) The fourth, and what seems the most important, factor in the
separation of iron and manganese, is that, though very often they are
precipitated in the same form from the same solution, yet sometimes
they are precipitated in different forms; and even when precipitated in
the same form, the precipitation of one sometimes requires different
conditions from the precipitation of the other. This fact will explain
the alternate association and separation of iron and manganese, not
only when no secondary concentration has gone on, but also in cases
where such concentration has taken place, such as in the replacement
of limestone, etc.
It will now be attempted to show how the various degrees of association
and separation of iron and manganese found in nature may be produced by
different conditions during deposition.
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