Uranium deposits of the world. Colorado Plateau / Месторождения урана в мире. Плато Колорадо

The Colorado Plateau is one of the prominent uranium (-vanadium) provinces of the world. It encompasses almost 350,000 km2 in western Colorado, southern Utah, northern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. A great number of peneconcordant, tabular sandstone-type uranium deposits in Jurassic and Triassic formations have been discovered therein. Most deposits are clustered in districts of variable size. In addition, Permian sediments host ore bodies in collapse breccia pipes in the Arizona Strip area, Arizona (>Figs. I.1 and >1.1). Sandstone-type uranium was mined from over 2,200 properties located in some 35 former mining districts. The largest classical mining districts include the Grants Mineral Belt/Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico (Westwater Canyon Member/Morrison Formation, Jurassic), Uravan Mineral Belt, Colorado–Utah (Salt Wash Member/ Morrison Formation, Jurassic), Lisbon Valley-Big Indian Wash, Utah (Chinle Formation, Triassic), and Monument Valley-White Canyon, Arizona–Utah (Chinle Formation, Triassic) (see further down >Figs. 1.29, >1.45, and >1.57 for minor uranium districts in Morrison and Chinle sediments.). Some U deposits occur in Permian, Cretaceous, and Tertiary sediments. Uranium production from deposits hosted in the Morrison Formation has been considerably greater than that from the Chinle Formation. <...>