1. Sandstone Type Uranium Mineralisation in Gondwana
Sediments of Central India:
A case study from Satpura Basin
By
Amit Majumdar, Scientific Officer-H
Atomic Minerals Directorate
Department of Atomic Energy
2. INTRODUCTION
Gondwana sediments are deposited worldwide in dominantly
Rift-related basins during Permo–Triassic, Jurassic and
Cretaceous Period.
These fluvio-deltaic sediments are known for Sandstone type
Uranium Mineralisation and important among them are Karoo
Basin, S. Africa and Parana Basin S. America.
In India, Gondwana sediments are widespread and found in
intracratonic rift related basins represented by a mosaic of
graben, half graben and tilted blocks complicated by
intersection and termination of normal faults .
Among Indian Gondwana Basins, ~14700 sq km large and
spindle shaped Satpura – Gondwana Basin (200km x 60km) in
Central India - Potential for Uranium Mineralisation.
3. GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF URANIUM MINERALISATION IN
GONDWANA SEDIMENTS
Congo
Gaban Rukwa
Satpura Sonvalley
Tanzana
Damodar valley
Carnarvin
Luano Godavari
Paraniba Perth
Canning
Parana Mocambique Ngalia
Limpopo
Springbok Flats
Peru Bolivia Main Karoo
Victoria
Botswana
Central Patagonia
Paganzo
Copper Galilee
Callingasta
Trans Antarctic Sydney
Uspallata
Neuquen South Patagonia
Location of uranium mineralization in Gondwana rocks of Gondwana land
4. GLOBAL CORRELATION OF GONDWANA FORMATIONS AND URANIUM DEPOSITS
Period South Africa South Eastern Narmada
America India Valley, India
Jurassic Elliot Santamaria Jabalpur Fm.
Molteno Panchet
Lower Triassic Formation
Bagra
Beaufort Estrata nova Raniganj Conglomerate
Group Formation
(Coal
Denwa Fm.
Measures)
Permian Pachmarhi
Ecca Series Fm.
Irati Shales
(CoalMeasu.)
Barakar Bijori Fm
Tarat Fm., Formation (Up. Permian)
Dwyaka Shale Itarare Series (Coal
Measures) Motur Fm.
Carboniferous Dwyaka Tillite Guezauman Karharbari Barakar Fm.
Fm (L. Permian)
Tillite
~~~Unc~~~ Talchir Tillite Talchir Tillite
Tupe Tillite
~~~Unc~~~~ ~~~Unc~~~ ~~~Unc~~~ ~~~~Unc~~~~
Archaean Basement Basement Basement Basement
Uranium Deposits Significant Anomalies
5. TYPES OF URANIUM MINERALIZATION IN
GONDWANA BASINS
Sand stone hosted Uranium Mineralisation
e.g. Sierra Pintada, Argentina; Figueira, Brazil;
Akouta, South Africa; Arlit, Niger etc.
Coal hosted Uranium Mineralisation
e.g. Springblock Basin, South Africa
Pelite Hosted Uranium Mineralisation
e.g. Gregorio Formation, Uruguay
Vein type Uranium Mineralisation
e.g. Rincon del Atuel, Argentina
6. DIAGONOSTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SANDSTONE TYPE OF U DEPOSITS
1. Provenance : Granitic rocks / volcanic ash (tuffaceous)
2. Depositional Envn. : Fluvial / marginal marine
3. Host rock : Silurian or younger in age.
4. Host rock having porosity and permeability.
5. Host rock having low angle basin ward dip
6. Presence of carbonaceous / humic material.
7. Low temperature ground water and meteoric water are the mineralising
solution.
8. Cover rocks.
7. METALLOGENETIC ASPECTS
The sedimentary uranium enrichment cycle consists of three stages
A. Leaching of uranium from provenance/source.
1. SOURCE
- Granite / Volcanic ash
2. WEATHERING
B. Transportation of uranium to an accumulation site.
1. TRANSPORTATION IN SURFACE WATER
- As dissolved uranyl dicarbonate complex
- Attached to dissolved or colloidal organic acids (humates)
- In original mineral as bed-load
2. IN GROUND WATER
- In areas of tectonic activity, relief & dissection
- Water expulsion from burial compaction
C. Concentration of uranium.
1. DIFFERENT DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
2. PRECIPITATION
8. DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Most sandstone hosted epigenetic mineralisation occurs primarily within facies of
terrestrial system i.e in spectrum of fluvial and alluvial fans; while secondary but
important setting is marginal marine/Shore zone.
