Naryn-Gol Creek Sapphire Placer Deposit, Buryatia, Russia
, Anna V. Aseeva 2,3, Vladislav V. Vanteev 1, Anton Yurievich Sinyov 2 and Olga A. Eliseeva 2
Charlie Moon
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comprehensive and rater competent study, giving interesting new data.
Below is a list of suggestions, by row numbers:
16 The term 'valley flood' is not clear. If this is a lava flow in pre-existing valley, it would be better to just explain it, instead of creating new terms.
17 Greek letter Delta should not be in superscript. SMOW shoud be space separated.
20 Change to 'inclusions in sapphire'
28 Change to 'pseudomorphs after pyrite' throughout the whole paper.
34 Some citation must support this claim.
36-38 If this refers to samples studied by you, this should be mentioned explicitly. Otherwise, citations should support this claim.
39-44 I would suggest the following: In Russia the sapphire is a highly demanded and scarce mineral, since there are only three small deposits (Verbanny Log, Kornilov Log and Polozhikha in the Sverdlovsk region) and two exploration lots (Alabashka and Nizhnyaya Alabashka, explored by «Uralkvartssamotsvety» enterprise) in the Middle Urals as well as an insufficiently explored deposit (Nezametnoye) in Primorsky area in the Russian Far East. At the moment, none of them are being developed.
56 Something is wrong! 3 profiles 20/800 cannot cover 2 sq. km with 38 holes. Please clarify. What is 800 and what is 20? Between profiles, between drill holes....?
63 Change 6,8 to 6.8. Check for other decimal commas throughout the text.
74 What is 'jewelry differences' ?
104 BrF5 - 5 should be in subscript
106 18 should be in superscript
107 Change obtained to performed
110 Change to Goethite after pyrite pseudomorphs. Check for this kind of phrase throughout the text.
Figure 1 N-Q basalts should be yellow in the legend as well.
Figure 3 Make sure the background patterns (dased lines) are of same scale in all 3 figures and the legend. Now they look different.
163 If your trapiche sapphire is the first report for Russia, words like 'besides' and 'apparently' have nothing to do in your sentences. You have to claim the news explicitly, without any hesitation. In addition, such news deserves some more attention to the photographic quality. Try taking better photogrtaph by keeping apperture as small as possible (to reach higher focus depth) and ISO value as low as possible (to avoid granularity). Both these will require longer exponation, so you will have to guarantee well stabilized camera first and try to experiment with strong, directed light sources.
186 Replace 'estimates' with 'studies'.
206 Correct isotpic notation formatting
Figure 9 Please pay more attention to the presentation quality: try to offer same size and shape photographs; place headers and scalebars uniformly, using same font and size (especially for the scalebar labels). Avoid text overlapping the mineral objects.
209 Change to 'Pseudomorphs after pyrite'
324 'We can observe...' where? Figure, table ?
347 After 1867, thanks to emperor Alexander II 'eastern margin of the Pacific Ocean' does not belong to Russia :). Please consider changing to 'western'.
363-364; 375; 377 Isotope notation formatting!
379 'Nevertheless' is used incorrectly. The statement in the above paragraph does not contradict to the fact, that these sapphires are not cogenetic with the basalts. So, please rephrase.
400 Change ssumed to assumed
421 Consider using 'ultramafic' which is most common in English geological literature.
425-436 This brief summary of the above chapter is not necessary. Everything in these 2 paragraphs is already mentioned above.
Conclusions Alternatively, consider moving above rows to cahpter 5 which is a bit too thin. Consider also addind to this chapter few sentences about the trapiche sapphire and the non cogenetic origin of sapphire, which are some of the milestones of the paper.
Author Response
16 The term 'valley flood' is not clear. If this is a lava flow in pre-existing valley, it would be better to just explain it, instead of creating new terms.
corrected
17 Greek letter Delta should not be in superscript. SMOW shoud be space separated.
corrected
20 Change to 'inclusions in sapphire'
corrected
28 Change to 'pseudomorphs after pyrite' throughout the whole paper.
corrected throughout the whole paper
34 Some citation must support this claim.
corrected
36-38 If this refers to samples studied by you, this should be mentioned explicitly. Otherwise, citations should support this claim.
corrected
39-44 I would suggest the following: In Russia the sapphire is a highly demanded and scarce mineral, since there are only three small deposits (Verbanny Log, Kornilov Log and Polozhikha in the Sverdlovsk region) and two exploration lots (Alabashka and Nizhnyaya Alabashka, explored by «Uralkvartssamotsvety» enterprise) in the Middle Urals as well as an insufficiently explored deposit (Nezametnoye) in Primorsky area in the Russian Far East. At the moment, none of them are being developed.
corrected
56 Something is wrong! 3 profiles 20/800 cannot cover 2 sq. km with 38 holes. Please clarify. What is 800 and what is 20? Between profiles, between drill holes....?
corrected
63 Change 6,8 to 6.8. Check for other decimal commas throughout the text.
corrected throughout the text
74 What is 'jewelry differences' ?
Corrected
104 BrF5 - 5 should be in subscript
Corrected
106 18 should be in superscript
Corrected
107 Change obtained to performed
Corrected
110 Change to Goethite after pyrite pseudomorphs. Check for this kind of phrase throughout the text.
corrected throughout the text
Figure 1 N-Q basalts should be yellow in the legend as well.
