Uranium enrichment in metalliferous sediments from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Details Uranium enrichment in metalliferous sediments from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Uranium enrichment in metalliferous sediments from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Jun 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994e%26psl.124...35m&link_type=abstract

Earth and Planetary Science Letters (ISSN 0012-821X), vol. 124, no. 1, p. 35-47

Other

9

Hydrothermal Systems, Iron, Mid-Ocean Ridges, Ocean Bottom, Sediments, Uranium, Atlantic Ocean, Enrichment, Geochemistry, Microorganisms

Scientific paper

Previous studies of metal-rich sediments at mid-ocean ridge spreading centres have suggested that U/Fe ratios are relatively constant from site to site. A suite of cores from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has been analysed for U and Fe content and most samples exhibit constant U/Fe ratios. Sulphide-bearing parts of one core, however, contain excess U compared with that observed in other metalliferous sediments but apparently only during oxidative alteration of pyrite phases. Fission track registration has demonstrated that this excess U is intimately associated with sulphide grains in the sediment. Scanning electron microscope examination inidates that this U enrichment is limited to very small areas within the oxidation layer and is associated with an enhanced P concentration. Ion probe analyses allow semi-quantitative analyses of various elements through a U-rich grain. The observed distribution of U coupled with its specific enrichment suggests that microbial mediation might be controlling this enrichment. U/Fe ratios in fully oxidised TAG sediments are constant and approximately an order of magnitude higher than in young plume particulates. This discrepancy is attributed to a second type of post-depositional U enrichment producing an homogeneous distribution of U throughout the sediment.

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