SOURCE AREA
FAN
•Unconfined flow
Fan Delta • gravity mass transport
• confine flow
Braid
Delta
LACUSTRINE Lacustrine
Geochemical isolation Delta FLUVIAL EOLIAN
•Water mass stratification •Channelized flow •Unconfined flow
•Instability
SHORE ZONE
•Waves
•Tides
•Storm processes
DELTA • SHELF
Transitional confine •Unconfined flow
To unconfined flow •Strom processes
•waves
SLOPE AND
BASE -OF-SLOPE The eight terrigenous clastic
depositional system and the
Gavity mass transport
sediment transport pathways
± boundary confined flow
that commonly connect them.
9. TABULAR SANDSTONE TYPE URANIUM DEPOSIT
Provenance : Granite / Basement gneises When U+6 in ground water comes in contact with carb.
Host : Sst. with reducing environment matter in sediments, it is reduced to U +4 and gets
Transporting agent : Ground water precipitated to form uranium deposit
Cretaceous fluvial Uranium deposit Tertiary sediments
sediments
U+6
U+4
U+6
Carb. matter
U+4
U+6 U+6
U+6 readily form soluble salts, gets dissolved and
moves downdip along with ground water
U+4 O U+6
oxidation U+4
U+6
U+4 U+4 Granite gneiss with uranium
Granite with labile uranium
10.
11. FAVOURABILITY FACTORS FOR FORMATION OF SEDIMENTARY TYPE URANIUM
DEPOSITS, INDIA
Favourability Criteria Gondwana Siwalik Mahadek (Meghalaya)
Palaeogeography: Stable platform P P P
or foreland interior basin; shelf
margin
Provenance: Crystalline of silicic P P P
magmatic or tuffaceous (granites) (Central Himalayan (Precambrian gneises &
sediments Crystallines) Neoproterozoic Granite)
Palaeoclimate: Humid followed by P P P
arid-semiarid
Sedimentation: Fluvial / lacustrine P P P
/ marginal marine
Stratigraphic traps:Alteration of P P P
coarse and fine grained (Intermittent clay (Upp. & middle Siwalik (Palaeo-topography)
continental fluvial sediments/ horizon) boundary)
permeability barrier/topographic
depression
Chemical traps: Arkosic P P P
sediments with carbonaceous
matter/pyrite.
Protective cover P P (only in few cases) P
Age: Mostly Carboniferous to Upper carboniferous to Middle Miocene- Upper Cretaceous
Tertiary Lower Cretaceous Pliocene
P- Present
12. 68° 00’ 76° 00’ 84° 00’ 92° 00’
Distribution of Indian
Gondwana Sediments
● Srinagar
32° ● Chamba 32°
00’ 0 200 400 km 00’
●
Shimla
Delhi
■ ● Lochi Total Area of Indian Gondwanas
Gosainthan ●●
Mt. Everest ● Sikkim
Mesozoic-Tertiary ▲
Sediment-Filled Gondwana rocks
Cambey Graben
Damadar-Koel
In frontal zone of Individual Basins Area
Gondwana 24°
32° S. Rewa Basin
E. Himalaya
00’
(Sq km)
00’ Bhuj Late Gondwana
● Continental
Basin
▲
Sediments ▲ Mahanadi Calcutta Pranhita-Godavari = 29,000
▲● ■
Satpura ▲ Satpura Basin = 14,700
Gondwana
Basin Golsi-Malda
Basin ▲ Rajmahal Bengal & Bihar = 13,000
Wardha ●
Basin ●
Athgarh Gondwana Basin Upper Mahanadi = 8,771
Trough
■
Mumbai
Godawari Eastern Son Valley = 5,002
▲ Basin
●
16° ■ 16°
00’
Hyderabad ● Godawari-Krishna 00’
Trough
GONDWANA IN LESSER
Palar HIMALAYA & TETHYAN DOMAIN
Trough ■ Chennai
EASTERN COASTAL TROUGH
PENINSULAR GONDWANA BASIN
Cauvery
Trough ▲ URANIUM ANOMALIES
● THORIUM ANOMALIES
8° 8°
00’ 00’
76° 00’ 84° 00’ 92° 00’
13.
14. SOME SALIANT POINTS
The Satpura Basin, located in the central part of Indian subcontinent, is
the westernmost exposed Gondwana basin.
This basin is limited to the north by Son-Narmada geo fractures, while the
southern limit is marked by the faulted contact with Betul–Chhindwara
plateau.
It is an intra cratonic basin occurring at the junction of two tectonic trends
namely sub latitudinal ENE-WSW Satpura trend and NW-SE Godavari
grain.
Structurally, basin can be divided into Denwa sub-basin in the north and
Pench Kanhan sub basin in the south. Malni–Tamia high separates these
two basins.
