干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Uranium and thorium isotopic composition of kasolite [Pb(UO2)SiO4-(H2O)] from Jabal Sayid area was determined by thermal ionization mass spectrometry. Secondary electron imaging, back-scattered electron imaging, and energy dispersive spectral scans were used to investigate the mineralogical characteristics of this uranyl mineral phase. Distinct crystal faces and crystal growth of kasolite from the study area confirm mineral precipitation near the surface from the circulating groundwater. The obtained data were used to interpret the mechanism of uranium mobility in Jabal Sayid weathering profile and to construct a tentative model to explain the isotopic evolution of uranium and thorium. This model indicates that (1) uranium was leached at depth, (2) uranyl mineralization was precipitated along fractures and cavities in the host rocks during humid conditions and pluvial periods, (3) preferential leaching of U-234 from uranyl mineralization by recoil processes was continuous indicative of a weakly circulating groundwater, and (4) U-234-deficiency resulted in isotopic signatures characterized by low U-234/U-238 and high Th-230/U-234 ratios. The modification pattern of these activity ratios suggests that uranyl mineralization of Jabal Sayid, most probably, has been precipitated during the same Late Quaternary pluvial periods responsible for the formation of the corresponding mineralizations in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.