Abstract
The Ordovician-Lower Carboniferous sequence of slightly metamorphosed gray carbonate-terrigenous rocks contains the Silurian black cherty shales enriched in carbon (6–9%), pyrite (6–7%), and uranium (∼30 ppm). The uranium ore is localized at the pinch-out of areal and linear zones of the Early Permian supergene (exogenic) oxidation of rocks expressed in reddening (hematitization). U, As, Sb, Cu, Ni, Mo, and Ag have been removed from the oxidized black shales and concentrated in the cementation zone in form of pitchblende and sulfides in wall-rock disseminations and veinlets largely hosted in carbonate-bearing rocks. In the Late Permian, during deposition of the upper Rotliegende and Zechstein, the fractures in the basement were filled with carbonates and sulfates; uranium was partly redeposited along with enrichment in Pb and Zn. Mesozoic and Cenozoic supergene processes altered uranium ore insignificantly.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Afanas’ev, S.L., Geokhronologicheskaya shkala fanerozoya i problema geologicheskogo vremeni (Geochronological Scheme of Phanerozoic and Geological Time), Moscow: Nedra, 1987.
Anderson, E.B., Zaslavsky, V.G., Lobikov, A.F., et al., Isotopic Dating of Mineral Assemblages in the Paleozoic Black Shales, in Geokhronologiya i geokhimiya izotopov (Isotope Geochronology and Geochemistry), Leningrad: Nauka, 1987, pp. 67–77.
Arapov, Yu.A., Boitsov, V.E., Kremchukov, G.A., et al., Uranovye mestorozhdeniya Chekhoslovakii (Uranium Deposits of Chechoslovakia), Moscow: Nedra, 1984.
Dill, H. and Botz, R., Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Carbonate Mineralization and Their Role for Environmental Analyses of Lower Permian Clastic and Volcaniclastic Sediments (Stockheim Trough, Federal Republic of Germany), Mineral. Petrol., 1987, vol. 37, pp. 251–266.
Geologie von Thuringen (Bezirke Erfurt, Gehra, Suhl), Leipzig: Gotha, 1974.
Getseva, R.V., Characterization of Sedimentary-Metamorphic Type of Uranium Mineralization, in Voprosy geologii urana (Uranium Geology), Moscow: Atomizdat, 1957, pp. 20–37.
Getseva, R.V., Deryagin, A.A., Sozinov, N.A., and Sidorenko, S.A., Geologicheskie osobennosti i uranonosnost’ formatsii chernykh slantsev (Geology and Uranium Resource Potential of Black Shales), Moscow: Nauka, 1981.
Golubev, B.B., The Deposits Spatially and Genetically Related to U-Bearing Carbonaceous Shales, in Promyshlennye tipy uranovykh mestorozhdenii i metodika ikh poiskov (Economic Types of Uranium Deposits and Methods of Their Prospecting), Leningrad: Nedra, 1984, pp. 113–117.
Golubev, V.N., Cuney, M., and Poty, B., Phase Composition and U-Pb Pitchblende Systems of Quartz-Calcite-Pitchblende Veins at the Schlema-Alberoda Deposit (Erzgebirge), Geol. Ore Deposits, 2000, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 461–473.
Hoefs, J., Geokhimiya stabil’nykh izotopov (Stable Isotope Geochemistry), Berlin: Springer, 1980; Moscow: Mir, 1983.
Krupennikov, V.A., Localization of Uranium Ore at the Deposits Hosted in Cherty Black Shales and Limestone, Geol. Rudn. Mestorozhd., 1969, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 74–87.
Lange, G. and Freyhoff, G., Geologie und Bergbau in der Uranlagerstätte Ronneburg/Thüringen, Erzmetall, 1991, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 264–269.
Naumov, G.B., Osnovy fiziko-khimicheskoi modeli uranovogo rudoobrazovaniya (Principles of the Physicochemical Model of Uranium Ore Formation), Moscow: Atomizdat, 1978.
Omel’yanenko, B.I., Types of Wall-Rock Alteration, in Gidrotermal’nye mestorozhdeniya urana (Hydrothermal Uranium Deposits), Moscow: Nedra, 1978, pp. 264–293.
Pankratov, E.L., Stages of Exogenic Uranium Deposit Formation in the Upper Permian Terrigenous-Carbonate Sequence, in Mestorozhdeniya urana: zonal’nost’ i paragenezisy (Uranium Deposits: Zoning and Parageneses), Moscow: Atomizdat, 1970, pp. 319–350.
Perelman, A.I., Geochemistry of Hydrogenic Uranium Deposits: Definition and Research Methods, in Gidrogennye mestorozhdeniya urana (Hydrogenic Uranium Deposits), Moscow: Atomizdat, 1980, pp. 6–31.
Rybalov, B.L., Structure and Genesis of Uranium Deposits Hosted in Black Shales and Carbonate rocks, Geol. Rudn. Mestorozhd., 1965, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 3–24.
Sergeev, I.P., Formation of Stratiform Uranium Deposits by Chemical Weathering of Carbonaceous Shales, in Genezis redkometal’nykh i svintsovo-tsinkovykh stratiformnykh mestorozhdenii (Genesis of Rare-Metal and Lead-Zinc Stratiform Deposits), Moscow: Nauka, 1986, pp. 193–199.
Shmonov, G.A., Geological Features of the Ronneburg Ore Field and Genesis of Uranium Mineralization, Otech. Geol., 1995, no. 9, pp. 70–74.
Vinokurov, S.F. and Rybalov, B.L., Multistage Ore-Forming System in U-Bearing Carbonaceous Shales of Central Europe, Geol. Rudn. Mestorozhd., 1992, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 23–37.
Vinokurov, S.F., Rybalov, B.L., and Timofeev, A.V., Uranium Deposits of the Ronneburg Ore Field (Germany): Tectonic Setting, Localization Conditions and Genetic Issues, in Uranium Deposits: from Their Genesis to Their Environmental Aspects, Prague, 2002, pp. 125–126.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © A.V. Bolonin, I.F. Gradovsky, 2012, published in Geologiya Rudnykh Mestorozhdenii, 2012, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 145–156.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bolonin, A.V., Gradovsky, I.F. Supergene processes and uranium ore formation in the Ronneburg ore field, Germany. Geol. Ore Deposits 54, 122–131 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701512020031
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701512020031