Radioactive disequilibrium in surf icial materials from uraniferous environments in Northern Saskatchewan

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 73, No. 818, 1980

W. DYCK and R.W. BOYLE, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

Scientists throughout the world have observed radioactive disequilibrium in the uranium decay series. Radiometric and fluorometric determinations of U in plants from the Goldfields district and in sediments and rocks from the Beaverlodge district exhibit marked radioactive disequilibrium. The eU/U ratio in plants rooted in mineralized ground shifts from greater than unity to less than unity for those rooted in background soils. A similar shift is observed in the transition from rocks to stream sediments and to lake sediments in the Beaverlodge district.Results of a Rn-Ra-U survey of lake bottoms in the Key Lake district show that anomalous hydromorphic U from U mineralization is parallelled by anomalous Rn, even though there is much less Ra in the lake-bottom sediments than one would expect from the amount of U present.

Keywords: Uranium, Saskatchewan, Surficial materials, Radioactivity, Plant geochemistry, Stream-sediment geochemistry, Lake-sediment geochemistry, Goldfields district, Beaverlodge district, Key Lake district.