Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Polito, P. A. Articles by Southgate, P. N. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

A Paragenetic and Isotopic Study of the Proterozoic Westmoreland Uranium Deposits, Southern McArthur Basin, Northern Territory, Australia

Paul A. Polito and T. Kurt Kyser

Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6

Gerard Rheinberger

Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Ltd., P.O. Box 175, Belmont, Western Australia 6984, Australia

Peter N. Southgate

Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia

Corresponding author: e-mail, paulpolito{at}angloamerican.com.au

The Proterozoic sandstone-hosted Redtree and Junnagunna uranium deposits in the Westmoreland uranium field occur in the southern McArthur basin, Australia, at the contact between the Westmoreland Conglomerate and the Seigal Volcanics. Uranium mineralization consists of uraninite with hematite and illite and occurs within a zone of chlorite alteration that formed prior to the uraninite during peak diagenesis. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios on synmineralization illite show that uranium was transported to the site of deposition by a basinal brine with ¹⁸O_fluid and D_fluid values of 4 ± 3 and –33 ± 10 per mil, respectively. These values are consistent with evolved evaporated seawater but not with hot, oxidized fluids derived from underlying uraniferous granites or volcanic rocks as previously suggested. Illite crystallinity indicates that the uraninite-illite-hematite assemblage formed at 200° ± 50°C. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of illite and ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages of uraninite indicate that mineralization occurred between 1655 ± 83 and 1606 ± 80 Ma, coincident with major tectonic events in northern Australia, and was later remobilized between ca. 1150 and 850 Ma. A U-Pb concordia age of 878 Ma is identical to the 870 Ma age recorded by previous workers on Westmoreland uranium deposits. The mineralogy, paragenesis, and geochemistry of the Redtree and Junnagunna uranium deposits are largely indistinguishable from the basement-hosted Nabarlek and Jabiluka uranium deposits in the northern McArthur basin, suggesting that the Westmoreland uranium field might also be prospective for basement-hosted uranium deposits where suitable structural and chemical traps can be found.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. A. Polito, T. K. Kyser, P. N. Southgate, and M. J. Jackson Sandstone Diagenesis in the Mount Isa Basin: An Isotopic and Fluid Inclusion Perspective in Relationship to District-Wide Zn, Pb, and Cu Mineralization Economic Geology, September 1, 2006; 101(6): 1159 - 1188. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]