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Uranium-series disequilibria in the groundwater of the Shihongtan sandstone-hosted uranium deposit, NW China
Min Maozhong 1 *,Peng Xinjian 2,Qiao Haiming 3
1.Department of Earth Sciences
2. Bureau of Geology, China National Nuclear Corporation
3.cNorthwest Institute of Uranium Geology, China National Nuclear Corporation
*Correspondence author
#Submitted by
Subject:
Funding: 教育部博士点基金(No.20060284025)
Opened online:11 February 2010
Accepted by: none
Citation: Min Maozhong,Peng Xinjian,Qiao Haiming.Uranium-series disequilibria in the groundwater of the Shihongtan sandstone-hosted uranium deposit, NW China[OL]. [11 February 2010] http://en.paper.edu.cn/en_releasepaper/content/40167
 
 
Study on uranium-series disequilibria of groundwater is first reported here in China. Uranium concentration and uranium isotopes 238U,234U and 230Th for groundwaters, spring waters and lake water collected from the Shihongtan sandstone-hosted uranium ore district and in the surrounding area, NW China, were determined. The results show that the groundwaters from the oxidizing aquifer with high dissolved oxygen concentration (O2) and oxidation-reduction potential (Eh) have U enrichment. High U concentration of some groundwaters might result from intersected and dissolved old U orebody by oxidizing or saline groundwaters, inducing U-series disequilibrium. Uranium was most likely precipitated at the reducing barrier as uraninite or absorbed onto the heterochronogenous mineral and organic material particles. It is supported by the fact that new U orebody is locally forming in the sandstone-hosted reducing aquifer. The 234U/ 238U, 230Th/ 234U and 230Th/238U activity ratios (ARs) for most water samples are obvious deviations from secular equilibrium (0.27–2.86), indicating the presence of water–rock/ore interactions during the last 1 Ma and probably longer and 234U enrichment in the waters. The 234U/238U AR increases approximately with the decrease in U concentration of the waters, suggesting that mixing of two water sources may occur in the aquifer. This is consistent with the fact that most of U orebodies in the deposit have a tabular shape originated from mixing between a relatively stagnant saline fluid and a more rapidly flowing uranium-bearing meteoric water.
Keywords:Sandstone-hosted uranium deposit;Groundwater;U-series disequilibrium;China
 
 
 

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