Uranium mobility and its implication on favourable potentiality concentration in Gabal Um-Araka area, Northern Eastern Desert, Egypt

• Published in: Arabian journal of geosciences Vol. 12; no. 23; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: El-Qassas, Reda Abdu Yousef, Abu-Donia, Atef Mohamed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Deposition; Deserts; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth science; Earth Sciences; Feldspars; Gabbro; Gamma rays; Geologic mapping; Geological mapping; Geological maps; Leaching; Mineralization; New Advances and Research Results on the Geology of Africa; Pleistocene; S. I. Geology of Africa; Sediment; Sediments; Spectrometry; Uranium; Eastern Desert; Egypt; Northern Eastern Desert; Airborne gamma-ray spectrometry; Uranium mobility; Gabal Um-Araka area; Egypt
• ISSN: 1866-7511; 1866-7538
• DOI: 10.1007/s12517-019-4902-2

The airborne gamma-ray spectrometric data of Um-Araka area, Northern Eastern Desert of Egypt, were treated and correlated with the geological map with the aim of searching for areas of high potentiality of uranium mineralization. Uranium migration was applied to yield leaching and deposition zones of uranium for each rock unit. The positive values (representing deposition zones) are recorded on intermediate metavolcanics, Samh Formation, alkali feldspar granites, monzogranites and Gharamul Formation. Meanwhile, negative values (representing leaching zones) are associated with acidic metavolcanics, gabbro-diorites, granodiorites and Gabir Formation, as well as Pleistocene sediments, alluvial and recent wadi sediments. Uranium favourability indices (U
2
) and alteration—F—parameters were calculated for the different lithologic units. Monzogranite, alkali feldspar granite and intermediate metavolcanics with Wadi sediments show relatively high values for both indicators. Meanwhile, Pleistocene sediments and Samh Formation display relatively the lowest values.