Distribution and evolution of uranium in the oceanic lithosphere

Abstract

Induced fission track techniques permit us to determine quantitatively the microscopic distribution of uranium in rocks, in their constituent minerals, and in percolating fluids. Both primary magmatic variations and secondary mobilization of uranium can be discerned. Concentrations of uranium in phenocrysts and fresh glasses of oceanic basalts and gabbros are very low (2-80 parts/10 9 ) and are comparable to concentrations in the same minerals of the associated ultramafic rocks. Variations with depth in D.S.D.P. holes show several distinct cyclic variations of uranium, accompanied by parallel trends in some major and trace elements. In Hole 332B (mid-Atlantic ridge, 36 °N), uranium and other elements can be shown to fall into two distinct groupings, each group following its own characteristic fractionation trend, suggesting that two distinct magmas differentiated independently beneath the median valley, the two magmas alternating in their contribution to the formation of oceanic layer 2. Earlier investigations of the uranium distribution in surface pillows and other dredged rocks exposed to sea water had shown that, owing to halmyrolysis, the uranium concentration increases systematically with distance from the axis of a midoceanic ridge. Subsequent investigations on rocks drilled from horizons deeper into oceanic layer 2 indicate that secondary enrichment or redistribution of uranium is confined to specific zones of altered basalt, near fractures, pillow and flow margins, and especially along horizontal planes of breccias and sediments in between massive flow where convective water circulation is thought to occur. Ultramafic rocks from the base of layer 3 and top of layer 4 are also enriched in uranium when hydrated by sea water during the process of serpentinization. A combination of these processes may double the uranium content of an oceanic lithospheric plate between the time of its formation and its eventual subduction.