IN REPLY REFER TO:
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W A SHI NGTON 25, D. C .
October 10, 1958
AEC-126/9
Mr. James E. Reeves Assistant Manager for Test Operations Albuquerque Operations Office u. s. Atomic Energy Commission P. 0. Box 5400 Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dear Mr. Reeves: Transmitted herewith are ten copies of TEI -729, "The action
of heat and of superheated steam on the tuff of the Oak Spring formation,"
by George W. Morey, August 1958.
This report is part of our Nevada Test Site project. We
plan to incorporate the information in TEI-729 with that in other
reports on this project for publication by the Geological Survey.
· Sincerely yours,
-~ . ~~ ~/Vc):,R j..,- W. H. Bradley Chief Geologist UNI1rED STAIJ::'ES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
GE LOGI CAL SliRVEY
THE .AC TION OF HFJ\.T A~TD OF SUPERHEATED STEAM
ON ·IE~ T0~ OF TFili OAK SPRING FORMATION*
George Wa Morey
Augu.st 1958
Trace El ements Investiga t i ons Report 729
This preliminary report is distributed without editoria l and. technical review f or conformity ·with official standards and nomenclature . It is not f or public . inspection or quot ation.
*This report concerns work done on behal f of Albuquerque Operations Office, U. s. Atomi c Energy Commission .. 2
USGS - TEI- 729
Distribution No. of copies
Albuquer que Opera t:i.ons Office ( J.. :F~.. Ree·7es) o •• o " .... o .... " ... o e .. ., .. o • ., .. 10 Division of Re search, Washington (D .. R. Mi.l_er) ...... , ., .. o. o...... 2 Office o.f the Commissioners, Washington (J .. C .. Pot~s ) •o••ooe•o•o •o 1 Office of Operations Analysis & Plan~ing, Was hi ngton ' P .. C. Fine) 1
Chemistry Division, ArgorLne National Lab . (W, M .. Mann.ing ) .. • .. • • • .. .. • 1 Chemical Tech ., Di v ., Oak Ridge Natl. Lab .. (F~ R. Bruce) ... . ~••o•ooo 1 Engineer Research & Deve ~opment Lab"' Ft .. Belvoir, Va. (Chief, Spec:ia l P:t'l... . jec-ts B"':"'82u.ch) o ooo. oott<> o G> <> o<>&<> o o•eaoseooeeooeo 1 Health Physi ~ s Div .. , Oak Ridge Na tl. La.b o ( F .. L .. Parker) ...... •• 3 Los A- amos Scientific Labora tory ·· J. iL. Ha. ll .J .. ,. .. .. o ..... o •••••••• o .. • 1 Uni v. Ca lif. Radia tion J...a b., , L~'~-vermore (G .. W. Johnson) ...... " •••• 10 U .. S. Naval Ordnance Lab" ' Whi+.e Oak, Mri . (J .. E .. .Abla!'d) ...... 1 U. S. Naval Radiological Lab .. , San Francisco (IlL E . Ballou) • • • • • • • 1
U. s. Geological Survey~
Engineering Geology Bran.ch, Denve~c· ...... o ...... o & .. • • • • • • • • .. .. • • • • • • • • 10 Fuels Branch, Denver •o••• .. •••&ee &o o•• o • o •••eo•••"'"""••••.,••<>••e••• 2 Geochemistry and Petrology Br anch, Was hington ••o~••••o• .. o••• •••••• 8 Ge ophysics Branch, Washington o•e•e ••oo ...... o ...... 6 Militar y Geology Bran~ h , Washington •••• oo •••o•••·~••••eooe•••••o•• 2 Mineral Deposits B:ranch, Washington ...... ,oooo••o•• •• """'"""•"• 2
Radiohydrology Section , Washington ••• o., e " ...... a." ••• e ... 0 · .. . o ...... , e • • 6
