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Notes on the relationship of uranium mineralization and rhyolite in the Marysville area, Utah

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4367735· OSTI ID:4367735

The Marysvale area lies in south-central Utah, 160 miles south of Salt Lake City. Uranium deposits of the area are in volcanic and plutonic rocks of Tertiary age. The volcanics are divided into the Bullion Canyon volcanics and the younger Mount Belknap rhyolite. They are separated in time by the intrusion of quartz monzonite and related granitic phases. The sequence of geologic events in the Marysvale Central area, following the emplacement of graniti c intrusives, was apparently as follows: major displacement along east-trending faults; exposure of intrusives by erosion; then, in close sequence and probably overlapping order, extrusion of red rhyolite agglomerate, fracturing, intrusion of rhyolite dikes, minor north-northwest faulting, intense hydrothermal alteration, and finally, uranium mineralization accompanied by minor alteration. Uranium minerals, including some ore-grade concentrations, are present in red rhyolite agglomerate and in felsitic and glassy rhyolite dikes. Mineralizing solutions were channeled into the agglomerates possibly by shears in underlying quartz monzonite. Dikes were probably mineralized by solutions from great depth that traveled within and along the dikes. Two localities in rhyolite agglomerate have been mined for uranium ore, and additional uranium ore bodies may be present. A plan of prospecting is recommended, starting with detailed surface mapping and radiometric surveying and followed

Research Organization:
US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Washington, DC (United States). Salt Lake Area Office
Sponsoring Organization:
US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
NSA Number:
NSA-11-010539
OSTI ID:
4367735
Report Number(s):
RME-2030(Rev.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English