International audienceThe Athabasca Basin (Canada) contains the highest grade unconformity-type uranium deposits in the world. Underlying the Athabasca Group sedimentary rocks of the Dufferin Lake Zone are variably graphitic, pelitic schists (VGPS), altered to chlorite and hematite (Red/Green Zone: RGZ). They were locally bleached near the unconformity during paleoweathering and/or later fluid interaction. Overall, graphite was lost from the RGZ and the bleached zone relative to the original VGPS. Fluid inclusions were examined in different generations of quartz veins, using microthermometry and Raman spectroscopy, to characterize and compare the different fluids that interacted with the RGZ and the VGPS. In the VGPS, CH4-, and N2-rich fluid inclusions, which homogenize into the vapor phase between −100 and −74 °C, and −152 and −125 °C, respectively, and CO2-rich fluid inclusions, homogenizing either into vapor or liquid between 20 and 28 °C, are present. Carbonic fluids could be the result of the breakdown of graphite to CH4 + CO2, whereas N2-rich fluid is interpreted to be the result of breakdown of feldspars/micas to NH4 ++N2. In the RGZ, the presence of fluid inclusions with low ice melting temperature (−38 to −16 °C) reflect the presence of CaCl2, and fluid inclusions with halite daughter minerals that dissolve between 190 and 240 °C indicate the presence of highly saline fluids. These fluids are interpreted to be derived from the Athabasca Basin. The circulation of carbonic fluids and brines occurred during two different events related to different P-T conditions of trapping. The carbonic fluids interacted with basement rocks during retrograde metamorphism of the basement rocks before deposition of the Athabasca Basin, whereas the brines circulated after the deposition of the Athabasca Basin. These latter fluids are similar to brines related to uranium mineralization at McArthur River and thus, in addition to possibly being related to graphite depletion in the RGZ, they could be linked to uranium mineralization
Unconformity-type uranium deposits from the Athabasca Basin are considered to be the result of mixing between oxidized basinal brines and basement-derived reduced fluids/gases, and/or reduced basement rocks. Graphite and/or its breakdown products are suggested to be responsible for uranium mineralization by acting as a reductant that could trigger deposition of uranium.Also, graphite is considered to be indicative of basement structures; being often concentrated along structures which can be identified as electromagnetic (EM) conductors. Thus, exploration for uranium deposits is often focused on the search for EM conductors.Underlying the sedimentary rocks of the basin in the Dufferin Lake zone are variably graphitic pelitic schists (VGPS); altered to chlorite and hematite (Red/Green Zone: RGZ), and locally bleached equivalents near the unconformity during paleoweathering or later fluid interactions. These altered zones are texturally similar rocks within "graphite-depleted zones" as the unconformity is approached. Both zones are characterized by a lower concentration of carbon and sulfur, with the bleached zone showing higher concentrations of uranium and boron, the latter corresponding to high dravite content. The major element composition of the graphitebearing pelitic schists and altered equivalents (RGZ) are similar. Raman analyses indicate that well-ordered carbon species (graphite to semi-graphite) are present in the pelitic schists, with both types more common within shear zones. In contrast, only rare low-ordered carbon species (carbonaceous matter) were detected in the graphite-depleted samples within the RGZ. This variation is interpreted to be the result of graphite consumption by oxidizing fluids migrating downward from the Athabasca Group. This graphite consumption may have resulted in the production of a mobile reductant (gas or fluid), which may have played a subsequent role in the deposition of uranium mineralization.
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