Boron as an exploration tool for terrestrial borate deposits: A soil geochemical study in Neogene Emet-Hisarcık basin where the world largest borate deposits occur (Kütahya-western Turkey)

Turkey is the major boron producer in the world. All of the borate deposits occur in western part of Turkey. These continental borate deposits supply about 73% of the world reserves. The deposits were precipitated in lacustrine environments during periods of collisional volcanic activity of Neogene age. In the study, boron was used as an indicator element to investigate relationship of its anomalies to completely delineated ore bodies that served as a natural physical model in an orientation survey. 110 samples in the first stage and 260 more in the second stage (370) were analyzed for B, As, Sb, Th, U, Nb, Zr, Se, Li, Be, Mg, Sr, Na, Cs, K, Si, and S using ICP-AES, ICP-MS, and XRF. Boron showed high contrast and overlapped at the locations of the ore bodies due to enhancement of the anomalies by hydromorphic dispersion, which is an indication that soil samples would produce reliable results. The successful delineation of the ore bodies is remarkable, considering very large coverage and relatively rough topography of the target area.