Petrographic relationships between mineral phases and bitumen in the Oklo Proterozoic natural fission reactors, Gabon

Mineralogical Magazine

Volumn 60, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 581-593

  Parnell, John ^a  

^a QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Bitumen; Gabon; Natural fission reactors; Oklo; Uranium

Indexed keywords

BITUMEN; NATURAL FISSION REACTOR; PROTEROZOIC; RADIONUCLIDE TRANSPORT; URANIUM;

GABON, OKLO;

EID: 0030481985     PISSN: 0026461X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1996.060.401.04     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Alpern, B. (1978) Etude petrographique de la matière organique d'Oklo. In Les Reacteurs de Fission Naturels. IAEA-TC-119, Vienna, 333-51.
2. Brookins, D.G. (1983) Migration and retention of elements at the Oklo natural reactor. Environment. Geol., 4, 201-8.
3. Brookins, D.G. (1984) Geochemical Aspects of Radioactive Waste Disposal. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
4. Brookins, D.G. (1990) Radionuclide behaviour at the Oklo nuclear reactor, Gabon. Waste Management, 10, 285-96.
5. Cassou, A.-M., Connan, J., Correia, M. and Orgeval, J.-J. (1975) Etudes chimiques et observations microscopiques de la matière organique de quelques mineralisations uranifères. In Le Phénomène d'Oklo. IAEA- SM-204, Vienna, 195-206.
6. Cortial, F., Gauthier-Lafaye, F., Oberlin, A., Lacrampe-Couloume, G. and Weber, F. (1990) Characterization of organic matter associated with uranium deposits in the Francevillian Formation of Gabon (Lower Proterozoic). Org. Geochem., 15, 73-85.
7. Curtis, D., Benjamin, T., Gancarz, A., Loss, R., Rosman, K., De Laeter, J., Delmore, J.E. and Maeck, W.J. (1989) Fission product retention in the Oklo natural fission reactors. Appl. Geochem., 4, 49-62.
8. De Laeter, J.R. (1985) The Oklo reactors: natural analogues to nuclear waste repositories. Search, 16, 193-6.
9. De Laeter, J.R., Rosman, K.J.R. and Smith, C.L. (1980) The Oklo natural reactor: cumulative fission yields and retentivity of the symmetric mass region fission products. Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, 50, 238-46.
10. Durrance, E.M. (1986) Radioactivity in Geology, Principles and Applications. Wiley, London.
11. Eakin, P.A. (1989) Isotopic and petrographic studies of uraniferous hydrocarbons from around the Irish Sea Basin. J. Geol. Soc., Lond., 146, 663-73.
12. Eberly, P., Janeczek, J. and Ewing, R.C. (1994) Petrographic analysis of samples from the uranium deposit at Oklo, Republic of Gabon. Radiochim. Acta, 66, 455-61.
13. Fischer, R.P., Hall, J.C. and Rominger, J.F. (1947) Vanadium deposits near Placerville, San Miguel County, Colorado. Colorado Sci. Soc. Proc., 15, 115-34.
14. Friedlander, G. and Kennedy, J.W. (1962) Nuclear and Radiochemistry. Wiley, New York.
15. Gauthier-Lafaye, F. and Weber, F. (1981) Les concentrations uranifères du Francevillien du Gabon: leur association avec des gites a hydrocarbures fossiles du Proterozoique inferieur. Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci., 292, 69-74.
16. Gauthier-Lafaye, F. and Weber, F. (1989) The Francevillian (Lower Proterozoic) uranium ore deposits of Gabon. Econ. Geol., 84, 2267-85.
17. Gauthier-Lafaye, F. and Weber, F. (1993) Uraniumhydrocarbon association in Francevillian uranium ore deposits, Lower Proterozoic of Gabon. In Bitumens in Ore Deposits, J. Parnell, H. Kucha and P. Landais, eds. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 276-86.
18. Gauthier-Lafaye, F., Weber, F. and Ohmoto, H. (1989) Natural fission reactors of Oklo. Econ. Geol., 84, 2286-95.
19. Geffroy, J. (1975) Etude microscopique des minerais uranifères d'Oklo. In Le Phénomène d'Oklo. IAEA-SM-204, Vienna, 133-51.
20. Hemond, C., Menet, C. and Menager, M.T. (1992) U and Nd isotopes from the new Oklo reactor 10 (Gabon): evidence for radioelements migration. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 257, 489-96.
21. Hidaka, H., Holliger, P. and Masuda, A. (1993) Evidence of fissiogenic Cs estimated from Ba isotopic deviations in an Oklo natural reactor zone, Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, 114, 391-6.
22. Lancelot, J.R., Vitrac, A. and Allegre, C.J. (1975) The Oklo natural reactor: age and evolution studies by U-Pb and Rb-Sr systematics. Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, 25, 189-96.
