Mobility of Rare Earth Elements in Basalt‐Derived Laterite at the Bolaven Plateau, Southern Laos

Abstract Geochemical and geochronological studies were conducted on basalts and laterites from the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos in order to evaluate the mobility and mineralization of REE, Y and Sc during laterization. The basalts are classified into three categories: (i) small volumetric alkali basalt (eruption age: 15.7 Ma), large volumetric olivine tholeiite (1.2 Ma) and quartz tholeiite with olivine tholeiite (younger than 0.5 ± 0.2 Ma). Formation of REE minerals during laterization result in mobilization and fractionation of REE and Y in laterite profiles. Occurrence of florencite‐(Ce) in a laterite profile derived from alkali basalt immobilizes REE (particularly LREE) and this leads the laterites to be enriched in LREE relative to the parent basalt. Few positive Ce anomalies in this profile suggest that florencite‐(Ce) [(Ce)Al 3 (PO 4 ) 2 (OH) 2 ] formation was followed by CeO 2 precipitation due to the change of redox condition. In tholeiite‐derived laterite profiles, florencite is not recognized and REE and Y tend to be depleted relative to the parent basalts with positive Ce anomalies. This is interpreted as scavenging REE 3+ except for Ce 4+ from the laterite profile in oxidizing conditions. Sc behaves similarly to Fe during laterization and it is more abundant in the tholeiitic laterite than that in the alkali basaltic laterite. Results of sequential extraction indicate that REE of the alkali basaltic laterite are contained in residual phase, which is dominantly florencite‐(Ce), but they are rarely present in ion‐adsorption phase. It is concluded that basaltic laterites have a low potential of REE resource in terms of low REE contents and a difficulty in REE extraction.