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USGS1956

Synthesis of calcium vanadate minerals and related compounds

Synthesis of natural vanadates shows that most of them are stable in an acid environment. Phase studies of a portion of the system CaO-V 2 O 5 -H 2 O indicate that calcium vanadates are an indicator of environmental pH conditions. Some minerals, such as pascoute, indicate rapid evaporation of vanadite solutions; other minerals, such as hewettite, show that slow evaporation took place. Cursory examination of systems K 2 O-UO 2 -(NO 3 ) 2 -V 2 O 5 and CaO-UO 2 (NO 3 ) 2 -V 2 O 5 , both in aqueous solution, has yielded information on the relationships among carnotite, tyuyamunite, and rauvite.

Trace Elements Investigations↗
USGS1957

Summary of reconnaissance for uranium in Alaska, 1955

Reconnaissance for uranium in Alaska during 1955 included airborne radiometric traverses, examination of radioactivity anomalies found during the airborne traverses, examination of prospector leads, and examination of areas that seems geologically favorable for the occurrence of uranium. The airborne radiometric traverses in central Alaska revealed 33 anomalies considered worth examining. The ground examinations of a few of these anomalies indicated that they were due to radiation of from accessory minerals in intrusive granitic rocks. The examination of prospector leads revealed several radioactivity anomalies of interest and one, near Bokan Mountain on prince of Wales Island, of possible commercial importance.

Alaska↗
USGS1957

Lead-alpha age determinations of granitic rocks from Alaska

Lead-alpha activity age determinations were made on zircon from seven granitic rocks of central and southeastern Alaska. The results of the age determinations indicate two periods of igneous intrusion, one about 95 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, and another about 53 million years ago, during the early part of the Tertiary. The individual ages determined on zircon from 2 rocks from southeastern Alaska and 1 from east-central Alaska gave results of 90, 100, and 96 million years; those determined on 4 rocks from central Alaska gave results of 47, 56, 58, and 51 million years.

Alaska↗
USGS1956

The physical behavior and geologic control of radon in mountain streams

Radon measurement were made in several small, turbulent mountain streams in the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah, to determine the relationship between the distribution of radon and its geologic environment. In this area, the distribution of radon in streams can be sued to locate points where relatively large amounts of radon-bearing ground water enter the stream, although other evidence of spring activity may be lacking. These points of influence ground water are marked by abrupt increases (as much as two orders of magnitude within a distance of 50 feet) in the radon content of the stream waters. The excess radon in the stream water is then rapidly lost to the atmosphere through stream turbulence. The rate of radon dissipation is an exponential function, of different slopes, with respect to distance of streamflow, and depend upon the rate and volume of streamflow, and the gradient and nature of the stream channel. The higher radon concentration can be generally related to specific stratigraphic horizons in several different drainage area. Thus, lithologic units which act as the primary aquifers can be identifies. In one area, thrust faults were found to control he influx of ground water into the stream. Estimates, based on radon concentration in stream and related spring waters, can also be made of the major increments of addition of ground water to streamflow where conventional methods such as stream gaging are not practical. The radon in the waters studied was found to be almost completely unsupported by radium in solution.

Utah↗
USGS1956

The determination of calcium in phosphate, carbonate, and silicate rocks by flame photometer

A method has been developed for the determination of calcium in phosphate, carbonate, and silicate rocks using the Beckman flame photometer, with photomultiplier attachement. The sample is dissolved in hydrofluoric, nitric, and perchloric acids, the hydrofluoric and nitric acids are expelled, a radiation buffer consisting of aluminum, magnesium, iron, sodium, potassium, phosphoric acid, and nitric acid is added, and the solution is atomized in an oxy-hydrogen flame with an instrument setting of 554 mµ. Measurements are made by comparison against calcium standards, prepared in the same manner, in the 0 to 50 ppm range. The suppression of calcium emission by aluminum and phosphate was overcome by the addition of a large excess of magnesium. This addition almost completely restores the standard curve obtained from a solution of calcium nitrate. Interference was noted when the iron concentration in the aspirated solution (including the iron from the buffer) exceeded 100 ppm iron. Other common rock-forming elements did not interfere. The results obtained by this procedure are within ± 2 percent of the calcium oxide values obtained by other methods in the range 1 to 95 percent calcium oxide. In the 0 to 1 percent calcium oxide range the method compares favorably with standard methods.