TEreo' Denve r ••••• 0 Q • e Q ••••••• ~ 0 Qo •••• • e 0 0 Cio 0 0 0 0 G () Q •• G • 0 A} " •• 0 •• • · . 0 • • l TEPCO, Washington (including maste:r) .... o•o•••oo.,ooeoe<><>OOCOee•o••• • 4 74 Page
Abstract 4
Introduc~ ti. o!J . 4
Experi.me r..-:;s in. a .i!" 5
Exper iments E2. s~;~~Jerheate •1 s+,eam at h:~g:C. :r;c:'e BS'-)~'e o~, o.... o...... 9
RefeTences e o o e o. e • (I o t'> " e t:~ t':'l o o ~ f'l fl e o o I") <» o o o a o o tJ o c· n o (} o o o o o o e 41 • & o o o e • 13
Table l . in a i.r 6
Effect u:f heat::.:o_g he-J.landi.te ., -,...., a~i.~~· 8
X~ray :~?atter::; of the l12:~~ :1.e~~":i:;if::_e(. : .a :ri~.-at:.~.-e of !J.eula:'J.d.:.te · {~:r:t ich ~\ra. ,s ob·:.a5.r..ed. b;y- ::.ea.t2.l!.g .b.e u:l.anL~. i te f r o:Ti Icelar2.d. to 290° C ~- D:!:" 64 !:D:.J::.' S, and :te1;~landi te ::.::.-:;. ·~uff of tb.e Oa.~~. S:p:':"'2 ~2. g f or::nat:Lc>rl to ~~6~~c C fQr 4 d.a;y-s 10
4. The e f:'ect r::;f sv.pe:::-hea.ted. .stemr. a-+~ hig:!.". pressu.:':"e 0:::1 t :he tuff' of the Oak. Sp~<~.: :1~ forma-cion. •• o ...... G., • ., ...... ll 4
TEE A"GTION OF HEAT Al\ID OF SOPERfiEATED STEAM
ON TUFF OF THE OAK SPRING FORMATION
By G-eorge W. Morey
ABSTRACT
Samples of tuff of the Oak Spring f ormation hea ted in air at different temperatures were examined. with the petrographic microscope and by X-ray diffraction methods. The changes in the heulandi te, which makes up the greater part of the tuff, can be used to estimate the temperature to which the tuff had been heatedo The tuff becomes f luid enough to begin to flow under its own weight at about 1,200° C in air, but even a t higher temperatures the mo lten w~terial has extremel y high viscosityo
Samples of the tuff were heated in superheated steam at high pressures, and from these experiments it is concluded that recrystallization of the heulandite with formation of plagioclase feldspar is indicative of the presence of steam at high temperature and pressure during recrystallization ..
INTRODUCTION
The underground nuclear explosion of September l~ 1957 took place in a rhyolitic tuff of the Oak Spring formation of Tertiary age. In the specimen used for the experiments described below the originally glassy shards have been completely altered, chiefly to the zeol ite mineral heul andite
[(Ca,Na2)0•Al203 ·6Si02•5H20 ] . Heulandite makes up about 70 percent of the rock specimen. The remainder is about 20 percent quartz, many of bipyramid.crl habit indicating that they were formed as high-quartz above 575° C, and r:: /
10 percent of K feld.spar, plagioclase, hornblende, mag~1eti te, and bi.oti te
(Hansen and Lemke, 1958)., A considerable amount o.f -~!later is a.l.so present.
Some of this is combi ned. in the heulandi te, which i.d.eally contains
15 percent water. If the tuff is 70 per'cer. ~ .t he<.Llan.d.:f. 'te, i.t shm.1.ld. have a minimum water con.tent of J,O percent .. Actual analyses of -l:uff range from
10 to 29 percent "Water, so t:~1e quantity of water i::1. the -:;uff actually subject
to the heating efi.ects of the naclear explosi.or.;. is UJ.'lce:.:'tain.
