Age and Formation Conditions of U Mineralization in the Litsa Area and the Salla-Kuolajarvi Zone (Kola Region, Russia)

Tatiana V Kaulina,Anaid A Avedisyan,Lyudmila I Nerovich,Arkady A Kalinin,Elena A Nitkina,Marja A Gannibal,Vadim L Il’Chenko,Dmitry V Elizarov

doi:10.3390/min8120563

Tatiana V Kaulina, Anaid A Avedisyan + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/min8120563

Copy DOI

Abstract

The Kola region (NE of Fennoscandian Shield) has high uranium potential. The most promising structures within the Kola region in respect to uranium enrichment are the Litsa area and the Salla-Kuolajarvi zone. The principal objective of the present study was to define sequence and timing of uranium deposition within these areas. Isotopic (U-Pb and Rb-Sr) exploration of the rocks from Skal’noe and Dikoe U occurrences of the Litsa area and Ozernoe occurrences of the Salla-Kuolajarvi zone was carried out. As it follows from isotopic dating, the principal stages of uranium mineralization had taken place 2.3–2.2, 1.75–1.65, and 0.40–0.38 Ga ago, simultaneously with the stages of alkaline magmatism in the Kola region, which provided the uranium input. Uranium mineralization was related to hydrothermal and metasomatic events under medium to low temperature of ~550 °С at 2.3 Ga to ~280 °С at 0.4 Ga.

Highlights

On the Fennoscandian Shield in Russia, the areas of high uranium potential are the Onezhskaya structure and Ladoga zone in Karelia, and several structures of the Kola region [1,2]
Mineral composition of samples from pegmatoid veins show that the first association is represented by monazite (35%), apatite (30%), zircon (25%), and uraninite (10%)
The earliest stage of uranium mineralization in the Litsa area occurred 2267 ± 27 Ma ago according to U-Pb age of uraninite from vein pegmatoid granitoids of the Dikoe area

Summary

Introduction

On the Fennoscandian Shield in Russia, the areas of high uranium potential are the Onezhskaya structure and Ladoga zone in Karelia, and several structures of the Kola region [1,2]. The most promising structures within the Kola region in respect to uranium enrichment are the Litsa area in the northwestern part of the Murmansk region, and the Salla-Kuolajarvi zone at the boundary with. The Litsa uranium-ore zone was selected by Savitsky et al [4] in the northeastern surroundings of the Pechenga rift and bounded by a chain of the Litsa-Araguba granitoid bodies in the east (Figure 1a,b). The uranium occurrences of the Litsa area are related to hydrothermal type in the long-lived faults in areas of re-activation of Precambrian shields [6], or to metasomatic type in granites [7]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion