Tectonic Deformation and Fluid Flow: Implications for the Formation of Unconformity-Related Uranium Deposits
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Numerical experiments were carried out to investigate the fluid flow in typical Proterozoic basins that host unconformity-related uranium deposits. We have constructed a simplified conceptual model by integrating important features shared by the Athabasca, Thelon, and Kombolgie Basins. Based on this conceptual model, various numerical scenarios were designed to explore the interaction between fluid flow, heat transport, topographic relief, and tectonic deformation. Our modeling suggests that thermally driven free convection may develop in the thick sandstone sequence at a geothermal gradient of between 25° and 35°C/km during periods of tectonic quiescence, with a maximum velocity of about 1.0 m/yr. However, reactivation of preexisting basement structures and the generation of new faults suppressed free convection and led to deformation-dominated fluid flow or mixed convection, depending on strain rates. During compressive deformation, reduced brines in the basement may flow out along fractured zones and encounter uranium-bearing fluids in the clastic sequence to form sandstone-hosted deposits. In contrast, basement-hosted deposits are likely to form during extension, when oxidized basinal brines flow into faulted structures to interact with reduced minerals or fluids in the basement. Maximum flow rates are estimated to be up to ~7 and ~2.5 m/yr in the relatively high permeability fracture zone for compressive and extensional deformation, respectively, given a strain rate of 10 −13 s −1 and a geothermal gradient of 30°C/km. In addition, the rate of pressure accumulation and dissipation is different in various geologic units depending on their hydrological properties and strain rates.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".