Genesis and formation conditions of deposits in the unique Strel’tsovka Molybdenum-Uranium ore field: New mineralogical,geochemical, and physicochemical evidence

The ambiguity of genetic interpretations of uranium ore formation at Mo-U deposits of the Strel’tsovka ore field led us to perform additional geochemical, mineralogical, and thermobarogeochemical studies. As a result, it has been established that closely related U and F were progressively gained in the Late Mesozoic volcanic rocks from the older basic volcanics (170 Ma) to the younger silicic igneous rocks (140 Ma). The Early Cretaceous postmagmatic hydrothermal epoch (140–125 Ma) is subdivided into preore, uranium ore, and first and second postore stages. The primary brannerite-pitchblende ore was formed in association with fluorite. At the first postore stage, this assemblage was replaced by a U-Si metagel, which was previously identified as coffinite. The metagel shows a wide compositional variation; its fine structure has been studied. The preore metasomatic alteration and related veined mineralization were formed under the effect of sodium (bicarbonate)-chloride solution at a temperature of 250–200°C. The uranium ore formation began with albitization and hematitization of rocks affected by supercritical fluid at 530–500°C; brannerite and pitchblende precipitated at 350–300°C. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns of pitchblende hosted in trachybasalt, trachydacite, and granite demonstrate a pronounced Sm-Nd discontinuity and a statistically significant tetrad effect of W type. These attributes were not established in REE patterns of rhyolites derived from the upper crustal magma chamber. This circumstance and a chronological gap of 5 Ma between silicic volcanism and ore formation do not allow us to suggest that uranium was derived from this magma chamber. According to the proposed model, the evolved silicic Li-F magma was a source of uranium. U⁴⁺, together with REE, was fractionated into the fluid phase as complex fluoride compounds. The uranium mineralization was deposited at a temperature barrier. It is suggested that hydromica alteration and the formation of molybdenum mineralization were genetically unrelated to the uranium ore formation.