Trace Elements Investigations↗
USGS1956

Uranium content of ground and surface waters in western Kansas, eastern Colorado, and the Oklahoma Panhande

During 1954, 1955, and 1956, 324 water samples were collected in western Kansas, eastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and northeastern New Mexico, to determine the uranium content of water from the various rock units and geologic terranes in the region, and to locate areas in which, large amounts of uranium in the water might reflect the presence of nearby uranium accumulations. Three geologic terranes are present in the report area: the Tertiary-Quaternary tuff ace o us terrane, the Upper Cretaceous shale terrane, and the upper Permian through Lower Cretaceous sandstone terrane. The average uranium content of 179 water samples from the tuffaceous terrane, which is composed primarily of tuffaceous, fluviatile rocks ranging in age from Pliocene to Pleistocene, is 6.7 parts per billion. A total of 48 samples from the Upper Cretaceous shale terrane, which is composed almost entirely of shale and limestone of marine origin, contain an average of 20.4 parts per billion uranium , Sandstone, silt stone, and clay stone of terrestrial and near-shore marine origin are the predominant constituents of the upper Permian through Lower Cretaceous sandstone terrane, and the 83 water samples collected from, or related to, rock units of this terrane contain an average of 10.2 parts per billion uranium. The average uranium content figure derived for the tipper Cretaceous shale terrane may not be representative of the uranium content of waters from this terrane throughout the report area because more than half of the samples assigned to the terrane were collected in an area in which most water samples contain relatively large amounts of uranium. Compared to the shale terrane, the tuffaceous terrane and the sandstone terrane are both represented by a greater number of samples collected over a much larger area and the average uranium content figures derived for them are believed to be representative of the uranium content of waters from, or related to, rock units of the two terranes in the report area. The average uranium content figures derived for different rock units, or groups of rock units, subdivided by the source type from which the samples were collected (well, spring, stream, municipal water system, reservoir, or lake), and in some cases by geographic parts of the report area, are believed to be of more potential use in any future hydrogeochemical exploration in the area than are the average uranium content figures derived for the three geologic terranes. The average uranium content of ground-water samples from 12 individual rock units or groups of rock units ranges from less than 1. 0 to 38 parts per billion. Several rock units were sampled over large enough areas to indicate that waters from the same rock unit in different parts of the report area may range widely in average uranium content. Water samples from some of the rock units in the area, particularly those of Triassic and Permian age, contain large amounts of uranium, and in some parts of the report area, such as the Cimarron River area of westernmost Oklahoma and northeastern New Mexico, and the Rule Creek area in Bent and Las Animas Counties, Colo. , most, or all, of the water samples collected contain relatively large amounts of uranium. Further exploration to determine the source of the uranium in the water from these rock units and areas may be worthwhile.

Colorado;Kansas;New Mexico;Oklahoma↗
USGS1956

Uranium content and leachability of some igneous rocks and their geochemical significance

The uranium content and its leachability in 442 igneous rocks if wide variety were measured. Four-gram samples, crushed below 38 mesh, were leached in in 0.05 M HNO 3 for half an hour at 80 to 85° C; the leachate and undissolved residue were analyzed fluorimetrically. This study explored the relation of uranium content and leachability to petrography. With few exceptions, the relations between uranium content, uranium leachability, rock leachability, rock type, and mineral composition seem to be random. Uranium content and leachability in homogeneous outcrops vary erratically, in heterogeneous outcrops the variation appears nonsystematic. Correlations with geologic environment indicate that uranium content and leachability are largely controlled by geologic processes during and after crystallization.

Trace Elements Investigations↗
USGS1956

A dithizone method for the determination of lead in monazite

In determining lead in monazite [(Ce,La,Th)PO 4 ]--to be used as the basis for geologic age measurements--it was necessary to eliminate interferences due to the presences of phosphates of thorium and the rare-earth metals. The method, in which monazite samples are attacked with hot concentrated sulfuric acid, taken up with dilute nitric acid, lead extracted as the dithizonate and then determined spectrophotometrically at 520 mμ, was successfully applied to a series of monazite samples. Rapid determinations were made with good reproducibility.

