Geodesy and Contemporary Strain in the Yucca Mountain Region, Nevada
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Geodesy and Contemporary Strain in the Yucca Mountain Region, Nevada By W.R. Keefer, J.A. Coe, S.K. Pezzopane, anofW. Clay Hunter U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Open-File Report 97-383 Prepared in cooperation with the NEVADA OPERATIONS OFFICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (Interagency Agreement DE-AI08-92NV10874) Denver, Colorado 1997 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BRUCE BABBITT, Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Gordon P. Eaton, Director The use of firm, trade, and brand names in this report is for identification purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Geological Survey. For additional information write to: Copies of this report can be purchased from: Chief, Earth Science Investigations Program U.S. Geological Survey Yucca Mountain Project Branch Information Services U.S. Geological Survey Box 25286 Box 25046, Mail Stop 421 Federal Center Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 Denver, CO 80225-0046 CONTENTS Abstract................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction .............................................................................. 1 Background and Piirpose...........................................................................................................................................^ 1 Geologic Setting ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Geodetic Leveling................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Trilateration - Global Positioning System ............................................................................................................................ 10 Very Long Baseline Interferometry ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................._^ 13 References ................................................................................................................................................................ 13 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Map showing locations of the southwestern Nevada volcanic field and selected volcanic and physiographic features of the Yucca Mountain region, Nevada ........................................................................................................ 2 2. Index map of Yucca Mountain (dashed outline) and vicinity, Nevada, showing boundaries of areas commonly referred to in site-characterization studies and reports............................................................................................... 3 3. Index map showing the location of first-order level lines in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada..................... 6 4. Profile plots showing data from surveys of level line across Yucca Mountain, Nevada, during the period 1983 to 1993....................................^ 8 5. Profiles showing terrain elevations and height changes with respect to the 1907 baseline between Beatty and Las Vegas, Nevada .............................................................................................................................................. 9 6. Map showing the trilateration network near Yucca Mountain, Nevada..................................................................... 11 7. Index map showing location of relevant and potentially relevant faults capable of generating average median and 84th-percentile peak accelerations that equal or exceed 0.1 g at the potential waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada ........................................................................................................................................... 12 TABLES 1. Major stratigraphic units in the Late Cenozoic volcanic rock sequence of the Yucca Mountain area, Nevada ........ 5 CONVERSION FACTORS, VERTICAL DATUM, AND ABBREVIATIONS Multiply By To obtain centimeter (cm) 0.3937 inch meter (m) 3.281 foot kilometer (km) 0.6214 mile millimeter (mm) 0.03937 inch square kilometer (km2) 0.3861 square mile ADDITIONAL ABBREVIATIONS g gravitational acceleration mm/yr millimeter per year Ma Millions of years VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry lii Geodesy and Contemporary Strain in the Yucca Mountain Region, Nevada By W.R. Keefer, J.A. Coe, S.K. Pezzopane, and\N. Clay Hunter Abstract INTRODUCTION Geodetic surveys provide important Since the late 1970s, Yucca Mountain, in information for estimating recent ground southwestern Nevada, has been investigated by the movement in support of seismotectonic investiga U.S. Department of Energy in cooperation with agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey, as a tions of the potential nuclear-waste storage potential national geologic repository for the storage site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Resurveys of high-level radioactive wastes. As part of a broad of established level lines document up to interdisciplinary program which is designed to 22 millimeters of local subsidence related to the evaluate comprehensively the suitability of the Yucca 1992 Little Skull Mountain earthquake, which is Mountain site (U.S. Department of Energy, 1988), a series of specific studies that bear on the structural consistent with seismic data that show normal- geology, tectonic evolution, and seismicity of the slip rupture and with data from a regional trilater- Yucca Mountain region (fig. 1), including the one ation network. Comparison of more recent discussed herein, was undertaken in the mid-1980s to surveys with a level line first established in 1907 analyze ground motion and fault-displacement hazards that may affect repository design and performance. suggests 3 to 13 centimeters of subsidence in the Site-characterization efforts generally have focused on Crater Flat-Yucca Mountain structural depression a specific site area (fig. 2) in which mapping and that coincides with the Bare Mountain fault; small related studies were conducted in greater detail than in uplifts also were recorded near normal faults at surrounding areas. A fan-shaped "controlled area" of Yucca Mountain. No significant deformation was some 90 square kilometers (fig. 2) results from regula tory requirements (Title 10 of the Code of Federal recorded by a trilateration network over a 10-year Regulations, 10CFR60 and 10CFR960) and surrounds period, except for coseismic deformation associ a "potential repository site" that represents the upward ated with the Little Skull Mountain earthquake, projection of the boundary of the proposed but meaningful results are limited by the short underground storage facilities. temporal period of that data set and the small rate of movement. Very long baseline interferometry Background and Purpose that is capable of measuring direction and rates of deformation is likewise limited by a short history This report is one of a series that describes of observation, but rates of deformation between results and presents interpretations of available information on the tectonics and seismicity of Yucca 8 and 13 millimeters per year across the Basin and Mountain, including those geologic elements Range province are indicated by the available (structural, stratigraphic, volcanic, and geomorphic) data. that contribute to the makeup and tectonic evolution of Abstract 1 117°00' 116"00' Central/Southern Great Basin/Basin and Range Boundary of southwestern Nevada volcanic field 37"30' 37°00' Yucca Claim Canyon caldera Mountain Mine Mountain 36"30' Modified from Carr and others, 1986, 10 20 30 40 50 KILOMETERS fig. 1; Sawyer and others, 1994, fig 1 _J____I____I \ 10 20 30 MILES Figure 1. Locations of the southwestern Nevada volcanic field and selected volcanic and physiographic features of the Yucca Mountain region. The study area is also shown as "site area" on figure 2. Modified from Carr and others, 1986, and Sawyer and others, 1994. 2 Geodesy and Contemporary Strain In the Yucca Mountain Region, Nevada 116°30' 116°25' 36°55' 36°50' 36°45' - 4 KILOMETERS I 0.5 1.5 2 MILES Figure 2. Index map of Yucca Mountain (dashed outline) and vicinity, Nevada, showing boundaries of areas commonly referred to in site-characterization studies and reports. Outside boundaries of the map define the "site area" (same area as shown in figure 1) encompassing most of the significant geologic features being mapped and studied in detail at or in close proximity to Yucca Mountain. The extent of the potential repos itory (upward projection of the boundaries of the underground facility) is shown by the shaded area, and the extent of the controlled area is marked by diagonal lines. Modified from Rautman and others, 1987. INTRODUCTION Yucca Mountain, neighboring ranges and bounding comprehensive understanding of the processes that basins, the proximal fault zones that distinguish the could impact repository design and performance. structural pattern of Yucca Mountain and surrounding Rates of tectonic processes during recent, areas (typical of the southern Great Basin), the foci of historical, and pre-historical Quaternary times the seismic events, and adjacent volcanic fields. Of most three separate time periods of particular significance to interest to the site-characterization program are Yucca Mountain site characterization are determined features that generally