23. Leventhal, J.S., Daws, T.A. and Frye, J.S. (1986) Organic geochemical analysis of sedimentary organic matter associated with uranium. Appl. Geochem., 1, 241-7.
24. Leventhal, J.S., Grauch, R.I., Threlkeld, C.N., Lichte, F.E. and Harper, C.T. (1987) Unusual organic matter associated with uranium from the Claude deposit, Cluff Lake, Canada. Econ. Geol., 82, 1169-76.
25. Loss, R.D., Rosman, K.J.R. and De Laeter, J.R. (1984) Transport of symmetric mass region fission products at the Oklo natural reactors. Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, 68, 240-8.
26. Loss, R.D., Rosman, K.J.R., De Laeter, J.R., Curtis, D.B., Benjamin, T.M., Gancarz, A.J., Maeck, W.J. and Delmore, J.E. (1989) Fission-product retentivity in peripheral rocks at the Oklo natural fission reactors, Gabon. Chem. Geol., 76, 71-84.
27. Loubet, M. and Allegre, C.J. (1977) Behaviour of the rare earth elements in the Oklo natural reactor. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 41, 1539-48.
28. Maurette, M., (1976) Fossil nuclear reactors. Annual Review of Nuclear Science, 26, 319-50.
29. Menet, C., Menager, M.T. and Petit, J.C. (1992) Migration of radioelements around the new nuclear reactors at Oklo: analogies with a high-level waste repository. Radiochimica Acta, 59, 395-400.
30. Mossman, D.J., Nagy, B., Rigali, M.J., Gauthier-Lafaye, F. and Holliger, P. (1993) Petrography and paragenesis of organic matter associated with the natural fission reactors at Oklo, Republic of Gabon: a preliminary report. Int. J. Coal Geol., 24, 179-94.
31. Nagy, B., Gauthier-Lafaye, F., Holliger, P., Davis, D.W., Mossman, D.J., Leventhal, J.S., Rigali, M.J. and Parnell, J. (1991a) Organic matter and containment of uranium and fissiogenic isotopes at the Oklo natural reactors. Nature, 354, 472-5.
32. Nagy, B., Leventhal, J.S. and Gauthier-Lafaye, F. (1991b) Organic geochemical and petrological investigations of a natural reactor and its environs at Oklo, Gabon: a preliminary report. U. S. Geol. Surv. Circular, 1058, 65-7.
33. Nagy, B., Gauthier-Lafaye, F., Holliger, P., Mossman, D.J., Leventhal, J.S. and Rigali, M.J. (1993) Role of organic matter in the Proterozoic Oklo natural fission reactors, Gabon, Africa. Geology, 21, 655-8.
34. Nagy, B. and Rigali, M.J. (1993) Newly discovered, organic matter-rich natural fission reactors at Oklo and Bangombé: Are they useful analogs for long-term anthropogenic nuclear waste containment? WM '93 Conference Proceedings, Tucson, 897-900.
35. Naudet, R. (1978) Conclusion sur le déroulement du phénomène. In The Natural Fission Reactors. Int. Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 715-34.
36. Parnell, J. (1984) The distribution of uranium in kolm: evidence from backscattered electron imagery. Geol. Forenin. i Stockholm Forhandl., 106, 231-4.
37. Parnell, J., and Eakin, P. (1987) The replacement of sandstones by uraniferous hydrocarbons: Significance for petroleum migration. Mineral. Mag., 51, 505-15.
38. Parnell, J., Monson, B. and Tosswill, R.J. (1990) Petrography of thoriferous hydrocarbon nodules in sandstones, and their significance for petroleum exploration. J. Geol. Soc., Lond., 147, 837-42.
39. Rimsaite, J. (1978) Layer silicates and clays in the Rabbit Lake uranium deposit, Saskatchewan. Geol. Surv. Canada Current Research, Part A, Paper 78-1A, 303-15.
40. Rimsaite, J. (1982) Mode of occurrence of secondary radionuclide-bearing minerals in natural argillized rocks: A preliminary report related to a barrier clay in nuclear waste disposal. Geol. Surv. Canada Current Research, Part A, Paper 82-1A, 247-59.
41. Rouzard, J.N., Oberlin, A. and Trichet, J. (1980) Interaction of uranium and organic matter in uraniferous sediments. In Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1979, A.G. Douglas, A.G. and J.R. Maxwell, eds. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 505-16.
42. Ruffenach, J.C., Hagemann, R. and Roth, E. (1980) Isotopic abundances measurements a key to understanding the Oklo phenomenon. Zeits. Naturforsch., 35a, 171-9.
43. Smits, G. (1992) Mineralogical evidence for geochemical environment at the earth's surface during deposition of Witwatersrand reefs. Trans. Inst. Mining Metall. (Section B. Appl. Earth Sci.), 101, 99-107.