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Title: Introduction: Enewetak Atoll and the PEACE program. [Pacific Enewetak Atoll Crater Exploration]

Abstract

An extensive study was made from June 1984 through August 1985 of the surface and subsurface configurations of two large nuclear craters on the northern side of Enewetak Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. These craters, KOA and OAK, resulted from the near-surface detonation of two high-yield thermonuclear devices in 1958, when the atoll was part of the Pacific Proving Grounds. This multidisciplinary study was designed to produce a broad well-documented geologic, geophysical, and materials-properties data base for use in answering critical questions concerning craters formed by high-yield bursts. The study was part of a larger research initiative by the US Department of Defense to better understand high-yield, strategic-scale nuclear bursts and how Pacific Proving Grounds craters relate to the basing and targeting of nuclear-weapon systems and related national defense issues. The data gathered during the study of the Enewetak craters are applicable to many scientific topics well beyond cratering mechanics and other related strategic concerns of the US DOD. These scientific topics include the geologic evolution of the Pacific Basin, the biologic and geologic history of a coral atoll, the fluctuation of sea level in response to glaciation and deglaciation, the diagenetic history of carbonate rocks in relation tomore » sea-level changes and the differing substrate-water geochemistries thus produced, the speciation and migration of marine biotas, and the biostratigraphic succession of biotas through time and the calibration of these events with an absolute isotopic time scale, to name a few.« less

Authors:
;
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
5610102
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper; (USA)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 1513-A
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE; 58 GEOSCIENCES; CRATERS; GEOLOGIC SURVEYS; GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS; ENIWETOK; BLAST EFFECTS; CALIBRATION; CARBONATE ROCKS; CRATERING EXPLOSIONS; DIAGENESIS; ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT; FLUCTUATIONS; GEOCHEMISTRY; GEOLOGIC HISTORY; GLACIERS; NUCLEAR WEAPONS; PALEONTOLOGY; ROCK MECHANICS; SEA LEVEL; STRATIGRAPHY; THERMONUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS; US DOD; CAVITIES; CHEMISTRY; EXPLOSIONS; GEOLOGY; ISLANDS; LEVELS; MARSHALL ISLANDS; MASS TRANSFER; MECHANICS; MICRONESIA; NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS; NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS; OCEANIA; ROCKS; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS; SURVEYS; US ORGANIZATIONS; VARIATIONS; WEAPONS; 450200* - Military Technology, Weaponry, & National Defense- Nuclear Explosions & Explosives; 580000 - Geosciences

Citation Formats

Henry, T W, and Wardlaw, B R. Introduction: Enewetak Atoll and the PEACE program. [Pacific Enewetak Atoll Crater Exploration]. United States: N. p., 1990. Web.
Henry, T W, & Wardlaw, B R. Introduction: Enewetak Atoll and the PEACE program. [Pacific Enewetak Atoll Crater Exploration]. United States.
Henry, T W, and Wardlaw, B R. 1990. "Introduction: Enewetak Atoll and the PEACE program. [Pacific Enewetak Atoll Crater Exploration]". United States.
@article{osti_5610102,
title = {Introduction: Enewetak Atoll and the PEACE program. [Pacific Enewetak Atoll Crater Exploration]},
author = {Henry, T W and Wardlaw, B R},
abstractNote = {An extensive study was made from June 1984 through August 1985 of the surface and subsurface configurations of two large nuclear craters on the northern side of Enewetak Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. These craters, KOA and OAK, resulted from the near-surface detonation of two high-yield thermonuclear devices in 1958, when the atoll was part of the Pacific Proving Grounds. This multidisciplinary study was designed to produce a broad well-documented geologic, geophysical, and materials-properties data base for use in answering critical questions concerning craters formed by high-yield bursts. The study was part of a larger research initiative by the US Department of Defense to better understand high-yield, strategic-scale nuclear bursts and how Pacific Proving Grounds craters relate to the basing and targeting of nuclear-weapon systems and related national defense issues. The data gathered during the study of the Enewetak craters are applicable to many scientific topics well beyond cratering mechanics and other related strategic concerns of the US DOD. These scientific topics include the geologic evolution of the Pacific Basin, the biologic and geologic history of a coral atoll, the fluctuation of sea level in response to glaciation and deglaciation, the diagenetic history of carbonate rocks in relation to sea-level changes and the differing substrate-water geochemistries thus produced, the speciation and migration of marine biotas, and the biostratigraphic succession of biotas through time and the calibration of these events with an absolute isotopic time scale, to name a few.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5610102}, journal = {United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper; (USA)},
number = ,
volume = 1513-A,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990},
month = {Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990}
}