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

Collaborative Research: GEO-CM: The occurrences of the rare earth elements in highly weathered sedimentary rocks, Georgia kaolins W. Crawford Elliott, Georgia State University Yuanzhi Tang, Georgia Institute of Technology The 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.