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Geochemical data for the Elk Creek alkaline complex, southeast Nebraska

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data release contains analytical data from a suite of rock and mineral samples collected from drill core within the Elk Creek alkaline complex, southeast Nebraska. This complex hosts the Elk Creek carbonatite, a multilithologic carbonatite enriched in niobium, rare earth elements (REEs), scandium, and titanium. Mineralized carbonatites are the world’s primary source of rare earth elements (REEs) and niobium, but only a few deposits are responsible for meeting the current demand of these critical elements such that there is increasing interest in other carbonatites that have the potential to help meet future demands. This study focuses on the Elk Creek carbonatite, the largest Nb resource in the United States and a REE exploration target. The Elk Creek carbonatite is comprised of three carbonatitic lithologies; apatite dolomite carbonatite, magnetite dolomite carbonatite, and barite dolomite carbonatite as well as multiple breccias. Samples were collected from drill core from mineral exploration holes drilled by the Molybdenum Corporation of America between 1973 and 1986. The drill cores are housed at the Nebraska Geological Survey storage facility near Lincoln, Nebraska. Geochemistry data include major and trace element analytical results for 105 samples including alkaline igneous rocks, carbonatites, and paleosol samples. Dolomite and apatite geochemical data were collected using electron microprobe and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyses. A set of dolomite samples were analyzed for their carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions. Data are reported in comma-separated values (CSV) files. All column headings, abbreviations, and limits of the data values are explained in the Entity and Attribute Information section of these metadata.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/aae2e5ccbd573c2ba59b9a3cff9b0990
Identifier USGS:60fee9cfd34e3ccd830d4b57
Data Last Modified 20220419
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 87eb8509-8fe3-4f56-8c48-674ab2d0ecd4
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -96.2028,40.2567,-96.15,40.2857
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 6fe5547193245e4014e5fa4b973c7d24b175a3e873e88d81656786021a34ebbc
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -96.2028, 40.2567, -96.2028, 40.2857, -96.15, 40.2857, -96.15, 40.2567, -96.2028, 40.2567}

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