Trace elements in feldspars from Ossogovo Mountain region: Indicators of geological processes and possible critical raw materials

The trace elements composition of feldspars, both plagioclase and K-feldspar, from the Ossogovo Mountain region, SW Bulgaria, was studied with the aim to combine characteristic indicative geochemical composition with an assessment of the feldspars’ economic potential as critical raw material. The feldspars reveal higher concentrations of Sr, Pb, Ba, Rb compared with the whole-rock composition and might be estimated as a main source of these elements in the Earth crust, having in mind feldspars are its main constituent minerals. Currently they cannot be considered as complex critical raw material but might be an important source of the above trace elements during the overprinting geological processes and post-magmatic hydrothermal alteration.