Abstract
The article discusses problems of migration, sorption, and redistribution of uranium in felsic volcanic rocks (ignimbrites) and volcanic glasses of different compositions from the Tulukuev and Novogodnee deposits, located at the upper structural level (the cover of volcano-sedimentary rocks) of the Streltsovka caldera, which hosts Russia’s largest Streltsovka uranium ore field (SOF). The research covers the entire sorption series of rocks and minerals: from abnormally high uranium contents in felsic volcanic rocks and volcanic glasses of the Novogodnee deposit, located in a reducing geochemical environment, to complete uranium removal from mineral concentrators in an oxidizing environment in the Tulukuevsky open pit deposit. The uranium distribution and variations in its content were studied using f-radiography in different zones of metasomatic aureoles, minerals, rock fragments, the matrix and fiamme of ignimbrites, elements of deformational alterations, including mineralized and open fractures of different morphology, as well as in cataclasis, microbrecciation, and veinlet zones, etc. Integrated geological-structural, mineralogical-geochemical, and petrophysical studies and hydrogeochemical and isotope-geochemical monitoring studies of fracture-vein and atmospheric waters have been conducted since 2000 and continue at present. It is shown that the Tulukuev and Novogodnee deposits are unique objects, which can be used for studying the conditions, migration paths, migration mechanisms, and accumulation of uranium in different structural settings under varying redox conditions. It was established that the most important mechanism of uranium retardation is sorption processes on permeable reaction barriers under reducing conditions, formed currently within hydraulically active faults, crosscutting blocks of oxidized rocks. At these natural physicochemical barriers, U(VI) is effectively retained and transformed into insoluble U(IV) form due to the reactivity of Fe–Mn oxyhydroxides, impregnated carbonaceous matter, and vital activity products of microorganisms (ferrihydrides). Comparing the sorption capacity of minerals with respect to uranium allowed us to develop a comparative series of minerals and mineral aggregates in descending order from amorphous Fe and Ti oxides to feldspar and quartz. The above studies can be used when substantiating the search, exploration, and mining of uranium ores at uranium-ore deposits and when considering possible sources of ore matter. The radiogeoecological aspect of surveys involved with substantiating the long-term isolation of radioactive materials and remediation of radionuclide-polluted areas and groundwater horizons is also crucial.
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This study was carried out under the state task of IGEM RAS “Tectonodynamic Settings and Physicochemical Conditions of Formation of Mineral Systems of Main Economic and Genetic Types of Uranium Deposits.”
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Poluektov, V.V., Petrov, V.A. & Andreeva, O.V. Migration and Sorption of Uranium in Various Redox Conditions on the Example of Volcanic-Related Deposits in the Streltsovka Caldera, SE Transbaikalia. Geol. Ore Deposits 63 (Suppl 1), S29–S61 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701522010068
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701522010068
Keywords:
- Tulukuev and Novogodnee deposits
- mineral zoning
- hydromication and argillization
- migration and sorption of uranium
- fracture-vein and atmospheric waters
- permeable reaction barrier
- ignimbrite
- obsidian–perlite
- high-Si volcanic glasses
- devitrification
- crystallites-spherulites
- f-radiography
- thucholite
- uranophane
- (proto)ferrihydrite
- hematite
- Fe
- Mn
- and Ti oxides and hydroxides
- radionuclides
- isolation of radioactive materials