Dj. Mossman et al., PETROGRAPHY AND PARAGENESIS OF ORGANIC-MATTER ASSOCIATED WITH THE NATURAL FISSION REACTORS AT OKLO, REPUBLIC OF GABON - A PRELIMINARY-REPORT, International journal of coal geology, 24(1-4), 1993, pp. 179-194
Sixteen known uranium-rich pockets in the sediment-hosted uranium ore
deposits in the Oklo area became nuclear fission reactors 1968+/-50 Ma
ago and operated as such for up to 1 Ma. Nuclear criticality was caus
ed by unique and fortuitous geological environments and events. These
included the localized high concentrations of uranium in small pockets
in the ore bodies, the fact that the relative abundance of the fissil
e U-235 isotope was five times greater in uranium similar to 2 Ga ago
than present, the presence of water which acted as a moderator in the
natural reactors and the absence of neutron poisons, which are element
s that can prevent nuclear chain reactions. Organic matter is present
in ah of the Oklo natural reactors, but it is abundant only in reactor
s 7 to 16. Organic matter has been studied in natural reactors 7 to 9
and at locations at various distances from these reactors. Bitumen in
the Oklo reactors is the predominant organic phase. It is now solid bi
tumen containing dispersed cryptocrystalline graphite in crystal domai
ns smaller than optical microscopic size. Its immediate precursor was
liquid bitumen, generated from syngenetic kerogen in organic-rich sedi
mentary rocks in the Francevillian Basin of Gabon and in the natural r
eactors themselves by hydrous reaction mechanisms prior to, during, an
d after nuclear criticality. A preliminary paragenesis of organic matt
er at Oklo may be defined through the following sequence of events. (a
) Protokerogen and kerogen evolve from abundant cyanobacteria in the t
idal and deltaic sediments in the basal FA formation of the Francevill
ian Series, during sedimentation and burial, respectively. (b) During
subsequent subsidence of the basin the first generation of bitumen and
petroleum occurred. (c) During uplift the sedimentary strata were fra
ctured, and bitumen and petroleum migrated through fractures. Followin
g this, oxidizing aqueous solutions carrying uranyl ions migrated thro
ugh the highly fractured rocks, met and were reduced by organic matter
and precipitated pitchblende or uraninite at the present sites of the
Oklo uranium ore deposits and natural reactors. The natural reactors
reached nuclear criticality, they were heated and produced the second
generation of bitumen through hydrous reactions from the by now solid
first-generation bitumen and remaining kerogen. Finally, hydrothermal
effects associated with the dolerite dike swarm intrusion 750+/-150 Ma
ago produced yet another localized generation of liquid bitumen from
solid organic matter. Possibly other bitumen generations also occurred
during and following this time interval. The organic matter in the na
tural reactors soon became a solid, and was able to prevent the loss o
f uraninite grains enclosed in it. These uraninite grains trapped and
then immobilized fission products until, and to an extent even after,
a major tectonic-igneous event, the intrusion of the dolerite dike swa
rm.