The Betul–Chhindwara Crystallines form basement for Gondwanas and
represent a conspicuous lithotectonic unit of the Central Indian Tectonic
Zone (CITZ). These are traversed by several ENE –WSW trending ductile
shear zones.
15. GEOLOGY AND PALAEOCURRENT MAP OF SATPURA GONDWANA BASIN
NORTH
0 15 km
KHARATORIA
MATKULI
NANNER JHIRPA BANDHI
PACHMARHI
RAMPUR
POLAPATHAR
TAMIYA
GHORADONGRI
INDEX PARASIA
DECCAN TRAPS
JABALPUR FORMATION
UPPER
DENWA FORMATION GONDWANA
PACHMARHI FORMATION RADIOACTIVITY OCCURRENCE
MAJOR FAULT
BIJORI FORMATION
MOTUR FORMATION LOWER MINOR FAULT
BARAKAR FORMATION GONDWANA PALAEOCURRENT DIRECTION
TALCHIR FORMATION
BASEMENT
(Geology after Peter et. al., 2001)
16. GENERALISED STRATIGRAPHIC SUCCESSION
Thickness
Age Formation Litho-unit
(m)
Trap Basalt
Eocene to Lameta (Infratrappean) Calcareous Sandstone,
-- Mudstone & Conglomerate
Up. Cretaceous
~~~~~~~~~~ Unconformity ~~~~~~~~~~
Early to Middle Calcareous Sandstone and
G Jabalpur ~250
Cretaceous Limestone
Late Jurassic to Early O U
N Coarse grained sandstone and
Cretaceous P Bagra 250 - 500
D conglomerates
P
W E Sandstone – Mudstone
Early to Middle Triassic A Denwa 300-600
R alternations
N Coarse grained and pebbly
Early Triassic A Pachmarhi 500 - 800
sandstones
~~~~~~~~~~ Disconformity ~~~~~~~~~~
S
U Sandstones and Carbonaceous
Late Permian Bijori 450- 2000
P Shale
Middle Permian E L Motur 400-750 Sandstone and Red Clay
R O
G W Sandstones, Carbonaceous
Early Permian R Barakar 120-500
E shale and Coal beds
O R
U Polymictic boulder
Late Carboniferous to
P Talchir 120 - 700 conglomerate, sandstones and
Early Permian
olive green shale
~~~~~~~~~~ Unconformity ~~~~~~~~~~
Precambrian Betul–Chhindwara Crystalline Complex (Basement)
17. Basement Characteristics
Presence of granite gneiss, intrusive granites
Presence of recycled metasediments, tuffs
Average Radioelement content
Metasediments : U3O8 3.2, ThO2 17 ppm (n=30)
Granite : U3O8 7.9, ThO2 50 ppm (n=47)
Uranium Anomalies within Basement
Associated with ENE-WSW trending fractures containing
Cherty cataclasites
Radioactive phases: Collophane, allanite, zircon.
Host Rock Characteristics: Rich in P2O5 and CaO with
positive correlation with U content.
U3O8 values upto 0.31% without ThO2 (n=98)
21. DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT (MOTURS)
Claystone Sandstone PASS
90
Semi- humid
80
Semi- arid
H U M I D
70 Arid
SiO2 %
A R I D
60
(After Suttner et al. 1986)
50
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Al2O3+K2O+Na2O (%)
Semi-arid to Semi-humid depositional palaeo-climate indicates
low to moderate order of Chemical Maturity
22. PROVENANCE STUDY (MOTURS)
8
PASS Claystone Sandstone
6 Quartzose
sedimentary
Discriminant Function 2 ( f2) 4 provenance
2
Mafic
0
Igneous
provenance Felsic
-2 Igneous
provenance
-4 Intermediate
Igneous
provenance
-6
(After Roser and Krosch
1988)
-8
-8.0 -6.0 -4.0 -2.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0
Discriminant Function 1 (f1)
Discriminant function coefficients using TiO2, Al2O3, FeO(t), MgO, Na2O and
K2O i. e., F1 and F2 scores exhibit predominance of felsic igneous provenance,
along with little contribution from Quartzose Sedimentary and intermediate
igneous Provenance is supported by the presence of Granites, Metasediments in
Betul Complex. This is further substantiated by Al2O3/TiO2 ratio (8.49 to 70.11).
