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Preliminary Report on the Uranium Favorability of the Hartselle Sandstone and the Pottsville Formation in the Coosa Basin, Alabama

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Preliminary Report on the Uranium Favorability of the Hartselle Sandstone and the Pottsville Formation in the Coosa Basin, Alabama GJBX-83(78) PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE URANIUM FAVORABILITY OF THE HARTSELLE SANDSTONE AND THE POTTSVILLE FORMATION IN THE COOSA BASIN, ALABAMA ndi Field Engineering Corporation Grand Junction Operations Grand Junction, Colorado 81501 June 1978 PREPARED FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GRAND JUNCTION OFFICE UNDER CONTRACT NO. EY-76-C-13-1664 metadc784588 This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Govern- ment. Neither the United States nor the United States Department of Energy, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibilityfor the ac- curacy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. I I GJBX-83(78) PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE URANIUM FAVORABILITY OF THE HARTSELLE SANDSTONE AND THE POTTSVILLE FORMATION IN THE COOSA BASIN, ALABAMA Erik H. Schot and H. Michael Penley BENDIX FIELD ENGINEERING CORPORATION Grand Junction Operations Grand Junction, Colorado 81501 June 1978 PREPARED FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GRAND JUNCTION OFFICE UNDER CONTRACT NO. EY-76-C-13-1664 CONTENTS Page Summary . 1 Introduction . 2 Purpose . 2 Location . 2 Previous and present studies . 2 Geology . 4 Stratigraphy . 4 Major rock units under consideration . 4 Hartselle Sandstone . 4 Pottsville Formation . 4 Structure . 10 Procedures . 10 Literature study . 10 Field investigations . 10 Analytical investigations . 10 Uranium favorability . 11 Evidence of uranium mineralization . 11 Favorability characteristics . 11 Hartselle Sandstone . 11 Pottsville Formation . 12 Possible sources of detritus and uranium . 12 Hartselle Sandstone . 12 Pottsville Formation . 13 Results ............................................... 0.9..... 13 iii CONTENTS (continued) Page Radiometric surveys . 13 Petrography . 13 Chemistry. .... ....... 13 Conclusions . 14 Bibliography. .... ........ 17 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Generalized geologic map of the Coosa basin, Alabama, and adjacent areas . 3 Plate 1. Locations of samples, scintillometer readings, and subbasins in the Coosa basin, Alabama . In pocket 2. Generalized stratigraphic section of the Coosa basin, Alabama . 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. In pocket TABLES Table 1. Paleozoic rock units of the Coosa basin and their equivalent uranium contents . 5 2. Results of petrographic and chemical analyses . 6 iv SUMMARY The Hartselle Sandstone and the Pottsville Formation in the Coosa basin were studied to determine if the units appear favorable for the occurrence of uranium deposits and if a more detailed investigation of the area is warranted. The study involved a literature synthesis, field work, and sampling of rock outcrops for petrographic and chemical analyses. The study indicates that the Hartselle Sandstone and the Pottsville For- mation possess characteristics favorable for uranium mineralization to have occurred. Alteration features and evidence of secondary mineralization at surface exposures suggest that both the Hartselle and Pottsville may possess additional favorable characteristics in the subsurface. Because of extensive leaching and oxidation of Hartselle and Pottsville exposures, the results from chemical analyses for U3 0, and scintillometer surveys may not be an accurate indication of favorability for uranium occur- rences in the area. Low chemical uranium values obtained from fluorometric analyses as well as the low radioactivity observed in the field do not nec- essarily indicate a low potential for uranium mineralization at depth. 1 INTRODUCTION PURPOSE The purpose of this preliminary geologic study was to evaluate the Paleo- zoic rock units exposed in the Coosa basin of Alabama as potential uranium hosts. The study evolved as a result of a report by Dennison and Wheeler (1972) on the potential as uranium host rocks of fluvial-deltaic, Precambrian through Cretaceous strata in the southeastern United States. The Mississippian Hartselle Sandstone and the Lower Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation were given prime consideration on the basis of the findings and recommendations of Stow (1955), Ferm and Galloway (1971), and Dennison and Wheeler (1972). LOCATION The Coosa basin lies within the Valley and Ridge province along the south- eastern margin of the Appalachian Carboniferous plateau. The basin trends northeastward and extends from southwestern Shelby County, across St. Clair County, into northwestern Calhoun County in north-central Alabama, and occupies approximately 260 sq mi in the eastern half of the Birmingham quadrangle (U.S. Geol. Survey, 1969; P1. 