Earth Science Frontiers ›› 2025, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (4): 262-279.DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2025.3.31

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Mining elements of carbonatite-type rare earth deposits based on knowledge map

FENG Tingting(), CAI Shirou, ZHANG Zhenjie*()   

  1. Frontiers Science Center for Deep-time Digital Earth, State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences(Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
  • Received:2024-11-01 Revised:2025-03-10 Online:2025-07-25 Published:2025-08-04

Abstract:

Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical for modern high-tech industries, yet the metallogenic characteristics and mechanisms of carbonatite-hosted REE deposits remain poorly understood, significantly hindering exploration breakthroughs. With the advent of the geoscience big data era, knowledge graph technology has emerged as a key tool for mineral resource prediction. This study integrates natural language processing (NLP) techniques and knowledge graph construction methods to systematically investigate the metallogenic characteristics and mechanisms of carbonatite-hosted REE deposits. We collected literature pertaining to the Bayan Obo deposit and the Mianning-Dechang metallogenic belt. Using the BERT-BiLSTM-CRF model for entity recognition and the BERT model for relationship extraction, we constructed a domain-specific knowledge graph. Results indicate that minerals, rocks, and elements are critical nodes influencing mineralization. Fluorite exhibits high consistency across regional knowledge graphs, highlighting its potential as a prospecting indicator mineral. Europium and cerium, due to their redox-sensitive anomalies, serve as important indicators for REE exploration. Calcite and bastnaesite also demonstrate indicative potential. The knowledge graph reveals that Bayan Obo exhibits stronger associations with carbonatites, while the Mianning-Dechang belt is more closely linked to alkaline rocks. Hierarchical clustering further demonstrates significant correlations among similar nodes, providing key insights into the metallogenic environment and critical elements. This study offers a novel perspective and methodology for understanding metallogenic mechanisms and provides robust scientific support for the exploration and evaluation of REE deposits.

Key words: knowledge graph, carbonatite, rare earth deposits, Bayan Obo, Mianning-Dechang

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