Uranium in alkaline rocks

Identification of uraniferous granitoids in the USA using stream sediment geochemical data

“…Hence, metalliferous granitoids containing high concentrations of uranium and other metals in primary minerals are distinguished from mineralized granitoids, in which metals have been redistributed and occur in ore minerals. Much of the literature on granites is concerned with major element geochemistry, or petrographical and mineralogical aspects, and recent surveys (Nishimori et al, 1977;Castor et al, 1977;Murphy et al, 1978) confirm the general lack of whole-rock trace element data in relation to uranium geochemistry in granitoids and associated rocks. Simpson et al (1979) and Plant et al (1980) have shown that British metalliferous intrusions with high mean contents of uranium also have increased whole-rock levels of Th, Rb, K, Sn, Nb, Y, Cs, Ta, Li, Be, and F; low Ba, Sr, and Zr; high Rb/Sr, U/Th, Cs/K, and K/Ba ratios; low K/Rb and Sr/Y ratios; and have chondrite-normalized RE patterns that are light-RE enriched with marked negative Eu anomalies.…”