The authoY takes pleas'l.J2'e j_n. acknm-1:::..edging tl~.e assistance of
W. F. Outerbridge in the pet:.ographic examinati.ons ar.'::. of Daphne R .. Ross in
the X-ray diffraction st·o.c":.ies. T!le \ Operations Office, U .. S. Atomi-c Energy Com.rnissio!.'... EXPERIMENTS L\! AIR Sam;ples of tuff taken. from the exploi3ic:n chani::,er prior to -th.e shot, and identified by the number G57 -9-l, ·were purN"d.e:red, :pla eed in sma::;_l crucibles hanging i:n an automatically con.tl"ollec1 quench1ng furnace, ar1d. heated in air. After heating, the samples ·were :!:'emoved and exarr..iEed with the petrographic microscope and. X-.:ray diffractometer. The ex:perime~ . tal conditions and. results of these experiments are sho•..m. in. table l Q The author estimates, from the chemical compositicn of the material and the melting :!:'elati.ons of per·t:!.nent systems -~..r~i.c!h have al:!:'eady been studied at the Geophysical Iaborato:r·y, Carnegie Irrst:i. t·u.tion of Washington, that the temperature of completim:·"' of the melt~.. ng p:('ocess is abou.t 900° C. This estimate p:r-esl2pp9ses that the material -w-as O:::'iginally crystalline and that eq_uilibril:'.m Y.TaS reached., 1r:he last crystallin-e phase to disappear wou ld be 6 Table 1.--Effect of heating tuff of the Oak Spring formation in air. Temperature .J£L Time Condition 36o 4 days X-ray pattern shows heulandite altered to unidentified., Other minerals unchanged. 500 18 hrs Heulandite has decomposed to glass. Other minerals unchanged., 760 42 hrs Doo 1,032 42 hrs Not sintered. Heulandite has decomposed to glass. Other minerals unchangedo 1,150 8 days Partly sintered; heulandite decomposed to bubbly glass. Other minerals Q~changedo 1,160 4 hrs Thoroughly sintered and cemented together by bubbly glass. Other minerals unchanged. 1,191 6 days Melted, but phenocrysts of ~uartz and K feldspar are not altered. In addition to the bubbly glass formed from heulandite, there is a clear glass probably formed from the plagioclase. 1,205 5 days Melted to bubbly glass with some phenocrysts of quartz and K feldspar remaining metastably. 7 silica i n the :form of' quartz or trid;ylilite.. The tu:rf original y , however, -was largely gl ass, s o the me ; ting process v.Jas near completion, 'but ·the phases pre-sent , quartz .and f el dspar, are as wou.ld be expected ~ Howeve r ~ equilibrium in mixtures of this general composition -~ras real.hed very slo-wly, as is shown in tabl e 1 " At 1 ~ 03 2° C the heul a ndi te had decomposed t o a gl ass , but t he material was still so viscous that the powder did not s:.:nter together i n 42 hours" At 1 ,150° C sintering had begun, and at 1 , 19-o C the material was thoroughly me l ted t ogethe:c" T r,._ro types of gl a ss could. be d.istin.gaished, ·one ·a bubb l y gl ass formed. by decomposition of t he heul andite , and the other a clear gl ass chiefly for med by t he me lting of t he pl agioclase feldspar. The beha·vi.or of t hese material s on heating is consistent with the known viscosity of silica te melts. At 1,200° C an ordinary soft gl ass l ike window glass will have a viscosity of' 10s poises; molten albite about l07 poises and molten orthoclase ~ 10s poises .. When tuff is heat ed at lower temperatures ' 500° and 760° C) about the only change is the driving off of the combined water in heulandite , resulting i n the formation of a bubbly gl ass , and. the condj_tion (table 1) of the heulandite is evidently diagnostic of the temperat~ e s to which the tuff had been subject edo To secure further i nformation on this, samples of a well-crystallized heulandite from Iceland -were heated in a ir a t the temperatures and for the time given in table 2, and t he products studied by X-ray diffraction. At 199° C the heulandite pattern remained unaltered. At 290° C with short exposures the x.ray pattern obtained was that of heulandit e~ but with sl ightly altered spacingso However, when heated for 8 Table 2.--Effect of heating heulandite in airo Temperature Time (C) (hrs) Conditi.on 199 17 Heulandi.te remained unaltered. 64 Do. 290 1 X-ray pattern was essentially that of heulandite, with slightly altered spacings. 64 X-ray pattern showed that the heulandite had completely altered to an unidentified compound. 1 Same QUidentified pattern. 4 Do. 113 Do. 505 3 Noncrystalline, except for a trace of quartz. 