Uranium In Alkaline Waters — Okanagan Area, British Columbia

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 71, No. 793, 1978

R. R. Culbert and D. G. Leighton, D. G. Leighton & Associates Ltd., Vancouver, B.C.

Several thousand parts per billion of uranium are present in some alkaline lake and ground waters of the Okanagan region, British Columbia. To a major extent, the uranium content of these highly anomalous waters is controlled by their levels of dissolved bicarbonate. In lakes, dissolved bicarbonate and the organic content of the sediment largely control the partitioning of uranium between sediment and water. This relationship is found to a lesser extent in alkaline creeks, and transported geo-chemical anomalies in soils appear where uranium-bearing alkaline ground waters have encountered organic materials. There is a possibility that young, near-surface deposits (with very low radioactivity) are forming from these uraniferous waters.

Mots Clés: Exploration, Geochemical exploration, Uranium exploration, Alkaline waters, Okanagan area, Bicarbonate analyses, Lake waters, Stream waters, Soil geochemistry, Secondary deposits.