Heavy mineral concentrations in the sandstones of Amij Formation with particular emphasis on the mineral chemistry and petrographic characteristics of monazite, western desert of Iraq

• The Lower Jurassic Amij Formation (Iraq) consists of a clastic and carbonate units.
• Black sandstone laminae are radioactive and abnormally rich in heavy minerals.
• The dominant heavy minerals are Fe-Ti oxides, zircon, tourmaline, rutile, monazite.
• Monazite is the main source of radioactivity which is investigated in detail.
• The Amij sandstones were most probably derived from the Arabian Shield.

The heavy minerals in the clastic unit of the Lower Jurassic Amij Formation exposed in the western desert of Iraq were studied. The uppermost part of the clastic unit contains thin, placer-like black sandstone horizons that are radioactive and abnormally rich in heavy minerals (0.6–56%), dominated by opaque (65%) and transparent (35%) heavy minerals. The minerals, in the order of decreasing abundance are pseudorutile, goethite, zircon, hematite, magnetite, monazite, rutile, leucoxene, tourmaline, ilmenite, chromite, and few others. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), microscopic and autoradiographic observations and analysis showed that the monazite is monazite-(Ce) type with an average composition of (Ce0.39Nd0.16La0.19Pr0.04Sm0.02Gd0.02Eu0.01Y0·04Th0·06U0·01Ca0·05Fe0.01)(P0·98Si0.03)O4.Monazite consists predominantly of REE-oxides (57.93%) and P2O5 (29.31%), with minor amounts of ThO2 (6.60%), Y2O3 (1.92%), UO2 (0.76%), CaO (1.14%), SiO2 (0.69%), and FeOt (0.17%). The dominant compositional substitution operating between REE and P were a mixture of the complex cheralite type substitution ([REE]−2 [Th][Ca]) and the coupled huttonite type substitution ([REE]−1 [P]−1 [Th][Si]). The chondrite-normalized REE distribution patterns of monazite show enrichment in LREE with positive Eu- and Pr-anomalies of 1.46 and 9.13, respectively. The median values of (La/Sm)CN and (La/Nd)CN ratios are 4.35 and 1.97, respectively. Zircon which is the dominant transparent mineral is Hf-rich that is composed of 30.61% SiO2, 57.58% ZrO2, 7.03% HfO2, 2.04% Y2O3, 0.56% ThO2, 0.19% UO2, and 0.19% Al2O3 corresponding to a formula (Zr0.909Hf0.065Th0·004U0·001Y0.031)Σ1.011(Si3·966Al0.028)Σ0.999O4. Rutile and tourmaline form 7% and 4% of the heavy minerals. Ilmenite which is one of the predominant heavy minerals forms 2.5% of the opaques because it is pervasively altered to Ti-Fe oxides. In addition of zircon and monazite, the chemical compositions of most of the other heavy minerals are also given in this study. The expected dominant source of heavy minerals and their host sandstones are most probably the felsic igneous and metamorphic complexes of the Arabian Shield, currently located ∼600 kms to the south of the studied area. The heavy minerals were carried from the source area by northward moving rivers and sorted out by ocean waves as black sand concentrations at the delta mouth along the southern beaches of the Neo-Tethys Ocean under passive margin tectonic setting. This border was apparently bordering the current western part of Iraq during Upper Jurassic period.

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