Oxidation potential and state of some vanadium ores and the relation of woody material to their deposition

Abstract

Oxidation potential studies with a multiple pH-potential recorder designed and constructed for this purpose demonstrated that some uranium-vanadium ores in the Colorado Plateau were in a reduced state when deposited. Any oxidation which took place occurred after deposition. Experimental and theoretical reducing studies on fresh wood, wood degraded by burial for 450 years, and lignite, indicate that such ores may have been deposited by reduction of oxidized vanadium solutions by woody material. A vanadium (III) mineral, V 2 O(OH) 4 , was prepared synthetically by reduction of a vanadium (V) solution with wood. This is the only reported synthesis of any reduced vanadium mineral by any method. It was shown that the origin of almost all vanadium deposits currently of commercial importance involves life processes and products.