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

合作研究：GEO-CM：格鲁吉亚高岭土高度风化沉积岩中稀土元素的赋存状态。克劳福德埃利奥特，格鲁吉亚州立大学唐元志，格鲁吉亚理工学院稀土元素（REE）是一组重要的金属，广泛用于高科技产业和创造绿色经济。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探索新的稀土资源，例如位于美国高度风化沉积/风化层环境中的天然非常规稀土资源。 项目小组在格鲁吉亚沿海平原发现了大量稀土元素，如开采的高岭土。该项目的总体目标是获得一个基本的地球化学因素的认识，控制固存，再分配，和分馏的稀土元素在粘土为主的风化环境，如格鲁吉亚高岭土相比，在其他风化设置，如中国红土的稀土元素的发生。本研究将采用多尺度方法，结合联合收割机实验室批量实验、先进的显微镜和光谱分析、热力学建模以及来自格鲁吉亚高岭土和中国红土的天然样品的表征和比较。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开采/提取技术提供基础。拟议的工作将在学术界、工业界和一般科学界的多个层面上将研究与教育结合起来。该项目将联合收割机学生培训与本科教育和研究，以及K-12和社区推广相结合。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。建议活动的影响和有效性将由专门的评估人员以及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，并被认为值得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。

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.