23. BH No:PM-22 BH No:PM-28 BH No: PM-29
INDEX
Altered brown
sandstone
Violet clay stone
Grey clayey sandstone
0.029%eU3O8 Light grey bleached
X2.30m sandstone
Sandstone with black
carb.(?) shale & pyrite
Grey sandstone with
shale fragments
0.041%eU3O8
X2.70m
0.011%eU3O8
X0.40m
0.045%eU3O8
X3.00m
24. Lithology Colour Grainsize
Depth S F M C G
0m Lithology Index
Overburden
Depth vs. Ra eU3O8 & ThO2
Sandstone for core sample
Claystone/mudstone
20m
Colour Index
Values in ppm
Brownish Yellow 0 100 200 300
Buff 175
40m Brown/Chocolate brown
Ra eU3O8
Dark Grey
Grey
176 ThO2
Light Grey/Dirty white
60m 177
Grainsize Index
S Silt/Clay Porosity 15%
F
Fine 178 by volume
M Medium
80m
C Coarse
179
G Very Coarse/Grit
100m
180
Depth (m)
181
120m
182 Porosity
11% by
LITHOLOG OF BOREHOLE PM-69 183 volume
140m Polapathar-Mansingpur Area, Betul Dist., M.P.
184
160m
Porosity
185
13% volume
186
180m
U-Mineralisation (1.90m x 0.014%)
187
200m 188
25.
26. SOURCE OF URANIUM FOR SATPURA GONDWANA SEDIMENTS
Satpura Gondwana Basin is surrounded by Granites and
Metasediments of Betul – Chhindwara Crystalline Complex and
acted as provenance for the supply of detritus material to the
basin.
Fertile basement - Metasediments of Betul crystalline complex
contains an average content of 3.2 ppm U3O8 and 17 ppm ThO2 17
ppm and granite and gneisses contain 7.9 ppm U3O8 and 50ppm
ThO2.
Uraninite, Brannerite, Davidite, Monazite, Zircon, Apatite, Sphene,
Pyrochlore and Betafite are present in the basement.
Presence of Acid Volcanics in the Provenance and Volcaniclastic
Material in Gondwana Sediments are also one of the important
source of Uranium in the system.
Sediment of Lower Gondwana contains higher intrinsic uranium
content
27. CONTROLS OF URANIUM MINERALISATION
Eh-pH condition of the depositional environment.
Change in the Palaeocurrent direction.
Alternate sequence of sandstone and claystone/shale with
shallow dip of Formation.
Porosity and permeability of host rock.
Presence of basic dykes/sills leading to compaction of
sediments and expulsion of connate water rich in dissolved
uranium, as well as act as barrier for the flow of uraniferous
groundwater.
Presence of pyrite and carbonaceous matter as reductant in the
system.
28. FAVOURABILITY FACTORS FOR URANIUM MINERALISATION IN MOTUR
FORMATION OF SATPURA GONDWANA BASIN
Highly Fertile Palaeoproterozoic Basement–cum-Provenance with Labile
Uranium
Presence of Acid Effusives in the Provenance
Thick pile of Gondwana Sediments with alternating sequence of arenaceous
and argillaceous beds in Rift related Basin
Porous and Permeable Feldspathic to Sub-feldspathic Arenites with
volcaniclastic material as well as presence of Oxidised and Reduced
Arenites
Pre- and Post-depositional reactivations and tectonic deformations
providing channel ways for hydrothermal solution movements
Enhanced Thermal Gradient by Profuse Mafic/Basic intrusives
Presence of suitable reductants such as Carbonaceous Matter, Pyrite and
Iron in sediments etc. to Fix & Precipitate U
Availability of suitable environment and locales such as Redox interfaces in
Unconformity Planes and Fracture Zones for Fixation of Uranium
INDICATES HIGH POTENTIAL OF SATPURA GONDWANA BASIN FOR
SANDSTONE-HOSTED D URANIUM MINERALISATION
29. CONCLUSIONS
GEOLOGY OF THE SATPURA GONDWANA BASIN
Satpura Gondwana basin (14700 sq km) is located in the environs of Son
– Narmada Rift Zone, which is an important Structural Domain in Central
India and known for Base Metal, Precious Metal, Radioelement and REE
mineralisation associated with various lithounits located in its vicinity.
Exposes a thick pile of Gondwana Sediments in this Rift related Basin
over Palaeoproterozoic Basement Rocks.
Gondwana sediments exhibit large facies variation right from Glacial
Tillites (Talchir) to alternate sequences of Arenaceous and Argillaceous
rocks signifying the change in depositional and tectonic environment.
Satpura Gondwana Basin has various signatures of Pre- and Post-
depositional Tectonic activity and Reactivation viz. Faults/ Fractures,
profuse emplacement of Basic Intrusives and Effusives etc.
Out of all the Formation of Lower and Upper Gondwana; Motur Formation
of Lower Gondwana seems to be the most promising horizon.
