THE DISTRIBUTION OF NONMETALLIC MINERAL RESOURCES IN CHINA AND THEIR MAIN FEATURES OF MINERALIZATION

Nonmetallic mineral resources are rich in China. Magnesite,talc and graphite mainly occur inthe Early and Middle Proterozoic basement rocks of the North China platform,Yantze platformand Jiamusi block.Fluorite,alunite,bentonite,zeolite and pyrophyllite are mainly distributed involcanic rock belts along the coast of southeastern China. Limestone and dolomite in North Chinamainly occur in the Lower Paleozoic and those in South China in the Devonian- Triassic. Halite,Potash salt and mirabilite mainly occur in modern saline lakes of western China and in Creta-ceous- Eogene downfaulted basins in eastern China. Sulfur is mainly of hydrothermal origin andwidespread in the Mesozoic of eastern China. Phosphorus mainly occurs in the Upper Sinian- Low-er Cambrian of the Yangtze platform. Sedimentary barite reserves are very large in black shale atthe base of the Cambrian on the Hunan-Guizhou border.Vermiculite ores formed by alteration ofProterozoic pyroxenite-alkali dunite in Xinjiang are excellent in quality.