Abstract

Enrichments in platinum-group elements were found in clausthalite, PbSe, which occurs in carbonate–hematite veins hosted in black shale of Upper Wenlockian age in the eastern Harz, Germany. Spot measurements by laser ablation–quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–QICPMS) show that the clausthalite has Pt contents that average 0.459 ppm and range from 0.003 to 2.83 ppm. Other noble metals quantified in the present work include Au (0.226 ppm, 0.109–0.451 ppm), Ru (0.061 ppm, 0.006–0.264 ppm), Ir (0.071 ppm, 0.010–0.185 ppm), Pd (0.046 ppm, 0.017–0.107 ppm) and Os (0.010 ppm, <0.003–0.024 ppm). Elemental ratios of Au/Ir, Pd/Ir and Pt/Ir, the average values of which are respectively 4.6, 0.8, and 4.9, suggest that Au, Pd and Pt are poorly fractionated from Ir. The resulting Ir enrichment is unusual and should reflect a particularly soluble (and stable) aqueous complex of Ir in a highly oxidizing, low-temperature, Se-rich solution.

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