Research about San Juan, Utah

USGS2011

Assessment of potential migration of radionuclides and trace elements from the White Mesa uranium mill to the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation and surrounding areas, southeastern Utah

In 2007, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe requested that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Geological Survey conduct an independent evaluation of potential offsite migration of radionuclides and selected trace elements associated with the ore storage and milling process at an active uranium mill site near White Mesa, Utah. Specific objectives of this study were (1) to determine recharge sources and residence times of groundwater surrounding the mill site, (2) to determine the current concentrations of uranium and associated trace elements in groundwater surrounding the mill site, (3) to differentiate natural and anthropogenic contaminant sources to groundwater resources surrounding the mill site, (4) to assess the solubility and potential for offsite transport of uranium-bearing minerals in groundwater surrounding the mill site, and (5) to use stream sediment and plant material samples from areas surrounding the mill site to identify potential areas of offsite contamination and likely contaminant sources.

Utah↗

USGS1959

The Elk Ridge-White Canyon channel system, San Juan County, Utah: Its effect on uranium distribution

Reconnaissance in the White Canyon district, San Juan County, Utah, indicates that rocks of the Shinarump member of the Chinle formation of Triassic age were deposited in that district in two different channel systems; sediments deposited in channels of one system were derived from a source to the east and sediments of the other from a source to the south. The channel system containing sediments derived from the east, the Elk Ridge-White C anyon channel system, was apparently formed by a large braided stream that flowed westward from a source in granitic and metamorphic terrane of the ancestral Uncompahgre highland. All known uranium deposits of any consequence in the White Canyon district are confined to the Shinarump member deposited in the Elk Ridge-White Canyon channel system. The nature of the channels and the lithologic characteristics of the rocks filling this system of channels combine to form a much more favorable environment for the localization of uranium deposits than do the channels formed and the rocks deposited by northward-flowing streams. Recognition of channel systems in the White Canyon district suggests that channel systems may be recognized elsewhere in the Shinarump member, and that the Shinarump member on the Colorado Plateau may be composed of rocks deposited in many coalescing channel systems. In addition, study in the White Canyon district indicates that rocks deposited in some of these channel systems are more favorable hosts for uranium deposits than the rocks deposited in others. Recognition and delineation of these ancient channel systems may be-of help in making regional appraisals of ore potential and in the search for new mining districts.

Utah↗