Examination of Sarikaya (Yozgat-Turkey) iron mineralization with rare earth element (REE) method

Iron mineralizations in the study area are found in amphibolites in the localities of Buyukoren, Uzunkuyu-Atkayasi, and Karabacak and they display a predominantly banded texture. Their paragenesis is dominated by magnetite and hematite. In this study, iron mineralizations in Sarikaya were examined in terms of rare earth element (REE) contents and attempts were made to determine some physicochemical conditions that had an impact upon their formation. For this purpose, 42 ore samples and 17 enriched magnetite samples obtained from the area and the drillings were analyzed. The facts that the light rare earth elements (LREE) are more enriched than the heavy rare earth elements (HREE) in the analyzed samples; that they display negative Ce, as well as both negative and positive Eu anomalies; and that variable (Eu/Sm)CN, (Sm/Yb)CN ratios and the La/Lu ratio are greater than 1 all demonstrate that the formation took place through volcano-sedimentary processes and was affected by metamorphism conditions.