Factors controlling in the concentration of gold and uranium in the Lower Carboniferous marl at Wadi El Kharig area, Sou
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Factors controlling in the concentration of gold and uranium in the Lower Carboniferous marl at Wadi El Kharig area, Southwestern Sinai, Egypt Osama R. Sallam 1 Received: 14 March 2019 / Accepted: 13 August 2020 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2020
Abstract The Lower Carboniferous middle member of Um Bogma Formation at Wadi El Kharig composed mainly of marl and interbedded dolostone with pockets of gibbsite and marly gibbsite. The organic carbon (related to the presence of organic matter) reaches 2.31%, 6.39%, and 1.36% in the marly gibbsite, black gibbsite, and marl, respectively. The black gibbsite and marly gibbsite have high concentrations of some metals such as Zn, Cu, Ba, and Ni than that in the marl. New detection of high radioactive anomalies was recorded at Wadi El Kharig in the marly gibbsite, black gibbsite, and marl of the middle member of Um Bogma Formation with an average of U-content reaches 342, 726.3, and 229 ppm, respectively. Metatorbernite, carnotite, and autunite are the main secondary uranium minerals recorded in the radioactive facies. Also, new occurrences of gold were recorded at Wadi El Kharig in the marl (1.2 ppm) and its interbedded dolostone (1.4 ppm) of the middle member of Um Bogma Formation. Carbonaceous material and/or organic matter in addition to the presence of iron oxides are playing important roles in the concentration of Au and U and some metals in the studied facies. Keywords Um Bogma . Carbonaceous material . Organic matter . Gibbsite
Introduction Organic matters can reduce the mobility and precipitate the mobile trace and REEs elements these are highly mobile in oxidizing acidic water. This mobility is reduced by organic matter (Levinson 1980). Adams and Weaver (1958) and Adams et al. (1959) concluded that the distribution of uranium and thorium in sedimentary rocks are largely determined by the oxidation and leaching of uranium during weathering. The chemical and biochemical interactions affect the distribution patterns of uranium, thorium, and their decay products. In the oxidized zone near-surface environment, uranium and thorium may be mobilized, but in different ways. Thorium is largely transported in insoluble resistant minerals or is adsorbed on Declarations The manuscript has not been published elsewhere and has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. Responsible Editor: Domenico M. Doronzo * Osama R. Sallam [email protected] 1
Nuclear Materials Authority, P.O. Box – 530, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
the surface of clay mineral particles, while uranium ions may either move in solution as a complex ion or, like thorium, move as adsorbed or in detrital phase. Uranium compounds are soluble under normal oxidizing conditions (Langmuir 1978). The oxidation process may be due to the action of the circulation of the ground meteoric water. Um Bogma Formation is the most suitable lithological facies for uranium trapping, adsorption, fixation, substitution, and capturing as a result of the presence of clay and iron minerals in addition to the p
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