Porosity and permeability of tuffs from the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
- Geological Survey, Mercury, NV (United States)
An investigation of the intrinsic flow properties of the rock matrix in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was carried out by performing single-phase water or air permeability measurements on about 150 selected samples representing all of the different rock units in the unsaturated zone. Pores were studied by examining thin sections of samples impregnated with fluorescent-dyed epoxy. Yucca Mountain is made up of volcanic tuff, which occurs in three distinct textures: welded, nonwelded, and bedded. Welded tuffs occur in two thick, rhyolitic, pyroclastic flow units. In thin sections, the typical welded-tuff pore structure appears to consist of isolated voids interconnected by microfractures. Porosities average about 10 percent, and matrix permeabilities are generally 1 microdarcy or less. The nonwelded tuffs occur in several thin pyroclastic flows between and below the two main welded units. Porosities average about 20 to 30%, and permeabilities are in the microdarcy to millidarcy range. The nonwelded tuffs appear in thin sections to have an open, well-interconnected pore system with significant intragranular porosity in pumice and lithic grains. These tuffs often contain various amounts of secondary clay and zeolite minerals in the pores, which may account for the wide range in permeabilities. The bedded tuffs consist of friable, low-density volcanic ash with porosities of 50% or more and permeabilities often above 1 darcy. These tuffs are the most porous and permeable rock units in the unsaturated zone, and contain large intergranular pores and significant intragranular porosity in frothy pumice clasts. Results of this investigation will help improve the understanding of groundwater movement through the unsaturated zone.
- OSTI ID:
- 5862510
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 24:7; Conference: 1992 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Cincinnati, OH (United States), 26-29 Oct 1992; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
TUFF
PERMEABILITY
POROSITY
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
GROUND WATER
HYDROLOGY
NEVADA
PORE STRUCTURE
TEXTURE
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MICROSTRUCTURE
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
USA
WATER
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
540250 - Environment
Terrestrial- Site Resource & Use Studies- (1990-)