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Reduced-Type Alterations at Exogenic Infiltration Uranium Deposits and Their Relation to Rising Groundwater

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Abstract—

This paper considers examples of “hydrogenic” commercial uranium deposits termed as “sandstone-hosted” in the English literature and characterized by so-called “reduced-type alterations.” In addition to the case when they are absent at the deposit, a few characteristic alterations are identified in different ratios, such as rock bleaching, iron redistribution, argillization, carbonatization, bituminization, sulfidization, and other changes in the host rocks. The nature of these alterations varies in different areas, and their composition depends mainly on the groundwater composition and formation conditions in the studied region. Alterations related to waters of oil and gas basins, as well as to deep carbonic basement waters, are the most pronounced. The alterations are less significant at deposits related to “nitric spring” discharge.

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Funding

This work was supported by the state task of the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences (topic no. 0136-2018-0017).

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  1. Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119117, Moscow, Russia

    B. T. Kochkin

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Correspondence to B. T. Kochkin.

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Translated by E. Maslennikova

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Kochkin, B.T. Reduced-Type Alterations at Exogenic Infiltration Uranium Deposits and Their Relation to Rising Groundwater. Geol. Ore Deposits 62, 19–30 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701520010043

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