Development features of a supergene zone on a uranium-phosphorous deposit

Abstract

It has been established that an old linear weathering crust developed on a layer-like, steeply dipping body of uraniferous phosphorites. In the upper part it consists of a karst cavity, and deeper down, an unusual deep-seated zone of layered oxidation immediately below which there is an enrichment zone of the phosphorites in a visible pitchblende mineralization. The latter is characterized by a series of specific features, spatially and genetically clearly associated with distinct supergene processes of hydrohematitization and hydrogeothitization, and is supergene in origin.