Petrographic and geochemical characteristics of a section through the Tiva Canyon Tuff at Antler Ridge, Yucca Mountain, Nevada
- Science Applications International Corp., Golden, CO (United States)
- Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States)
The Tiva Canyon Tuff of the Paintbrush Group of Miocene age caps much of Yucca Mountain, Nevada and is a compositionally zoned, compound cooling, pyroclastic flow that ranges from a dominantly high-silica rhyolitic base to a quartz-latitic caprock. Petrographic and geochemical studies have focused on rigorously defining the internal stratigraphy of this unit to support the detailed mapping of the Ghost Dance fault and other structures in the central fault block of Yucca Mountain. This study shows that devitrification textures and vapor phase mineralogy, in addition to other physical attributes such as pumice variability (flattening) and crystal content, can be used as distinguishing criteria to better define lithologic zones within the Tiva Canyon Tuff. In addition, the study also shows that the petrographic textures and chemistry of the groundmass vary systematically within recognizable lithologic zones and may be used to characterize and vertically divide litho-stratigraphic zones within the Tiva Canyon Tuff.
- Research Organization:
- American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY (United States); American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 60927
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940553--Vol.4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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