Geochemistry of uraniferous bitumen in the southwest Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada
Geochemistry of uraniferous bitumen in the southwest Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada
Economic Geology and the Bulletin of the Society of Economic Geologists (December 2006) 101 (8): 1605-1612
- absolute age
- Athabasca District
- biogenic processes
- bitumens
- C-13/C-12
- Canada
- carbon
- cyanobacteria
- dates
- experimental studies
- geochemical controls
- geochemistry
- ICP mass spectra
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- laser ablation
- laser methods
- mass spectra
- Mesoproterozoic
- metal ores
- mineral deposits, genesis
- N-15/N-14
- nitrogen
- oxides
- paragenesis
- Precambrian
- precipitation
- Proterozoic
- S-34/S-32
- Saskatchewan
- sedimentary rocks
- spectra
- stable isotopes
- sulfur
- U/Pb
- unconformity-type deposits
- upper Precambrian
- uraninite
- uranium ores
- Western Canada
- northern Saskatchewan
The sediment-hosted unconformity-type Southwest Athabasca uranium mineralization in N Saskatchewan, Canada, contains uraniferous bitumen. Uraninite is present either as micron-sized grains dispersed in bitumen (uraniferous bitumen) or as larger grains situated in the pore space between bitumen globules. The spatial and textural relationships between uraninite and bitumen suggest that they were co-precipitated. LA-ICP-MS U/Pb dating of uraniferous bitumen yielded an age of 1575 + or - 53 Ma, similar to that of other unconformity-type uranium mineralization in the Athabasca basin, indicating that the bitumen was formed early in the history of the basin. Nitrogen, carbon, and sulphur isotope analyses of uraniferous bitumen indicate that its source material was probably kerogen produced by cyanobacteria in a clastic environment.
