Tracing the palaeoredox conditions at Forsmark, Sweden, using uranium mineral geochronology

• U-Pb isotope systems have been used to constrain the timing of formation, alteration, and oxidation of U minerals from the meta-granitic bedrock at Forsmark, eastern Sweden. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has been used to collect U-Pb data from uraninite. Discordant data suggest a ~1.8 Ga emplacement of uraninite-bearing pegmatites and an event of uraninite alteration at ~1.6 Ga. The latter age is contemporaneous with the Gothian orogeny in Scandinavia, which was associated with hydrothermal fluid circulation in the Fennoscandian Shield. Ca-uranyl silicates haiweeite and uranophane predominately formed 1.3–1.2 Ga, contemporaneous with the emplacement of the Satakunta complex of the Central Scandinavian Dolerite Group. A Palaeozoic group of Ca-U(VI)-silicates is also present, which indicates that the geochemical composition of geologic fluids was heterogeneous throughout the fracture network during this time. Low Pb concentrations in the U(VI) silicates of several samples are compatible with a recent (<100 Ma) alteration or precipitation of these minerals in connection to reaction with carbonate-rich fluids. The results support a geologically early oxidation of U(IV) to U(VI) and provide insight into the palaeoredox conditions that may impart an on-going influence on the mobility of natural U in the Forsmark fracture network.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Geochronology

Uranyl silicates

Uraninite

Deep groundwater

Water-rock interaction

Hydrothermal fluids

Oxidation

The changing Earth

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