Introduction: Enewetak Atoll and the PEACE program. [Pacific Enewetak Atoll Crater Exploration]
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.
- OSTI ID:
- 5610102
- Journal Information:
- United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper; (USA), Journal Name: United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper; (USA) Vol. 1513-A; ISSN XGPPA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Pacific Enewetak Atoll Crater Exploration (PEACE) program, Enewetak Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Part 1. Drilling operations and descriptions of boreholes in vicinity of KOA and OAK craters
Sediment facies of Enewetak Atoll lagoon. Geologic and geophysical investigations of Enewetak Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Professional paper
Related Subjects
450200* -- Military Technology
Weaponry
& National Defense-- Nuclear Explosions & Explosives
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
BLAST EFFECTS
CALIBRATION
CARBONATE ROCKS
CAVITIES
CHEMISTRY
CRATERING EXPLOSIONS
CRATERS
DIAGENESIS
ENIWETOK
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPLOSIONS
FLUCTUATIONS
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC SURVEYS
GEOLOGY
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
GLACIERS
ISLANDS
LEVELS
MARSHALL ISLANDS
MASS TRANSFER
MECHANICS
MICRONESIA
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
OCEANIA
PALEONTOLOGY
ROCK MECHANICS
ROCKS
SEA LEVEL
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STRATIGRAPHY
SURVEYS
THERMONUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
US DOD
US ORGANIZATIONS
VARIATIONS
WEAPONS