20 Doo 9 64 hours , t he tu:ff yiel.ded a new X=ra y pa-tter n (tab l e 3 ) wh :i. ch di.d not match t hose o:f··a ny mine r a ls i ~ . the fTles of t he U .. S., G8ologi ca l Survey. This un.ide nt ified ·pha s e persis-ted even after ll3 hours hea ting a t 3&J° C. This was t he s ame pattern obta i ne d by hea t ing tufT to 360° C f or 4 days (re f e rred t o ·-as 11Uni den tif ied 19 i n t ab le 1) o The a l t era t i on of t he heu.landi t e evidently prov i.des a clue t o the tempera t ur e a t whi ch the tuf f ~ra s heated a s the !"esu:t of the heat give n off by t he (e ~ EXPERI.MEN'I'S IN' SUPEFJIEATED STE...AM AT HI GH PRESSURE I na smuch a s a l a r ge amou_n.t of steam ~ras f orme d a s a resul t of t he expl os ion (J ohns on and ot he :r·s , 1958) a!J. a t t emp t wa s made t o find the effect of superheat ed. ste am o~ tuf f a t h i.gh pTess ureso ~ne appa r a tus used was t hat de s cri.be d by Morey a nd He s s e .lgesser (1952) , i n which a close d pressure vessel of I nc o~e l X wa s hea ted i ~ a. i'u:::-na ce · ~~r it h automatic t emperature contr o lJO About a hal f-gr am s a mpl e of the powdered tuff, identified. by the number G57-9-1, wa s p l a ced in a p l ati num crucib le wi t h a l itt l e water , put into the bomb, a nd hea ted t o the desi r ed temp e r a t ure . The pump was t hen started, and water pumped i nto t he hot bomb with an a utomatica lly controlled pump until the des ired :... Y"esm.rre wa s r eached .. The resu lts a re shown in table 4. The lowest tempera ture chosen ·wa s 500° C a In 3 hours a t 5,000 psi, the heula ndit e had become a l most e ntirel y noncr ysta lli ne, j ust a s i n t he runs in a i r , but a ne·w u-r.Li d.e ntJ.f i ed pattern ha d begun to develop whi ch had some of the str ong l ines of the plagi.ocl a se f e ldspars o I n 96 hours a t 10 TabLe 3.--X..;.ray pattern of the unident.i:fied derivative of heul andi te which ··was · obtained by heating heuland~ite from I celand. to 290° C f or 64 hours , and heulandite in tuff of the Oak opring for mation to 360° G f"br 4- days .. ~/ X-ray powder data for uni dentified f ilm noa 11779, CQKa radiation, l = 1.5418 A, Ni filte r , cutoff = 11 A, camera diameter = 114e59 mm -d A) I 8.3 100 7 .. 6 25 6e7 35 5.6 25 5 .. 2 35 4.96 35 4.27 9 4.13 9 3.90 6 3.80 35 3.65 50 3o 52 9 3.36 71 3.27 13 3.13 6 2.93 3 2o9l 3 2.82 18 2.76 4 2.69 6 2.56 6 2.24 3 2.19 2 "};/ Analyst, Daphne R .. Ross, U. S. Geol ogical Survey .. 11 Table 4.--The eff'ect of super heated steam at high pr essure on the tuff of the Oak Spring for matione Temperature Pressure Time (c) (psi) (hrs) Conditi on 500 5,000 3 Heulandite h~s become almost entirely noncrystal line with some plagioclase feldspar vresent i n it. Phenocrysts not appreciably a l tereda 500 6,500 Heulandite has recrystallized to plagioclase feldspar. Phenocr ysts not appreciably altered. 6oo 15,000 17 Heulandite recrystal lized to plagioclase. Phenocrysts not appreciabl y altered. 15,000 18 Heulandite has recryst all ized to a 30,000 2 plagioclase fel dspar , probably oligoclase. Phenocrysts not appreciably altered. 12 6,500 psi the heulandite had changed almost completely to plagioclase, but the crystals were still too f i ne grained for the plagioclase to be identified. At 600° C and 15;000 psi the plagioclase lines were better developed. Finally, a run was made at 650° C and 15,000 psi for 18 hours , then the pressure was increased to 30,000 psi for two hours. In this run the feldspar was tentatively identified as an oligoclase , a plagioclase in the albite-anorthite series containing from 10 to 30 percent anorthite. It i s probable that this is the feldspar formed in all of the runs at lower temperature and pressure. It is noteworthy that a glass of the composition of oligoclase will not crystallize eYen in many months when heated dry at 500° Ce In all of the above runs the phenocrysts of quartz, K fel dspar, and plagioclase apparently remained unaltered. A sample of the Iceland heulandite heated for 3 hours at 500° C and 15,000 psi steam pressure contained some noncrystal l ine material, plagioclase , and some quartz. It is evi dent that the change of heulandite to feldspar is indicative of an exposure to superheated steam, and any study of the tuff collected from the collapsed explosion chamber should include an X-ray diffraction study of the mater ial with special attention to the changes in the heulandite . Any change to plagioclase would be indicative of exposure t o superheated steam. 13 REFERENCES Hansen, W. Ro, and Lemke, R. W., 1958, Geology of the USGS and Rainier trmnel areas, Nevada Test Site: U. S. Geol. Silrvey TET-716 (unpublished). Johnson, Gerald W. 1 Pelsor, Gene To, Preston , Roger G., and Violet, Charles E., 1958, The underground nuclear detonation of September 19, 1957, Rainier: University of C~lifornia Radiation Labo UCRL-5 124, 27 p. Morey, George W., and Hesselgesser, James M., 1952, The system H20-Na20-Si02 at 4oo° C, Bowen Volume, Part 2: Am. Jouro Sci., p. 343-371.