1; Fig. 1). PREVIOUS AND PRESENT STUDIES Previous geological investigations of the Coosa basin pertain to coal, ground water, and clay resources (Gibson, 1895; Prouty, 1909; Butts, 1925; Jones, 1925, 1929; Johnston, 1933; Rothrock, 1949a, 1949b; Causey, 1963; Culbertson, 1964; Clarke, 1968) and to the general geology, stratigraphy, and structure of the basin (Gibson, 1895; McCalley, 1897; Butts, 1927; Rothrock, 1948, 1949a, 1949b; Causey, 1963; Culbertson, 1963; Cooper, 1964; Carrington, 1965; Mueller, 1965; Thomas, 1965a, 1965b, 1967, 1972a; Ferm and Ehrlich, 1967; Wanless, 1967; Clarke, 1968; Drahovzal and Neathery, 1971; Ferm and Galloway, 1971). Geologic maps of the Coosa basin have been prepared by Prouty (1912), Butts (1927), Rothrock (1948, 1949a), and Clarke (1968). The Geological Survey of Alabama conducted a study of the uranium poten- tial of the Pottsville Formation and of the Tuscaloosa Group in central Alabama as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's Uranium and Thorium Resource Assessment and Exploration Research Program for FY 1976 (Finch, 1975; Gilbert, 1976). The study included geologic mapping, radiometric surveying, and stream-sediment sampling. Seventy stream-sediment samples were collected from the Coosa basin and submitted for chemical analysis to the Savannah River Laboratory as part of the hydrogeochemical and stream-sediment reconnaissance surveys being con- ducted in connection with the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administra- tion's National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) program (Finch, 1975; Savannah River Lab., 1976). 2 R.2 E.I R.3 E. 010 M iles .- .---. .--- ..........- . ................. : .- . ........ N ...... .-- *-**.**... .- *'- . -"-... - - -- A LA BAM A - -INDE- - -.- X MA P BASIN BOUNDARY -:-::- -- -PENNSYLVANIAN SMISSISSI PPIAN SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN UNDIFFERENTIATED U THRUST FAULT CAMBRIAN AND ORDOVICIAN UNDIFFERENTIATED (Modified after Clarke, 1968) Figure 1. Generalized geologic map of the Coosa basin, Alabama, and adjacent areas. 3 GEOLOGY STRATIGRAPHY Exposed rock units in the Coosa basin range in age from Late Cambrian through Early Pennsylvanian. Plate 2 is a generalized stratigraphic section for the basin, Table 1 lists the Paleozoic rock units radiometrically surveyed for this study, and Figure 1 shows the generalized schematic geology of the area. MAJOR ROCK UNITS UNDER CONSIDERATION Hartselle Sandstone The Hartselle Sandstone conformably overlies the Pride Mountain Formation (Mississippian) for a distance of 35 mi along a part of the basin's north- western flank from Leeds northeastward to beyond Odenville (Thomas, 1965a). The Hartselle attains a maximum thickness of 189 ft near Odenville and pinches out laterally in Shelby County to the southwest and Calhoun County to the northeast. The Hartselle is the thickest sandstone in the Mississippian rock sequence of the basin and consists of sandy, brown-weathering siltstone which grades upward into a light-gray, fine-grained, well-sorted, thin- to medium-bedded, laminated quartzose sandstone (Rothrock, 1949b). Locally, the Hartselle is calcareous and conglomeratic with clay-, shale-, and siderite-pebble con- glomerates. Shale and shaly sandstone intercalations, which are in part carbonaceous and pyritic, occur throughout the Hartselle sequence (Thomas, 1972a). Petrographic analyses indicate that Hartselle sandstones are pre- dominantly quartz arenites and subordinately feldspathic arenites, which are fine to medium grained and moderately to well sorted (Table 2). The Hartselle Sandstone is thought to represent an interval of clastic sedimentation along a barrier-island complex (Thomas, 1972a). The pinching out of the Hartselle along the strike of the isopachous maximum in the Coosa basin (Thomas, 1972a, p. 3, Fig. 1, Pl. 10) is attributed to accelerated subsidence of the basin and concurrent disintegration of the barrier form. This subsidence or downwarping of the basin led to the development of gravity slides, such as those observed in Hartselle exposures along the railroad cuts east of Odenville. Pottsville Formation The Pottsville Formation unconformably overlies the Parkwood Formation of Mississippian age and occupies the central part of the basin. Until recently the contact between the Parkwood and Pottsville Formations was viewed as either regionally unconformable or gradationally conformable, be- cause of the presence of localized scour and fills at its base (Thomas, 1972a). The Pottsville thickens from 5,000 ft at the northeastern end of 4 TABLE 1. PALEOZOIC ROCK UNITS OF THE COOSA BASIN AND THEIR EQUIVALENT URANIUM CONTENTS Geologic eU* Number of series or Formation Lithology (ppm) locations shale 12-31 38 siltstone (incl. red beds) 4-24 7 coal 17-22 2 29 1 Pottsville Formation underclay P l mcross-bedded sandstone 4-14 5 Z heavily leached, banded sandstone 2-12
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