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Effects of Lichens on Uranium Migration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Takeshi Kasama,
Takashi Murakami,
Toshihiko Ohnuki and
O. William Purvis
Takeshi Kasama
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
Takashi Murakami
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
Toshihiko Ohnuki
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1106, Japan
O. William Purvis
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, England
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Abstract

The lichen Trapelia involuta from uraniferous spoil heaps in Cornwall, England, growing directly on the secondary uranium minerals, metazeunerite and metatorbernite, was examined by field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy to assess the effect of Trapelia on uranium migration. We observed metazeunerite, sericite and scorodite as well as unidentified Fe-, Pb/As-, Fe/As-, Al/P-, Pb-bearing minerals concentrated in the lichen exciple and medulla. In addition, metazeunerite also occurred in the epithecium. The chemistries, sizes, and occurrences of the above minerals in the lichen suggest that fixation of U as well as Pb, As, Fe, and Al is dependent on lichen physiological processes. We suggest Trapelia accumulates these elements from groundwater and precipitates the above minerals within specific tissues. Our results indicate that some lichens retard uranium migration by accumulating uranium from groundwater and forming uranium-bearing minerals within their tissues.

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