GEOLOGY OF THE URANIFEROUS BOG DEPOSIT AT PETTIT RANCH, KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Technical Report · Tue Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 1957

OSTI ID:4213541

Bowes, W A; Bales, W E; Haselton, G M

Uranium associated with peat humus was discovered in a boggy meadow in the Sierra Nevada of Kern County, California, in the fall of 1955. The ore is an organic soil composed of growing grasses, mosses, and bog plants as well as peat mixed with detrital silt and sand derived from the underlying Jurassic (?) quartz diorite. The uranium is confined to the organic material and probably exists as a metallo-organic complex. No uranium minerals have been identified. The bog is presently accumulating in a fault-depressed area continuously moistened by a series of springs which mark the position of the concealed Littie Poso Creek fault. The spring waters contain an average of 0.11 ppm (parts per million) uranium, over 10 times that of local drainage waters. The radioactive material is characterized by extremely low gamma radioactivity which may be due to the recent emplacement of uranium by spring waters. Laboratory tests show that the ore is not amenable to present metallurgical processes. Preliminary roasting is necessary to obtain high extraction of the uranium. Tests indicate that the ore may be upgraded over 100 percent by first separating the detrital minerals from the organic matter, then roasting the organic fraction to ash. Roasting alone serves to upgrade the raw ore 25 percent. Two geologically similar uraniferous bogs are known in Fresno and Madera Counties, California, 100 miles north of the Pettit Ranch. Two other bogs have been reported. The possibility for finding additional deposits of this type is favorable as boggy meadows and springs are common in fault terrane of the Sierra Nevada. Primary ore controls at the Pettit Ranch deposit are: (1) waters of high uranium content, (2) a suitable collector for the uranium (peat), and (3) restricted circulation. These are important guides for prospecting. Methods of prospecting, such as structural studies aimed at checking faults for springs and depressed boggy areas, systematic water sampling, or merely ground reconnaissance of boggy areas, could be employed. The effectiveness of airborne radiometric prospecting methods is limited by the low gamma radioactivity of the bog ore. (auth)

• Research Organization: Grand Junction Operations Office. Salt Lake Branch Office, AEC
• NSA Number: NSA-13-019054
• OSTI ID: 4213541
• Report Number(s): RME-2063(Pt.1)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

CALIFORNIA
DEPOSITS
GAMMA RADIATION
GEOLOGY
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY
HYDROLOGY
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
PROSPECTING
RESIDUES
SAMPLING
SAND
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
URANIUM ORES
WATER