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Karst bauxite is a major source of aluminum and contains high concentrations of trace elements such as Li, Ga, Sc, and rare earth elements (REEs). It is regarded as a potential non-conventional REE source due to the increasing demand for REEs. This study provides new mineralogical and geochemical evidence of a Lindai bauxite deposit in central Guizhou Province, aiming to analyze the genesis of REE minerals and reveal the forms of REEs occurring in these deposits. The results indicate that a large number of detrital and authigenic rare-earth phosphate minerals, including monazite and xenotime, were identified. In terms of their genesis, the authigenic monazite was mainly precipitated under alkaline and reducing conditions, whereas the authigenic xenotime was formed in acidic and reducing conditions. The mineralogical evidence detected by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and a TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyzer (TIMA) suggests that the REEs in the Lindai bauxite exhibit multiple forms, including rare-earth phosphate minerals (monazite and xenotime) and REE scavenging by hematite and anatase phases. Among them, the anatase controls some LREE (such as La, Ce, and Pr) distributions in addition to monazite, whereas the hematite also controls relatively large amounts of Sm, Eu, and HREE (such as Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Lu) distributions. According to the calculation of the percentage of REE-bearing mineral phases obtained by a TIMA analysis, REE scavenging by hematite accounted for 93.28% of all forms of REEs, REE scavenging by anatase accounted for 5.88%, monazite accounted for 0.67%, and xenotime accounted for 0.17%. This study provides new evidence of the forms of REEs occurring in Carboniferous karst bauxite in central Guizhou Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil plants from the carbonaceous shale of upper part of the Lower Carboniferous Jiujialu Formation in Lindai bauxite deposit fill a gap regarding the distribution of Early Carboniferous flora in Central Guizhou Province. Here the Lindai plant assemblage is systematically described, and its composition and geological age are discussed. Research demonstrates that 9 species in 6 genera of the fossil plants are discovered in this study, and they belong to lycopsids, sphenopsids and ferns, respectively. Based on the analysis of the floral composition, the geological age of the Lindai plant assemblage belongs to the Early Carboniferous Viséan. The discovery of Lindai plant assemblage not only provides a new fossil evidence to restrict the age of bauxite deposits in Lower Carboniferous Jiujialu Formation of Central Guizhou Province, but also has great significance to further research the palaeoecological setting and floral evolution during the Early Carboniferous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]