Impact of Quaternary Climate on Seepage at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Uranium-series ages, oxygen-isotopic compositions, and uranium contents were determined in outer growth layers of opal and calcite from 0.5- to 3-centimeter-thick mineral coatings hosted by lithophysal cavities in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the proposed site of a permanent repository for high-level radioactive waste. Micrometer-scale growth layering in the minerals was imaged using a cathodoluminescence detector on a scanning electron microscope. Determinations of the chemistry, ages, and delta oxygen-18 values of the growth layers were conducted by electron microprobe analysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry techniques at spatial resolutions of 1 to about 20 micrometers ({micro}m) and 25 to 40 micrometers, respectively. Growth rates for the last 300 thousand years (k.y.) calculated from about 300 new high-resolution uranium-series ages range from approximately 0.5 to 1.5 {micro}m/k.y. for 1- to 3-centimeter-thick coatings, whereas coatings less than about I-centimeter-thick have growth rates less than 0.5 {micro}m/k.y. At the depth of the proposed repository, correlations of uranium concentration and delta oxygen-18 values with regional climate records indicate that unsaturated zone percolation and seepage water chemistries have responded to changes in climate during the last several hundred thousand years.
- Research Organization:
- Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- NA
- OSTI ID:
- 893805
- Report Number(s):
- NA; MOL.20060420.0044, DC# 47438; TRN: US0606127
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CALCITE
CATHODOLUMINESCENCE
CAVITIES
CHEMISTRY
CLIMATES
COATINGS
ELECTRON MICROPROBE ANALYSIS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
OPALS
OXYGEN 18
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
URANIUM
WATER
YUCCA MOUNTAIN