In order to explore the uraniferous possibility in different parts of China, the leaching experiments of peripheral rock series and the equilibration experiment of sediment from Gasikule Salt Lake located in the western margin of Qaidam Basin are conducted in this paper. It is shown that the leachate has similar hydrochemical characteristics of three types of rock series (old strata, Pliocene salt-bearing strata and Quaternay sediment) around Gasikule Salt Lake. The hydrochemistry of Gasikule Salt Lake basin is deeply influenced by peripheral rock series and characterized by re-dissolved salt obviously. Three types of rock series suffer severely from eluviations, and the leaching trend is in the order of Quaternay sediment > Pliocene salt- bearing strata > old strata. In the equilibration experiment, the uranium concentration in the suspension decreases first and then slowly increases against the balance time. However, the uranium concentration in the sediments sees a reverse trend, which illustrates that the uranium has a rapid exchange between the suspension and the sediment. The uranium in the suspension absorbed by the sediment may be accounted for the decrease of the uranium concentration in the suspension at the first stage of the equilibration experiment. During Neogene and early Quarternary, the uranium in Gasikule Salt Lake's brine and sediment mainly comes from the chemical weathering in the peripheral old strata. However, the Pliocene salt-bearing strata and the deep water contain the majority of uranium sources during late Quaternary, coupled with sediment and old strata weathering, this period enjoys larger uranium supplementary amount than that in the periods of Neogene and early Quarternary.

peripheral rock series  /  sediment  /  leaching experiments  /  equilibration experiment  /  uranium mineralization  /  Gasikule Salt Lake