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Occurrence of tosudite in the Guezouman, Tarat and Tchirezrine 2 formations, hosts of uranium deposits in Niger (Tim Mersoï basin)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sophie Billon ,
Patricia Patrier ,
Daniel Beaufort ,
Paul Sardini  and
Aurélia Wattinne-Morice
Sophie Billon*
Affiliation:
Société ERM, rue Michel Brunet, Bat. 35, 86000 Poitiers, France Université de Poitiers, UMR 7285 CNRS, IC2MP, rue Michel Brunet, Bat. 35, 86073 Poitiers cedex 9, France
Patricia Patrier
Affiliation:
Université de Poitiers, UMR 7285 CNRS, IC2MP, rue Michel Brunet, Bat. 35, 86073 Poitiers cedex 9, France
Daniel Beaufort
Affiliation:
Université de Poitiers, UMR 7285 CNRS, IC2MP, rue Michel Brunet, Bat. 35, 86073 Poitiers cedex 9, France
Paul Sardini
Affiliation:
Université de Poitiers, UMR 7285 CNRS, IC2MP, rue Michel Brunet, Bat. 35, 86073 Poitiers cedex 9, France
Aurélia Wattinne-Morice
Affiliation:
AREVA, 1 place Jean Millier, 92084 Paris la Défense, France
*
*E-mail: sophie.billon@univ-poitiers.fr
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Abstract

Tosudite, a regularly interstratified chlorite-smectite, crystallizes as an alteration mineral of several preexisting Al-bearing silicates (feldspars, kaolin minerals, chlorites) present in arkosic sandstones hosted in uranium deposits in Niger. X-ray diffraction patterns show a sharp superstructure at 29–29.6 Å for an air-dried state and a peak at 30.8–31.6 Å following ethylene glycol solvation. The 060 reflection at 1.507–1.509 Å indicates an overall dioctahedral character, and the very low coefficient of variation of the d 00l reflections for the solvated mineral (0.03–0.13) permits validation of the regular interstratification justifying its identification as tosudite. Microprobe analysis allowed specification of the component layers of this mixed-layer mineral. The chlorite is a di-trioctahedral type analogous to sudoite (Si3Al4Mg2(OH)8), and the smectite component is a low-charge montmorillonite type Tosudite is characterized by large Al2O3 and MgO contents and small Fe content; its composition corresponds approximately to the formula where octahedral occupancy is ∼7. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations show that tosudite is closely associated with some uranium minerals: tosudite crystallization occurred during a late alteration event which post-dates burial diagenesis and during which uranium was remobilized by Mg-rich oxidizing fluids.

Keywords

tosuditeuranium depositsNigersandstonesoxidizing fluidspost-diagenetic alteration

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , September 2016 , pp. 635 - 651
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2016

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Footnotes

†

This work was originally presented during the session ‘The many faces of chlorite’, part of the Euroclay 2015 conference held in July 2015 in Edinburgh, UK.

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