Origin of minerals and elements in the Late Permian coals, tonsteins, and host rocks of the Xinde Mine, Xuanwei, eastern Yunnan, China

This paper reports the mineralogical and geochemical compositions of the Late Permian C2 and C3 coals (both medium volatile bituminous coal) from the Xinde Mine, near Xuanwei in eastern Yunnan, which is located close to the area with the highest female lung cancer mortality in China. The two coals are characterized by high ash yields and low sulfur contents. Three factors, including sediment-source region, multi-stage volcanic ash generation, and multi-stage hydrothermal fluid injections, were responsible for variations in the geochemical and mineralogical compositions of the Xinde coals. Trace elements, including V, Sc, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Zr, Nb, Hf, and Ta, are enriched in the coals and were mainly derived from the sediment-source Kangdian Upland region. Major minerals in the samples of coal, roof, floor and non-coal sediment partings include quartz, kaolinite, and chamosite, as well as interstratified illite/smectite and anatase. Chamosite in the coal was derived from reactions between kaolinite and Fe-Mg-rich hydrothermal fluids. However, chamosite in the roof strata was directly precipitated from Fe-Mg-rich hydrothermal fluids or was derived from the alteration of precursor minerals (e.g., biotite) by hydrothermal fluids. Quartz in some samples is very high, especially in the roof strata of the C2 and 0 coal. Such high quartz, along with minor minerals including pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, calcite, celestite, vanadinite, barite, clausthalite and silicorhabdophane, were derived from multi-stage hydrothermal fluids. The floors of both the C2 and C3 coal seams are fully-argillized fine-grained tuffaceous claystone and the immediate roof of the C2 coal is argillized coarse-grained tuff. The original materials of the floors and roofs of these coal seams were high-Ti alkali basaltic volcanic ashes, as indicated by high TiO2, Nb, and siderophile elements, and the distribution patterns of rare earth elements. Two intra-seam tonstein layers in the C3 coal were identified based on their lateral persistence, mineralogical mode of occurrence and composition, as well as their elemental composition. The tonsteins are dominated by kaolinite, with minor quartz and possibly mixed-layer illite/smectite. Both tonsteins were derived from dacitic magma. The ratios of Nb/Ta, Zr/Hf, and U/Th are much lower in tonsteins than in the adjacent coal benches, which is attributed to the hydrothermal leaching. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.