Trace Elements Investigations↗
USGS1956

Some limitations on the possible composition of the ore-forming fluid

The activity rations of various important anions (S, CO 3 , SO 4 , OH, F, and Cl) in hydrothermal solutions at the time of deposition are evaluated using a simple thermodynamic technique. The rations are interpreted in the light of the mineralogy of ore deposits and limites are placed on the variability of each ratio in hydrothermal solutions. All of the calculations are made for 25°C and cautious extrapolation to higher temperatures seems justified; however, additional data for elevated temperatures and pressures are needed before more than approximate values may be assigned to these ratios in the ore-forming fluid. The calculated partial pressure of CO 2 in the ore fluid is generally less than one atmosphere, which suggests that a dense CO 2 phase cannot be considered an importatn ore fluid for most deposits. The partial pressure of H 2 S is usually less than 10 -4 atmospheres which makes it extremely difficult to defend the heory that metals (other than the easily complexible mercury, arsenic, antimony, and perhaps fols and silver) are transported in quantity as complex sulfide and hydrosulfides. The sulfate to sulfide ration is such that the oxidation potential at the time of deposition is defined by the following equation: Eh (in volts) = 0.22 ± 0.04 - 0.059 pH.

Trace Elements Investigations↗
USGS1956

Geology of the Midnite Mine area, Spokane Indian Reservation, Stevens County, Washington

The Midnite mine is on the Spokane Indian Reservation, Stevens County, Wash. Geologic mapping and reconnaissance in the vicinity of the mine indicate metasedimentary rocks of probable Precambrian age have been intruded by two varieties of quartz monzonite of probable Cretaceous age. Porphyritic quartz monzonite underlies about three-fourths of the mapped area, and equigranular quartz monzonite underlies about one-thirtieth of the area. Metasedimentary rocks have been thermally metamorphosed in the vicinity of the intrusives. Uranium minerals are restricted to the vicinity of the contact between porphyritic quartz monzonite and schistose or spotted phyllite. The largest and richest uranium deposits are where the contact is relatively steeply dipping and highly irregular in detail. Uranium minerals are most abundant in brecciated and fractured or jointed schist but are also present along joints and grain boundaries in the adjacent quartz monzonite. Secondary uranium minerals comprise all known ore deposits; uraninite was found only in one diamond-drill core from the Midnite property. The origin of the deposits is not known, but several features suggest a hydrothermal origin.

