Slide 3 - Paragenesis and Geochronology of the Nopal I ...

[Pages:23]Paragenesis and Geochronology of the Nopal I Uranium Deposit, Mexico: Preliminary Results

Presented to:

Appendix 7 Meeting on Pe?a Blanca Natural Analogue Studies

Presented by:

Mostafa Fayek

Associate Professor, Dept. Earth Planet. Sci., Univ. Tennessee

February 16, 2006 Las Vegas, NV

Objectives

? Refine current structural and alteration models for the Nopal I uranium deposit

? Identify the source term and characterize corrosion

? Establish rate of corrosion and characterize

fluids

? Identify natural barriers

? Conclusions

? Future work

Fayak Appendix 7 Meeting chronology.ppt

2

Significance

? Realistic spent fuel corrosion rates

? Geologic/tectonic events

Uranyl Oxide Uranous Hydrates Oxide

Previous studies from Murphy (2000)

Nopal I Natural Analogue Argonne Drip Experiments

Uraninite (8-3 Ma)

Uraninite (synthetic UO2)

Ianthinite Schoepite/Dehydrated Schoepite

Becquerelite

Soddyite Boltwoodite Uranophane (3.84-3.42 Ma)

Dehydrated Schoepite Becquerelite

Soddyite Uranophane, Boltwoodite

Na-Boltwoodite

Uranyl Silicates

Weathering Products

Uraniferous Fe Oxyhydroxides (>300 ka) Opal and Calcite (54 ka)

Geologic Time

0 100 200 300 400 500

Time (weeks)

Fayak Appendix 7 Meeting chronology.ppt

3

Volcanic ?Type Uranium Deposits

Structure-bound

Strata-bound

Nopal I

Volcanic and Volcanoclastic facies

Basement rocks

Modified from Dahlkamp (1993)

GENETIC MODELS for NOPAL I

?Volcanic vent (Pilcher, 1980) .

?Magmatic hydrothermal (Bazan,1980).

?Collapse breccia (Bell,1981).

?Deuteric and low T processes (Goodell,

1985). ?High T processes (Aniel and Leroy, 1985,

George-Aniel et al., 1991). ? Intersection of fractures/faults (Reyes-

Cortes, 1997).

Fayak Appendix 7 Meeting chronology.ppt

4

Nopal I Deposit +10 Level

N

Fayak Appendix 7 Meeting chronology.ppt

0 5 10 m

Courtesy of Ignacio Reyes-Cort?s

5

Nopal I Deposit

+10 Level

Fault

Mineralization along fracture (Pearcy et al.,

1995)

N

Fayak Appendix 7 Meeting chronology.ppt

0

5

10 m

Courtesy of Ignacio Reyes-Cort?s

6

Fayak Appendix 7 Meeting chronology.ppt

7

Adit entrance

Nopal I surface between the +00 and +10 meter levels

Fayak Appendix 7 Meeting chronology.ppt

8

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download