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Minerals and Ore Deposits Questions and Answers

1.

Which one of the following mineral associations is diagnostic of the highly-oxidized zone of a weathered primary base metal vein?

Exam Year(s)

IIT JAM - 2026,

Answer: A

The association diagnostic of the highly oxidized zone is smithsonite, malachite, anglesite.

Above the water table, oxygenated water breaks down the primary sulphides of a base metal vein, and zinc, copper and lead are re-deposited as oxidized minerals: smithsonite (ZnCO3), malachite (Cu2CO3(OH)2) and anglesite (PbSO4). All three are secondary oxidation products of the very metals a base metal vein carries.

Calcite, fluorite and pyrite are primary vein gangue and sulphide, unaltered. Chalcocite belongs to the supergene enrichment zone below the water table, which is reducing, and realgar is a sulphide. Goethite is an oxidation product, but orpiment is an arsenic sulphide and boehmite is an aluminium hydroxide of bauxites, not of base metal veins.

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2.

Chromite deposits of Himalaya are associated with :

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: A

The Himalayan chromite deposits are associated with ophiolite complexes.

Ophiolites are slices of oceanic lithosphere thrust onto continental crust during plate collision. Their mantle section contains podiform chromite bodies in dunite and harzburgite. In the Himalaya such ophiolites lie along the Indus-Tsangpo suture (for example in Ladakh) and in the Nagaland-Manipur belt, and these are the settings of the chromite.

Stratiform complexes such as the Bushveld host layered chromitite seams in stable cratons, Duke Island-type complexes are zoned ultramafic intrusions of Alaska, and intrusive granites are not hosts for chromite at all.

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3.

Bailadila iron ore deposit is situated in the state of :

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: C

Bailadila is in Chhattisgarh.

The Bailadila range, in Dantewada district of the Bastar region in southern Chhattisgarh, holds high-grade haematite iron ore in banded iron formation. It is mined by NMDC, and its ore has been exported through Visakhapatnam.

Jharkhand (with Odisha) has the Singhbhum-Noamundi iron ore belt, Maharashtra has smaller deposits in Gadchiroli and Chandrapur, and Bihar has no comparable iron ore field. Before 2000 Bailadila was in Madhya Pradesh, which is not among the options.

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4.

In which of the following areas does Iron ore deposit occur ?

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2019, SET Exam - 2019,

Answer: C

An iron ore deposit occurs at Kudremukh.

Kudremukh, in the Western Ghats of Chikmagalur district, Karnataka, has large deposits of magnetite-bearing banded iron formation, mined until 2005 by Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd and exported through Mangalore.

Zawar and Dariba, in Rajasthan, are lead-zinc deposits worked by Hindustan Zinc. Rudrasagar, in Assam, is an oil field, not an iron ore deposit.

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5.

Choose the correct combination of ore and location of its deposit :

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2020, MH SET - 2025, SET Exam - 2020, SET Exam - 2025,

Answer: A

The correct pair is Uranium - Jaduguda.

Jaduguda, in the Singhbhum shear zone of Jharkhand, has India's first uranium mine, worked by the Uranium Corporation of India since 1967.

The other pairs are mismatched. Khetri in Rajasthan is known for copper, not lead. Panna in Madhya Pradesh is famous for diamonds, not gold. Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh is a large copper deposit, not iron.

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6.

Which one of the following is an ore of platinum group of elements (PGE) ?

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: A

The PGE ore mineral is Sperrylite.

Sperrylite is platinum arsenide, PtAs2, and is one of the most important ore minerals of platinum, mined at Sudbury and in the Bushveld Complex.

The other three are copper minerals: digenite is a copper sulphide, dioptase a copper silicate, and bornite a copper-iron sulphide.

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7.

Commercial banded iron formations of India are mostly of :

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: C

India's commercial BIFs are mostly of Proterozoic and Archaean age.

Banded iron formations formed mainly in the Precambrian, when the oceans held dissolved ferrous iron that was precipitated as the atmosphere and oceans became oxygenated. India's large haematite deposits, in the Iron Ore Group of Singhbhum-Odisha, the Bailadila range of Chhattisgarh and the Dharwar craton of Karnataka and Goa, lie in Archaean to early Proterozoic greenstone and supracrustal belts.

Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks contain other kinds of iron ore, such as oolitic ironstones and laterites, but not the major BIF deposits.

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8.

Match the following :

III
(1) Cumulus texture(i) Banding and crustification in open space
(2) Exsolution texture(ii) Protuberances of replacing minerals with replaced host
(3) Caries texture(iii) Spindles or lamellae of one mineral in another
(4) Cockade texture(iv) Aggregates of minerals with non-penetrative mineral boundaries

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: A

The correct matching is (1)-(iv), (2)-(iii), (3)-(ii), (4)-(i).

  • Cumulus texture: crystals that settled or accumulated together, forming aggregates touching along simple, non-penetrative boundaries.
  • Exsolution texture: lamellae or spindles of one mineral within another, formed when a solid solution unmixes on cooling, such as pentlandite flames in pyrrhotite.
  • Caries texture: a replacing mineral eats into the host along embayed, scalloped edges, like decay in a tooth.
  • Cockade texture: concentric crusts grown around rock fragments in open spaces, banding and crustification.

Every other code swaps at least two of these.

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9.

Which of the following is the best mineral for fluid inclusion thermometry ?

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: D

The best mineral for fluid inclusion thermometry is Quartz.

Fluid inclusion studies need a mineral that is transparent, so that the inclusions can be seen and heated or frozen under the microscope; common in ore and vein systems; and chemically stable, so the inclusions stay sealed. Quartz meets all three, and its inclusions record the temperature and salinity of the fluids that deposited the ore.

Chalcopyrite, magnetite and wolframite are opaque (wolframite only weakly transmits infrared), so their inclusions cannot be studied with ordinary transmitted-light microthermometry.

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10.

Which of the following minerals is best suited for fluid inclusion thermometry ?

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2024, SET Exam - 2024,

Answer: C

The mineral best suited for fluid inclusion thermometry is Fluorite.

Microthermometry needs transparent crystals in which tiny trapped fluid inclusions can be watched under the microscope while being heated (homogenisation temperature) and cooled (freezing point, which gives salinity). Fluorite is transparent, common in hydrothermal veins and often rich in primary inclusions, so it is a favourite host along with quartz, calcite and sphalerite.

Magnetite, ilmenite and chalcopyrite are opaque, so inclusions in them cannot be observed in transmitted light.

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