Rare earth element trends and cerium-uranium-manganese associations in weathered rock from Koongarra, northern territory, Australia

At Koongarra, Australia, three drill cores from the Cahill Schist Formation containing U-ore, and regolith above it containing secondary U-ore, were studied to ascertain the distribution of rare earth elements (REEs) and U. The unaltered schist has a REE trend similar to the Post Archaean Australian Shale (PAAS), which is, therefore, used as a normalising standard. Unweathered rock from the zone of primary U mineralisation contained strong enrichment of the heavy REEs, and this pattern is retained during most of the weathering. Strongly bleached and very weathered shallow samples from this zone do not show enrichment of HREEs. In general, however, weathering appears to have little effect on the pattern of REEs in the bulk rock at this site. Zones rich in Mn oxy-hydroxides, occurring as coatings on fissure surfaces, contain large concentrations of Ce and U, with a clear Ce anomaly (Ce/Ce* = 3.8). The Ce and U apparently occur together as microcrystalline oxides within (1-2 mu m diameter) globules on mineral surfaces in the Mn-rich zones.