Radioelement anomalous rock types and uranium migration in Wadi Araba area, Northern Eastern Desert, Egypt

Abstract

The present study deals with integration between aeroradspectrometric and geologic data to identify significant anomalous rock types of high U, Th and K concentrations in Wadi Araba. Their delineation is based on the technique of computation of uranium favourability index (U 2 ), three-elemental effective (F) and corroboration (C). The U 2 -index, F- parameter and C- factor were found to vary from 0.28 to 1.29 for U 2 , from 0.13 to 0.30 for F and from 8.33 to 14.60 for C. The study area was selected to apply these techniques due to its distinct stratigraphic and structural setting which give a good chance to deposit a different types of minerals in it. Investigation of the possibility of identifying rock types, where uranium migration took place, was conducted to delineate the degree of such migration. The estimated contents of eU (ppm), eTh (ppm), K% and eU/eTh (ppm/ppm) ratio for the different rock types were used to study of such mobilization of uranium. The study revealed that uranium migration out was associated with all the rock types of the area except El-Galala formation which still as it is over the time without any change.