Abstract
Uranium deposits in sedimentary basins can be formed at various depths, from near surface to the basement. While many factors may have played a role in controlling the location of mineralization, examination of various examples in the world, coupled with numerical modeling of fluid flow, indicates that the hydrodynamic regime of a basin may have exerted a major control on the localization of uranium deposits. If a basin is strongly overpressured, due to rapid sedimentation, abundance of low-permeability sediments or generation of hydrocarbons, fluid flow is dominantly upward and uranium mineralization is likely limited at shallow depths. If a basin is moderately overpressured, upward moving fluids carrying reducing agents may meet downward moving, oxidizing, uranium-bearing fluids in the middle of the basin, forming uranium deposits at moderate depths. If a basin is weakly or not overpressured, either due to slow sedimentation or dominance of high-permeability lithologies, minor topographic disturbance or density variation may drive oxidizing fluids to the bottom of the basin, leaching uranium either from the basin or the basement, forming unconformity-type uranium deposits. It is therefore important to analyze the hydrodynamic regime of a basin in order to predict the most likely type and location of uranium deposits in the basin.
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Chi, G., Xue, C. Hydrodynamic regime as a major control on localization of uranium mineralization in sedimentary basins. Sci. China Earth Sci. 57, 2928–2933 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4976-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4976-3