A geogas prospecting technology suitable for the exploration of concealed sandstone-type uranium deposits in desert areas
ZHOU Si-Chun1(), LIU Xiao-Hui1, QIN Ming-Kuan2, LIU Guo-An1, GUO Qiang2, XU Qiang2, HU Bo1, WANG Guang-Xi1
1. Applied Nuclear Technology in Geosciences Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province,Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China 2. Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, Beijing 100029, China
This study developed a geogas prospecting technology suitable for concealed sandstone-type uranium deposits in desert areas. This prospecting technology consisted primarily of three parts: A geogas information collection device and sampling method tailored to desert, a method for geogas information preprocessing using the detector and material composition tests, and a method for data processing and anomaly inference and interpretation. This technology was developed based on the mechanisms behind geogas material migration and utilized a desert-specific, dust pollution-resistant geogas material sampling device equipped with a detector made of low-background polyurethane foam. Through cumulative sampling for around 45 d, this technology can effectively capture the content of U, rare earths, and associated (paragenetic) elements in concealed sandstone-type uranium deposits within desert-covered exploration areas and delineate deep uranium enrichment zones, thus achieving the goal of ore prospecting. The world's first geogas exploration section for sandstone-type uranium deposits in a desert area has been completed in an exploration area in Xinjiang, demonstrating the effectiveness of the geogas prospecting technology developed in this study.
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