# Trace Elements and Mineralogy of Upper Permian (Zechstein)
## 6 Results
### Trace Elements Study
#### 6.2.2 Potash-Bearing Deposits of PZ2 Cyclothem  
Statistic parameters of trace element content in the potash-bearing deposits of PZ2 cyclothem were calculated for analytical results of 92 samples taken from salt domes Damaslawek, Gora, Klodawa, and Mogilino (Table 6). They include data from 86 new samples (analysis of all trace elements) and are supplemented with archival results of selected trace elements: three samples (Ag, Br, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, I, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn detected [51]) and three samples (only Br [53]). These include the content of such elements as Ag, Be, Se and Sn at the value of their detection limits (<0.01 to <0.5 mg/kg; Table 6). Very low and low content (mean and median: 0.09-0.47 mg/kg) characterises the following elements: Cd, Ce, Co, Cs, Ga, I, La, Mo, Pb, Sb, Tl, and U. Eight elements, including As, Ba, Cr, Cu, Li, Mn, Ni, and V, have a higher content (mean and median: 1-6 mg/kg); the other three, including Rb, Ti, and Zn, are more common (3-24 mg/kg). The most abundant are bromine (Br): 119-259 mg/kg--such a high content is common in potash salts with sylvite, kainite and carnalite minerals--(e.g., [18; 19; 96]); iron (Fe): 100-146 mg/kg; and strontium (Sr): 76-218 mg/kg. The last two elements are mainly connected with the insolubles (0.78-1.71%), composed of gypsum, anhydrite, chlorites, and pyrite. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Trace Elements**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Statistic Parameters**} \\ \cline{2-7}  & **n** & **Min.** & **Max.** & **Arithmetic** & **Geometric** & **Median** \\ \hline
**Li** & 9 & 15.1 & 59.6 & 26.3 & 23.7 & 20.6 \\
**Be** & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.3 & \textless{}0.3 & \textless{}0.3 & \textless{}0.3 & \textless{}0.3 \\
**Co** & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 \\
**Ni** & 9 & 1.1 & 3.5 & 1.9 & 1.8 & 1.6 \\
**Ga** & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 \\
**As** & 9 (9) & \textless{}1 & \textless{}1 & \textless{}1 & \textless{}1 & \textless{}1 \\
**Se** & 9 (9) & \textless{}2 & \textless{}2 & \textless{}2 & \textless{}2 & \textless{}2 \\
**Rb** & 9 (1) & \textless{}0.5 & 2.1 & 1.4 & 1.4 & 1.6 \\
**Mo** & 9 & 0.07 & 1.62 & 0.43 & 0.28 & 0.29 \\ Ag & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 \\ Cd & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 \\ Sn & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.5 & \textless{}0.5 & \textless{}0.5 & \textless{}0.5 & \textless{}0.5 \\ Sb & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 \\ Cs & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 \\ La & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 & \textless{}0.05 \\ Ce & 9 (4) & \textless{}0.05 & 0.13 & 0.07 & 0.07 & 0.07 \\ Tl & 9 (9) & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 & \textless{}0.1 \\ Pb & 9 (2) & \textless{}0.1 & 1.3 & 0.3 & 0.2 & 0.2 \\ U & 9 & 0.1 & 1.0 & 0.3 & 0.25 & 0.2 \\ Ba & 9 & 1 & 10 & 5 & 4 & 4 \\
**Cu** & 9 & 4 & 17 & 12 & 11 & 13 \\
**Fe** & 9 & 12 & 51 & 33 & 30 & 29 \\
**Mn** & 9 & 2 & 14 & 5 & 4 & 3 \\
**Sr** & 9 & 454 & 2378 & 1075 & 888 & 723 \\
**Ti** & 9 & 6 & 10 & 7 & 7 & 7 \\
**V** & 9 (8) & \textless{}1 & 2 & 2 & 2 & 2 \\
**Zn** & 9 & 3 & 13 & 9 & 9 & 10 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} n—number of analysed samples; (...)—number of samples with element content lower than detection limit.  
\end{table} 
Table 5: Statistic parameters of trace element content in the sulphate potash-bearing deposits (polyhalites) of PZ1 cyclothem in Poland. Low content variability (standard deviation 0.03-4 mg/kg) characterises Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Cs, Ga, I, La, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Tl, U, and V, a higher variability (9-25 mg/kg) is represented by Rb, Ti, and Zn, and more varied is iron (143.59 mg/kg), but the largest differences were registered for bromine and strontium (351-358 mg/kg).