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Trace and REE element geochemistry of fluorite and its relation to uranium mineralizations, Gabal Gattar Area, Northern Eastern Desert, Egypt

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Abstract

Uranium mineralizations occur and form in a broad range of geologic setting and age, including magmatic to surfacial conditions, and there are numerous controls on their transportation and deposition, such as redox, pH, ligand concentration, complexation, and temperature. These temporal and spatial variations have caused a range of ore deposit mineral assemblages. Consequently, understanding their conditions of formation is still in its infancy. This research reports rare earth elements (REE) and trace elements of fluorite associated with hexavalent uranium mineralizations and tests of genetic models for the deposits. These data contribute to a better understanding of the variables controlling fluorite formation and uranium ore composition through understanding the evolution of these ore-forming hydrothermal systems. Fluorite in Gabal Gattar granite occurs as disseminations and/or thin veinlets and encrustations filling some uranium mineralized fissures and fractures along the northern margin of host granite mass. In the U-poor samples, fluorite forms well-developed large crystals that are commonly zoned. The zones are represented by alternating colorless and violet zones, and the outer zones are frequently dark violet. In the U-rich samples, fluorite is usually anhedral, unzoned, and has a dark violet color. The results of analysis of REE and trace element contents of fluorites using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry indicate that total REE in the anhedral unzoned fluorite are elevated compared to the well developed zoned fluorite, and also total REE in dark violet zones of zoned fluorite are elevated with respect to the colorless zones. The fluorites and host granite are generally characterized by strongly negative Eu anomalies and slightly negative or chondritic Ce anomalies. Accordingly, REE patterns of the fluorite and host granite are roughly alike, indicating that the source of REE and trace elements of hydrothermal fluids is the host granite leached by fluids. Y/Y*, Ce/Ce,* and Eu/Eu* patterns show that fluorite clearly records the compositional evolution of the hydrothermal solutions that have transferred trace and REE from host granite during the fluid–wall rocks interactions. The high uranium contents of fluorite in Gabal Gattar granite suggest that parent fluids bearing fluorine have interacted with host granite to leach uranium from the accessory minerals of granite and tetravalent uranium minerals in reduced or weakly oxidized zones.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. Adel Hassan El-Afandy and Dr. Hosam Anwar Khamis, Nuclear Materials Authority, Egypt, for their scientific discussions and comments of this manuscript. Thanks go to the reviewers for their constructive comments and editorial handling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nuclear Materials Authority, P.O.530, El-Maadi, Cairo, Egypt

    Nasser Mourad Mahdy, Mahmoud Hany Shalaby, El Sayed H. El Sawey & Ehab Korany Abu Zeid

  2. Geology Department, El Minia University, Minya, Egypt

    Hassan Mohamed Helmy

  3. Geology Department, Ain Shams University, 11566, Cairo, Egypt

    Ali Farage Osman

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  1. Nasser Mourad Mahdy
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  2. Mahmoud Hany Shalaby
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Correspondence to Nasser Mourad Mahdy.

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Mahdy, N.M., Shalaby, M.H., Helmy, H.M. et al. Trace and REE element geochemistry of fluorite and its relation to uranium mineralizations, Gabal Gattar Area, Northern Eastern Desert, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 7, 2573–2589 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0933-2

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