A study of the circulation of uranium in the supergene environment in the Italian Alpine Range

Physics

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Scientific paper

Geochemical prospecting surveys for uranium, carried out in the metamorphic basement of the Italian Alpine Range, have detected marked anomalies both in alluvia and waters in the Martello Valley (Trentino Region, Northern Italy). Detailed surveys have shown that no uranium occurrences or deposits outcrop in the vicinity of the geochemical anomalies. A detailed study was therefore made in order to determine the causes of these anomalies. Analyses of uranium were made on fresh water, rock, stream sediment and soil samples. The water samples have also been analyzed for all the major as well as for some trace elements. Leaching tests on rock samples provided additional information with a view to understanding better the dissolution of uranium with respect to the major elements. The results of these studies emphasize some characteristics of uranium in the supergene environment. 1. 1. Uranium, particularly that contained as uraninite in the pegmatites, is the element which passes most readily into the natural waters, where it may reach anomalous values, even starting from rocks with a normal content. 2. 2. Part of the uranium dissolved in fresh waters is precipitated by the organic matter of soils and stream sediments. The percentage of the uranium precipitated is not high, but it is sufficient to raise the uranium content of the alluvia to significant anomalous values. These processes, in the particular environment of the explored region, explain the anomalous values found in waters and alluvia, starting from rocks whose uranium contents average slightly more than the clarke value (approx. 5 ppm).

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