Yucca Mountain
| Yucca Mountain | |
|---|---|
 Yucca Mountain |
|
| Elevation | 6,707 ft (2,044 m) NAVD 88[1] |
| Prominence | 1,333 ft (406 m) [2] |
| Location | |
 |
|
| Range | Yucca Mountain |
| Coordinates | 36°56′25″N 116°29′06″W / 36.940210656°N 116.485006506°WCoordinates: 36°56′25″N 116°29′06″W / 36.940210656°N 116.485006506°W[1] |
| Geology | |
| Type | Caldera, Cinder cones |
| Volcanic arc/belt | Quaternary basalt volcanoes |
| Last eruption | 80,000 years ago |
Yucca Mountain is a mountain in Nevada, near its border with California, approximately 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Las Vegas. The highest peak, named Chocolate Mountain, rises to 6,707 feet (2,044 m). Located in the Great Basin, Yucca Mountain is east of Amargosa Desert, south of the Nevada Test and Training Range and in the Nevada Test Site. It was the site for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository before that plan was scrapped in 2010.
Contents |
[edit] Geology
The formation that makes up Yucca Mountain was created by several large eruptions from a caldera volcano and is composed of alternating layers of ignimbrite (welded tuff), non-welded tuff, and semi-welded tuff. The volcanic units have been tilted along fault lines, thus forming the current ridge line called Yucca Mountain. In addition to these faults, Yucca Mountain is criss-crossed by fractures, many of which formed when the volcanic units cooled.
[edit] Volcanic history
A series of large explosive volcanic eruptions occurred to the north of Yucca Mountain millions of years ago, producing dense clouds of volcanic ash and rock fragments which melted or compressed together to create layers of rock called tuff, forming the mountains and hills of the region. The volcanic eruptions that produced Yucca Mountain ended about 12 million years ago. This explosive volcanism produced almost all (more than 99 percent) of the volcanic material in the Yucca Mountain region.[3]
Several million years ago, a different type of eruption began in the area. These eruptions were smaller and much less explosive. These small eruptions were marked by lava and cinders seeping and sputtering from cones or fissures. The last such small eruption occurred about 80,000 years ago. The remaining volcanic material (less than 1 percent) in the Yucca Mountain region is a result of these smaller eruptions.[4]
Researchers funded by the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects and the Nuclear Waste Division of Clark County, Nevada suggested that the size of the Yucca Mountain volcanic field was not well known. Eight Quaternary basalt volcanoes erupted within 50 km of the proposed repository in the past million years, and higher than previously predicted recurrence rates for Yucca Mountain volcanism may be possible in the future.[5]
[edit] Cultural history
Yucca Mountain and surrounding lands were central in the lives of the Western Shoshone and Southern Paiute peoples, who shared them for religious ceremonies, resource uses, and social events and Yucca Mountain continues to be considered sacred by the Shoshone people living today.[6][7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Yucca". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=GS0843. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- ^ "Chocolate Mountain, Nevada". Peakbagger.com. http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=18918. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- ^ Crowe, B.M.; W.J. Carr (1980). Preliminary assessment of the risk of volcanism at a proposed nuclear waste repository in the southern Great Basin (U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 80-375 ed.). Washington, DC: U.S. Geological Survey.
- ^ "Summary of Yucca Mountain Oversight and Impact Assessment Findings". State of Nevada. 1997. http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/yucca/ymsum01.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
- ^ Smith, E.I.; D.L. Keenan (30 August 2005). "Yucca Mountain Could Face Greater Volcanic Threat". Eos, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 86 (35): 317, 321. http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2005/pdf/eos20050830.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
- ^ "Environmental Justice Case Study: The Yucca Mountain High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository and the Western Shoshone". University of Michigan. http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/kendziuk.html. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
- ^ Catherine S. Fowler; Maribeth Hamby, Elmer Rusco, Mary Rusco (October 1991). "Native Americans and Yucca Mountain". Cultural Resource Consultants, Ltd.. State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/library/se-039-91v1.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
[edit] External links
- "Yucca Mountain". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:863092. Retrieved 27-AUG-1980.
- Potter, Christopher J.; Dickerson, Robert P. , Sweetkind, Donald S. , Drake, Ronald M. II, Taylor, Emily M. , Fridrich, Christopher J. , San, Carma A. Juan, and Day, Warren C. (2002). Geologic map of the Yucca Mountain region, Nye County, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2755. Denver, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey. http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/map-i/2755/metadata.faq.html.
- "Google Maps satellite imagery". http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.799938,-116.478767&spn=0.200574,0.324200&t=h&hl=en. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- "Yucca Mountain". Sacred Land Film Project. http://www.sacredland.org/yucca-mountain/. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- "A Western Shoshone Perspective on Yucca Mountain". Native American Netroots. http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/779/a-western-shoshone-perspective-on-yucca-mountain. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- "Audiovisual Gallery: Yucca Mountain". United States Department of Energy. Archived from the original on 2009-05-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20090514212456/http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/info_library/newsroom/photos/index.shtml. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- "Yucca Mountain Standards". Radiation Protection. United States Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/radiation/yucca/index.html. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- "Real time earthquake map for California and Nevada". U.S. Geological Survey. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- Smith, E.I.; D.L. Keenan (30 August 2005). "Yucca Mountain Could Face Greater Volcanic Threat". Eos, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 86 (35): 317, 321. http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2005/pdf/eos20050830.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- "Yucca Mountain: Nuclear Waste in Nevada" (news archive). Las Vegas Review-Journal. http://www.lvrj.com/hottopics/yucca_mountain.html. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- "Yucca Mountain – Current Issues & What to Do". HOME: Healing Ourselves & Mother Earth. http://www.h-o-m-e.org/Yucca/. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
