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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
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Uranium mineralization has been intersected in a Cretaceous Dakota fluvial channel in the Church Rock district of the Grants mineral belt, New Mexico. This channel scours into the Brushy Basin Member of the Jurassic Morrison Formation and contains the only mineralization discovered in the Dakota Sandstone on the property. Two hypotheses may explain the source of the uranium: (1) a reworking of the Westwater Canyon sediments south of the orebody where the Brushy Basin is absent, and (2) the expulsion of uranium-bearing waters from the underlying Brushy Basin mudstone.
A Laramide uplift created a hydrologic gradient which resulted in the encroachment of oxidizing ground waters upon the orebody. The southern half of the orebody exhibits a limonitic(?) staining and paucity of actual uranium compared to radiometrics whereas the northern half lacks obvious iron staining and possesses an abundance of uranium over the associate radiometrics.
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