Geochemical exploration for uranium in playas

Leach, D. L.; Puchlik, K.P.; Glanzman, Richard K.

doi:10.1016/0375-6742(80)90009-6

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…These low uranium values are compatible with the findings of Leach, Puchlik and Glanzman (1980) that uranium is not concentrated into mineral deposits in playa-type environments, but is retained in solution by the electrolytic waters or disseminated in mud and precipitates adsorbed to clay minerals or to hydrous iron molecules.…”

Section: Playa-radioactive Spring Environments (Class 220?)supporting

confidence: 89%

“…The relatively small range of values is in accord with the findings of Leach, Puchlik and Glanzman (1980) in their study of the range of uranium values in subsurface sediments in Basin and Range playa environments.…”

Section: Appendix To Figuresupporting

confidence: 87%

“…3) such as the following: the surface playa and eolian desert environments; sandstone environments; lignite, limestone, and alluvial placer depositional environments; and vein-type environments related to intrusion by basaltic plugs and hydrothermal conduits. Leach, Puchlik, and Glanzman (1980) concluded that most playas in the Basin and Range Province do not have potential for significant concentration of uranium. An ideal coincidence of certain parameters might favor relatively high uranium concentrations in the range of 0.001 to 0.01 percent U 3 0 8 but no examples of such were found.…”

Section: Quaternary and Tertiary Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Uranium concentrations in the Sevier Lake playa, for example, ran z about 3 to 8 ppm in 27 samples taken from depths ranging from 10-4950 ft. median value is about ppm. According to Leach, Puchlik and Glanzman (1980) streams feeding the playas and recharging the ground water tables under the playas, and the ground water itself in the Basin and Range Province may contain as much as 30-100 parts per billion uranium, but, these investigators found no evidence that a geochemical environment exists at or below the playas to convert these high concentrations of uranium in solution to significant uranium deposits.…”

Section: An Analysis Of Uranium Accumulation or Concentration In Playmentioning

confidence: 99%

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National uranium resource evaluation, Delta quadrangle, Utah

Cadigan¹,

Ketner²

1982

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This report is a result of work performed by the U.S. Geological Survey, through an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, as part of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation. NURE was a program of the U.S. Department of Energy's Grand Junction, Colorado, Office to acquire and compile geologic and other information with which to assess the magnitude and distribution of uranium resources and to determine areas favorable for the occurrence of uranium in the United States.

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Section: Playa-radioactive Spring Environments (Class 220?)supporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Appendix To Figuresupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Quaternary and Tertiary Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Analysis Of Uranium Accumulation or Concentration In Playmentioning

confidence: 99%

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National uranium resource evaluation, Delta quadrangle, Utah

Cadigan¹,

Ketner²

1982

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“…Chondrite-normalized REE-Y patterns of compact-hematite-hosted crystals of spessartine (Table 4) (Table 4). The contents of U and Li define a positive trend together with the average upper continental crust (UCC, Rudnick and Gao, 2003), fluvial waters (Gaillardet et al, 2005) and pore fluids from a playa-lake deposit (Leach et al, 1980). Bau and Alexander (2009) for spessartine (Table 4) and its host rock, compact hematite (Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spessartine in compact-hematite rock, southern Serra do Espinhaço, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and genesis of compact hematite

2013

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Fine-grained garnet (grains <50 μm across) is an accessory component of compact hematite, a rock consisting essentially of hematite; compact hematite is a variety of high-grade Fe ore. The garnet is characterized compositionally as spessartine (81–86 mol.%) with subordinate, but significant, amounts of calderite (5–11 mol.%) and “blythite” (up to ∼5 mol.%), as well as andradite (4–7 mol.%); pyrope and almandine endmembers are ≤∼2 and 1 mol.%, respectively. The recognition of spessartine in compact hematite indicates that oxidation state, rather than whole-rock chemical composition, controlled the garnet composition. The spessartine has a positive Eu anomaly, and a low Th/U ratio (0.13–0.65) compared to the average upper continental crust, Th/U = 3.9, as well as a positive linear correlation of Uvs.Li. The spessartine-hosting compact-hematite rock is a high-grade hematite ore that similarly shows a low Th/U ratio, but a convex, tetrad-like segment between Gd and Dy. Decoupling of Eu from other rare-earth elements and of U from Th in the spessartine, together with the anomalous geochemical behaviour of Gd, Tb and Dy in the compact hematite, and its low Th/U ratio, could have been achieved under oxidizing conditions at greenschist-facies metamorphic temperatures. The U and Li present in the spessartine could have been sourced from metamorphic fluids of continental, possibly evaporitic, origin. These interpretations are underpinned by the regional hematitization and tourmalinization observed in the southern Serra do Espinhaço.

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