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沉积岩中的赋存状态，乔治亚州高岭土。克劳福德·艾略特，佐治亚州立大学唐远志，佐治亚理工学院稀土元素（REE）是一组关键金属，被广泛应用于高科技产业和创造绿色经济。日益增长的需求、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资源，例如位于美国高度风化的沉积/风化层环境中的天然非常规稀土资源。项目组在乔治亚海岸平原发现了大量新的稀土元素，如开采的高岭土。该项目的总体目标是获得控制稀土元素在粘土风化环境（如格鲁吉亚高岭土）中固存、再分配和分馏的地球化学因素的基本认识，并与其他风化环境（如中国红土）中稀土元素的赋存情况进行比较。本研究将采用多尺度方法，结合实验室批量实验、先进的微观和光谱分析、热力学建模，以及对来自格鲁吉亚高岭土和中国红土的天然样品进行表征和比较。了解这些环境中控制稀土元素迁移、分布和分馏的地球化学因素和过程，可以为识别国内稀土资源和合理设计采矿/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的研究与多个层面的教育结合起来。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代表性不足的群体对地质科学的参与。拟议活动的影响和有效性将由专门的评估人员以及校园外展计划中的现有评估结构进行评估。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.