ORE-BEARING OF SEDIMENTS OF THE NOVOPETRIVSKA SUITE WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE MEDVINSKA AND STROKIVSKA AREAS

Abstract

Brief information on the geological structure of the Medvynska and Strokivska areas is given, within which, in the deposits of the Novopetrivska suite of the Poltava series of the Neogene, placers of zirconium-titanium minerals are located. Placers contain large amounts of ilmenite, zircon, leucoxene, disten, rutile, and anatase, which are evenly scattered throughout the rock or grouped in layers enriched with them. The placers were formed under continental facies conditions and are localized in the sands of the middle subsoil of the Novopetrivska suite. Based on the coordinates and description of the wells, the topography of the sole and surface of the sands containing ore minerals, as well as the lateral thickness change of the ore sands, were investigated. It was established that there is a direct correlation between the relief of the sole and the roof of the sands of the Novopetrivska suite within the boundaries of the Medvynska and Strokivska areas. There is no correlation between the thickness of the sands and the relief of their sole and roof within the limits of the Medvynska area. An inverse correlation between these indicators was established within the Strokivska area. The coordinates and results of well testing became the basis for the study of the distribution of average contents of rutile, ilmenite and zircon along the lateral. It was found that for both areas, a clearly expressed direct correlation between the average contents of these minerals exists only partially, within the limits of local, small objects. Ilmenite and zircon are best correlated within the Medvynska area, whereas rutile and zircon are correlated within the Strokivska area. The analysis of the distribution of the contents of ilmenite, zircon, leucoxene, disten and rutile with anatase in the vertical section of the wells showed that in most cases there is a direct correlation between all the investigated ore minerals. In some places, the general correlation relationship is broken by one of the minerals, less often by several. For the most part, ore minerals form one well-defined hypsometric level of enrichment, sometimes two and, rarely, three.