The surface leaching of the labile component of uranium has been carried out in estuarine sediments of Zuari river in Goa.
The measurements of alpha activities of
238U,
235U and
234U in the leachates indicated a remarkable anomaly between the activities of
238U and
234U. The activity ratios of
234U/
238U in these leachates have been found to be in the range of 1.10 to 1.14. However, the activity ratios of
235U/
238U have been found to be 0.045 which is close to that in natural uranium. It has also been observed that the anomaly between
238U and
234U exists only on the surface organic layers of the backwater sediments of the Zuari river.