Preliminary gravity investigations of the Wahmonie Site, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

Technical Report · Thu Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:59822

Ponce, D A

A gravity survey of the southwest corner of the Nevada Test Site was completed during 1979 to 1980 as part of an effort to characterize a possible radioactive waste storage site in granitic rocks. The survey outlined a large, broad, and flat gravity high centered near Wahmonie Site. Combined geophysical data indicate that the anomalous area is underlain by a dense, magnetic, and possibly intrusive body. Gravity data show a +15 milligal Bouguer anomaly coincident with a large positive aeromagnetic anomaly. The data reveal a prominent fault at the west edge of the inferred intrusive. Both gravity and magnetic anomalous highs extend NNE over a horst composed predominantly of rhyodacite of the Tertiary Salyer Formation. Local aeromagnetic highs are closely associated with two granodiorite exposures on the eastern edge of the horst. A local gravity high of about +2 milligal is centered directly over the southern granodiorite exposure and another high is centered over the northern exposure. A steep gravity gradient outlining the gravity high coincides with the outer edge of a zone of hydrothermal alteration which surrounds the horst. The gravity gradient probably marks the approximate limit of an intrusive body.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AI08-78ET44802
• OSTI ID: 59822
• Report Number(s): USGS-OFR--81-522; ON: DE86008361
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
58 GEOSCIENCES
DATA ANALYSIS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GRANITES
GRAVITY SURVEYS
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