Uranium release observed in a rock matrix around water-carrying fractures was studied using U-series disequilibrium (USD) modelling and mass balance calculations. Several release scenarios were tested, with specific attention to the glacial aspects. The release appears to have occurred in two or three violent episodes during the last 300 ky. A release after the last glaciation can be excluded on mass flow grounds. Continuous release for more than 300 ky can be excluded on radioactive disequilibrium grounds. Repeated inflows of oxic glacial meltwater seem to have triggered the release episodes.
Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.