Washington↗
USGS1956

Detailed mineral and chemical relations in two uranium-vanadium ores

Channel samples from two mines on the Colorado Plateau have been studied in detail both mineralogically and chemically. A channel sample from the Mineral Joe No. 1 mine, Montrose County, Colo., extends from unmineralized rock on one side, through a zone of variable mineralization, into only weakly mineralized rock. The unmineralized rock is a fairly clean quartz sand cemented with gypsum and contains only minor amounts of clay minerals. One boundary between unmineralized and mineralized rock is quite sharo and is nearly at right angles to the bedding. Vanadium clay minerals, chiefly mixed layered mica-montmorillonite and chlorite-monmorillonite, are abundant throughout the mineralized zone. Except in the dark "eye" of the channel sample, the vanadium clay minerals are accompanied by hewettite, carnotite, tyuyamunite, and probably unidentified vanadates. In the dark "eye," paramontroseite, pyrite, and marcasite are abundant, and bordered on each side by a zone containing abundant corvusite. No recognizable uranium minerals were seen in the paramontroseite zone although uranium is abundant there. Coaly material is recognizable throughout all of the channel but is most abundant in and near the dark "eye." Detailed chemical studies show a general increase in Fe, Al, U, and V, and a decrease in SO 4 toward the "eye" of the channel. Reducing capacity studies indicate that V(IV) and Fe(II) are present in the clay mineral throughout the channel, but only in and near the "eye" are other V(IV) minerals present (paramontroseite and corvusite). The uranium is sexivalent, although its state of combination is conjectural where it is associated with paramontroseite. Where the ore boundary is sharp, the boundary of introduced trace elements is equally sharp. Textural and chemical relations leave no doubt that the "eye: is a partially oxidized remnant of a former lower-valence ore, and the remainder of the channel is a much more fully oxidized remnant. A channel sample from the Virgin No. 3 mine, Montrose County, Colo., extends from weakly mineralized sandstone on both sides through a strongly mineralized central zone. The weakly mineralized zone is a poorly sorted sandstone with common detrital clay partings; chlorite and mixed layer mica-montmorrillonite are abundant interstitial to the quartz grains. No distinct vanadium or uranium minerals are recognizable, although the clay minerals are vanadium bearing. Euherdral pyrite grains and selenian galena are present but rare. The strongly mineralized rock is separated from the weakly mineralized rock by a narrow transition zone which only apporiximates the bedding planes. It contains abundant vanadium-bearing clay minerals (predominantly chlorite) interstitial to the quartz grains, and apparently replacing them. Paramontroseite is common and is intergrown with the clay minerals. Pyrite and marcasite are present, chiefly in or near the abundant blebs and fragments of carbonaceous material. Selenian galena is rarely present, and generally in or near carbonaceous material. Coffinite is the only uranium mineral idenitified; it is extremely fine grained and was identified only in X-ray diffraction patterns of heavy separates. Distribution of trace elements is not clear; some are consistently high in the strongly mineralized rocks, and some are consistently low. The trace element composition of the unmineralized rock is not known. Chemical studies show a very abrupt rise in the total U, V, and Fe from the weakly mineralized to strongly mineralized rock. Reducing-capacity studies indicate that most of the vanadium is present as V(IV), but some is present as V(V); that iron is present as both Fe(II) and Fe(III), the latter believed to have been present in the primary clays of the unmineralized rock; and that come of the uranium is present as U(VI) in addition to the U(IV) in the coffinite. All evidence points to weak oxidation of an ore once having a somewhat lower valence state. The channel samples from both the Mineral Joe No. 1 mine and the Virgin No. 3 mine are believe to have been essentially identical in mineralogy prior to oxidation by weathering: vanadium was present as V(III) in montroseite and V(IV) in the vanadium clays; uranium was present largely as U(IV) in coffinite and/or uraninite. The Mineral Joe No. 1 mine channel sample is now more fully oxidized. Vanadium clays are unquestionably formed abundantly during the primary mineralization, and they persist with a minimum of alteration during much of the weathering. They suggest that the vanadium is carried as V(IV) in the ore-forming fluids; it seems likely too that the uranium is carried as a U(VI) ion.

Trace Elements Investigations↗
USGS1956

Host rocks and their alterations as related to uranium-bearing veins in the United States

This paper, dealing with the different kinds of host rocks and their alterations associated with uranium-bearing veins in the United States, is a chapter of a comprehensive report entitled , "Geology of uranium-bearing vein deposits in the United States," in preparation by George W. Walker, Frank W. Osterwald, and others. The comprehensive report will include detailed information on tectonic and structural setting, kinds of host rocks, wall-rock alteration, mineralogy, physical characteristics, processes of deposition, and concepts of origin of uraniferous veins; but, because it will not be completed until sometime in the future, some chapters of the report are being transmitted as they are finished. Part of an introductory chapter to the comprehensive report entitled, "Classification and distribution of uranium-bearing veins in the United States" (Walker and Osterwald, 1956) has already been transmitted; several of the terms used herein are defined in the introductory chapter. Data included in this chapter demonstrate that uranium-bearing veins are: 1) in rocks of nearly all textural, chemical, and mineralogic types; 2) most abundant in holocrystalline, commonly equigranular, igeneous and metamorphic rocks characterized by a moderate to high silica content and and by similar physical properties. Although some of the physiochemical properties of the host rocks are discussed in terms of favorability or nonfavoribility for uranium deposition, the principal purpose of this chapter is to establish the petroloic environment in which uranium-bearing veins have been found. Because favorability or nonfavorability of host rocks is related complexly to the chemistry of ore solutions and to methods or uranium transport and deposition, several hypothetical processes of transport and deposition have been referred to briefly; these and other hypotheses will be outlines and discussed in greater detail in a subsequent chapter. The compilation of data leading to this report and its preparation by a member of the Uranium Research and Resource Section, U.S. Geological Survey, was done on behalf of the Division of Raw Materials, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The report is based on both published and unpublished information collected principally by personnel of the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission or its predecessor organization, the Manhattan Engineer District, and to a lesser extent by staff members of other Federal or State agencies and by geologists in private industry. Information concerning foreign uranium-bearing vein deposits has been extracted almost exclusively from published reports; references to these and other data are included at appropriate places.

Trace Elements Investigations↗