Petrography, mineralogy, and chemistry of calcite-silica deposits at Exile Hill, Nevada, compared with local spring deposits

摘要

Chemical, mineralogic, and petrographic analyses of siliceous calcretes from Exile Hill east of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, indicate that pedogenic processes alone account for the formation of the calcretes. These calcretes have been interpreted by some observers as evidence of seismically triggered eruptions of deep water. Such an origin could have important consequences if Yucca Mountain is developed as an unsaturated site for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste. In contrast with local deposits that are of spring or seep origin, the siliceous calcretes at Yucca Mountain are pedogenic in origin as well as evolution and provide no evidence in support of conjectured spring activity.