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

合作研究：Geo-CM：稀土元素在高度风化的沉积岩中的赋存状态，佐治亚州高岭土W。佐治亚州立大学克劳福德·埃利奥特佐治亚理工学院唐元智稀土元素(REE)是一组关键金属，广泛用于高科技产业和创建绿色经济。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，促使美国勘探新的稀土资源，例如位于美国高度风化的沉积/风化环境中的天然非常规稀土资源。项目组在佐治亚州海岸平原发现了新的和相当大的稀土赋存状态，如开采的高岭土。该项目的总体目标是对控制稀土在粘土为主的风化环境(如格鲁吉亚高岭土)中与其他风化环境(如中国红土)中稀土赋存、再分配和分馏的地球化学因素有一个基本的了解。这项研究将采取多尺度的方法，结合实验室批量实验、先进的显微和光谱分析、热力学建模以及对佐治亚州高岭土和中国红土的天然样品进行表征和比较。了解在这些环境中控制稀土迁移、分布和分馏的地球化学因素和过程，可以为查明国内稀土资源和合理设计开采/提取工艺提供基础。拟议的工作将在多个层面上将研究与教育结合起来，包括在学术界、工业界和普通科学界。该项目将把学生培训与本科教育和研究，以及K-12和社区推广结合起来。每项活动都将强调扩大代表人数不足的群体对地质科学的参与。拟议活动的影响和效果将由专门的评估员进行评估，并通过校园外展计划中现有的评估结构进行评估。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.