234U/238U activity ratio disequilibrium technique for studying uranium mobility in the Opalinus Clay at Mont Terri, Switzerland.

Mobility of naturally occurring 238U and 234U radionuclides was studied in a low permeability, reducing claystone formation (Opalinus Clay) near its contact with an overlying oxidising aquifer (Dogger Limestones) at Mont Terri, Switzerland. Our data point to a limited redistribution of U in some of the studied samples. Observed centimetre-scale U mobility is explained by slow diffusive transport of 234U in the pore waters of the Opalinus Clay driven by spatially variable in situ supply (by alpha-recoil) of 234U from the rock matrix. Metre-scale mobility is interpreted as a result of infiltration of meteoric water into the overlying aquifer which developed gradients of U concentration across the two rock formations. This triggered a slow in-diffusion of U with (234U/238U)>1 into the Opalinus Clay as attested by a clear-cut pattern of decreasing bulk rock (234U/238U) inwards the Opalinus Clay, away from the Dogger Limestones.