Preliminary appraisal of gravity and magnetic data at Syncline Ridge, Western Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada
A gravity and magnetic study of the Syncline Ridge area was conducted as part of an investigation of argillite rocks of the Eleana Formation under consideration as a medium for the possible storage of high-level radioactive waste. Bouguer gravity anomaly, low-level aeromagnetic anomaly, density, and magnetization data collectively indicate the following, relative to the Eleana Formation, the principal target of the investigation: (1) in an area extending northwestward from Mine Mountain, through Syncline Ridge, to the Eleana Range, the Eleana Formation, where not exposed, occurs at depths of less than {similar_to}200 m, except for a small region of exposed older Paleozoic rocks; (2) in the region of shallowly buried Eleana Formation, occurrences of volcanic rock cover are delineated by low-level aeromagnetic anomaly data, which also discriminate normally polarized from reversely polarized tuff units; and (3) selective detection of high-quartz argillite relative to low-quartz argillite using surface gravity data is not feasible if the high-quartz and low-quartz varieties are intimately interbedded, as observed in boreholes. 4 figures, 2 tables.
- Research Organization:
- Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AI08-78ET44802
- OSTI ID:
- 59644
- Report Number(s):
- USGS-OFR--82-931; ON: DE83001806
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Geophysical studies of the Syncline Ridge area, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada
Interpretations of magnetic anomalies at a potential repository site located in the Yucca Mountain area, Nevada Test Site