Investigation of the Uranium Source and Its Effect on Contamination of Groundwater in El Rakaiz-El Sahu Area, Southwestern Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

The studied area has a special interest in natural resources and prospecting for radioactive minerals and also, the groundwater, which has a great value for development purpose for Bedouin. At the studied locality in El Rakaiz-El Sahu area the discover tabular fractured rock bodies host uraninite, xenotime, and iron mineralization through the fracture cutting the lower Paleozoic sandstone rocks. These occurrences of minerals concentration are interpreted to the ascending solutions contain uranium and associated elements through the fractures, and may be increased with depth. According to the field investigation, petrographic and mineralogical studies, hydrothermal origin for uranium mineralization is suggested by the present work. Unusually uranium content was recorded in drinking water wells which dugged in the area. Furthermore, the radionuclides analysis of drinking water samples using high purity germanium instruments recorded the presence of very high uranium contaminant up to 1000 ppb (100 times more the maximum contaminant level). This occurs by the percolation of oxidized water through the fractured sandstone restricted by uranium minerals, leads to the partially dissolution of the uranium and, subsequently, the release of uranium to the groundwater and re-established due to water-rock interactions.

Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Uraniferous Sandstones in Fault Zone, Wadi El Sahu Area, Southwestern Sinai, Egypt: Implications for Provenance, Weathering and Tectonic Setting

“…Abu-Zeid et al (2016) concluded that the radioactive mineral deposits in the Adedia type section were mainly the product of epigenetic processes within which laterization played a major role. Bishr et al (2018) stated that the mineralized fault zone in the El Rakaiz-El Sahu area occurs in a large fracture system trending in a NE-SW direction.…”