Corrected, figure changed
Figure 3 Make sure the background patterns (dased lines) are of same scale in all 3 figures and the legend. Now they look different.
Corrected, figure changed
163 If your trapiche sapphire is the first report for Russia, words like 'besides' and 'apparently' have nothing to do in your sentences. You have to claim the news explicitly, without any hesitation. In addition, such news deserves some more attention to the photographic quality. Try taking better photogrtaph by keeping apperture as small as possible (to reach higher focus depth) and ISO value as low as possible (to avoid granularity). Both these will require longer exponation, so you will have to guarantee well stabilized camera first and try to experiment with strong, directed light sources.
Corrected. It is impossible to retake photos so quickly, because there is no equipment for microphotography in the Republic of Buryatia
186 Replace 'estimates' with 'studies'.
Corrected
206 Correct isotpic notation formatting
Corrected
Figure 9 Please pay more attention to the presentation quality: try to offer same size and shape photographs; place headers and scalebars uniformly, using same font and size (especially for the scalebar labels). Avoid text overlapping the mineral objects.
Corrected, figure changed
209 Change to 'Pseudomorphs after pyrite'
Corrected
324 'We can observe...' where? Figure, table ?
Corrected
347 After 1867, thanks to emperor Alexander II 'eastern margin of the Pacific Ocean' does not belong to Russia :). Please consider changing to 'western'.
Corrected
363-364; 375; 377 Isotope notation formatting!
Corrected
379 'Nevertheless' is used incorrectly. The statement in the above paragraph does not contradict to the fact, that these sapphires are not cogenetic with the basalts. So, please rephrase.
Corrected
400 Change ssumed to assumed
Corrected
421 Consider using 'ultramafic' which is most common in English geological literature.
Corrected
425-436 This brief summary of the above chapter is not necessary. Everything in these 2 paragraphs is already mentioned above.
Conclusions Alternatively, consider moving above rows to cahpter 5 which is a bit too thin. Consider also addind to this chapter few sentences about the trapiche sapphire and the non cogenetic origin of sapphire, which are some of the milestones of the paper.
Corrected: brief summary moving above rows to capter 5, information about trapiche sapphire added, information about non cogenetic origin of sapphire moved.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
This a straightforward description of a novel gem sapphire occurrence
It reads well apart from occcasional mistranslations,
It would be better to emphasise the trapiche naure of the gems. As an economic geologist I had to look this up but the photos suggest high quality stones
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
It reads well apart from occcasional mistranslations,
corrected
It would be better to emphasise the trapiche naure of the gems. As an economic geologist I had to look this up but the photos suggest high quality stones
All comments have been taken into account, corrections have been made, the description of the trapiche sapphire has been expanded
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript describes corundum from Naryn-Gol. The authors discussed about the mechanism of corundum formation. The manuscript is well illustrated but some major points take place:
- Sapphire is characterized by admixtures of chromophore elements Fe2+, 33 Fe3+, Ti4+, Сr3+ and V3+. The color of natural sapphires is defined by Fe2+/Fe3+ ion ratio and 34 number of Fe3++Fe3+ and Fe2++Fe2+ ion pairs.
You should confirm this statement by a citation. It is not clear, why only Fe impurity influences on sapphire color
- It is not clear, what are J8, J1 and J3 in table 2.
- In p. 6 It is not clear, how do you estimate the clarity of the samples. What are VS and I3?
- No reference and discussion of Figure 18 in the text. What are errors in 18O determination? Some data given in the figure were not given in this manuscript. You should cite the articles, which were used for this figure.
- The some figures and text parts are similar to given in 1. Authors should increase the originality of the manuscript.
- The presence CO2 in the inclusions needs in confirmation using Raman of FTIR spectroscopy methods.
- It is not well described sample preparation and methodology of chemical and isotope composition determination. It is not given sufficient information about sapphires from other deposits.
Author Response
- Sapphire is characterized by admixtures of chromophore elements Fe2+, 33 Fe3+, Ti4+, Сr3+ and V3+. The color of natural sapphires is defined by Fe2+/Fe3+ ion ratio and 34 number of Fe3++Fe3+ and Fe2++Fe2+ ion pairs.
You should confirm this statement by a citation. It is not clear, why only Fe impurity influences on sapphire color
corrected
- It is not clear, what are J8, J1 and J3 in table 2.
corrected
- In p. 6 It is not clear, how do you estimate the clarity of the samples. What are VS and I3?
corrected
- No reference and discussion of Figure 18 in the text. What are errors in 18O determination? Some data given in the figure were not given in this manuscript. You should cite the articles, which were used for this figure.
corrected
- The some figures and text parts are similar to given in 1. Authors should increase the originality of the manuscript.
References to the conference paper by the authors were made at the request of the editors. In the original version, similar text made up less than 20% of the manuscript text and two figures out of 14. In the process of corrections, following the comments of the editor and three reviewers, a number of paragraphs were added, which increased the originality of the text. However, some of the referenced fragments have been changed; figures have been replaced; reducing the number of references twice.
- The presence CO2 in the inclusions needs in confirmation using Raman of FTIR spectroscopy methods.
corrected
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
The authors improved the manuscript. It can be accepted as is.
