An approach to understand the uranium’s concentration variance on the eastern and western sides of the Nile Valley phosphorites, Egypt

Abstract

The Nile Valley is a main area for Egyptian phosphorites. The studied samples from the eastern and western sides of the Nile Valley showed similarities in their characteristics, suggesting one depositional basin, but they varied in their uranium content, with averages recorded at 91.7 and 44.83 ppm on the eastern and western sides, respectively. The evidence pointed out that initially the uranium was formed by adsorption onto the iron oxides and organic matter surfaces, then it was partially removed under the effect of groundwater, and the removal was deeper in the western phosphorites than the eastern ones.