Turpan-Hami basin, northwestern China

Deep-penetrating geochemical exploration for hidden sandstone-type uranium deposits in the Turpan-Hami basin, northwestern China 

Xueqiu Wang , Shanfa Xu , Qinghua Chi Bimin Zhang Lanshi Nie  

Keywords deep-penetration, geochemistry, expioration, sandstone-type, uranium deposits 

Traditional exploration for sandstone-type uranium deposits has centered on genetic models and radiometric methods (Morse 1969 Harshman 1970 Rubin 1970). However, these methods have become prohibitive for sandstone-type uranium deposits hidden at a depth of hundreds of metres (Riese et al. 1978). Radioactivity detectors are ineffective in regions where there is a relatively thin inactive overburden (Bowie etal. 1970). 

Conventional regional soil geochemical surveys based on coarse fractions of soils ( 20 mesh) to avoid windblown sand dilution for elemental contents failed to delineate uranium geochemical anomalies for blind sandstone-type uranium deposits in desert basin terrains in China. 

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The Turpan-Hami basin covers an area of approximately 50 000 km in Xinjiang, northwestern China. The west part of the basin, located in Turpan, is the lowest area of China mainland, with an elevation of -154 m. The region is extremely arid with the average annual rainfall of less than 15 mm. 

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