Uranium mineralization in fractured welded tuffs of the krasnokamensk area: Transfer from ancient to modern oxidizing conditions

Abstract

The main aim of this contribution is to describe the primary controls of the hydrothermal mineralization, the preferential pathways for ancient and recent meteoric water infiltration, mineral-chemical modification of the wall rocks, and transformation of uranium mineralization in the context of redox front propagation through unsaturated fractured porous welded tuffs. The data on the veintype Tulukuevskoe uranium deposit in SE Transbaikalia, Russia are applied for modeling of uranium migration and deposition of secondary concentrations using quasi-stationary state approximation (QSSA) approach.