Basal Ottawa Limestone, Chattanooga Shale, Floyd Shale, Porters Creek Clay, and Yazoo Clay in parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee as potential host rocks for underground emplacement of waste

Technical Report · Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 EST 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7331460· OSTI ID:7331460

Mellen, F. F.

Impermeable rock units, preferably at least 500 feet thick and lying 1000 to 3000 feet below land surface, were sought in the region consisting roughly of the western /sup 3///sub 5/ths of Tennessee and the northern /sup 3///sub 5/ths of Alabama and Mississippi. All rock sequences, Cambrian through Eocene, were examined in varying detail, except the Cretaceous Selma Chalk and except the diapiric salt. These rocks were studied for their relative impermeable homogeneity, their continuity, their background of structural and seismic stability and their hydrologic associations. The Central Mississippi Ridge of north-central Mississippi is overlain by a long-stable mass of Porters Creek Clay 500-700 feet thick, in an area roughly 50-60 miles wide and about 150 miles long. The Yazoo Clay, where best developed in the west-central and southwest part of Mississippi, is in the 400-500 foot thickness range, but locally exceeds 500 feet. The entire area mapped is underlain by the Louann Salt which has produced many deep-seated salt domes and numerous piercement salt domes. Salt flow has complicated shallow structural geology throughout that area. The Chattanooga Shale rarely exceeds 60 feet in thickness in the region studied and is generally much thinner and is absent in many places. In the lower part of the Middle Ordovician (Ottawa Megagroup), the Murphreesboro and associated dense limestones appear to offer a potential disposal unit 250-400 feet thick, having the advantages of rock competency and freedom from association with prolific aquifers in the overburden or beneath. Other less conspicuous stratigraphic units are reviewed.

• Research Organization: Mellen (Frederic F.), Geological Associates, Jackson, MS (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26; SUB-PO-78X-87950V
• OSTI ID: 7331460
• Report Number(s): Y/OWI/SUB-76/87950; TRN: 77-006114
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
58 GEOSCIENCES
BLACK SHALES
GEOLOGY
LIMESTONE
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
ROCKS
SHALES
ALABAMA
CHATTANOOGA FORMATION
CLAYS
MISSISSIPPI
SALT DEPOSITS
TENNESSEE
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CARBONATE ROCKS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MANAGEMENT
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
MINERALS
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SHALES
RESERVOIR ROCK
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SOUTHEAST REGION
USA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
580100 - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)