Thoughts Regarding the Dimensions of Faults at Rainier and Aqueduct Mesas, Nye County, Nevada, Based on Surface and Underground Mapping

Drellack, S.L. ; Prothro, L.B. ; Townsend, M.J. ; Townsend, D.R.

National Security Technologies, LLC

关键词: Granites;    Formation Damage;    Dimensions;    Boreholes;    Tuff Fault, Ugta, Rainier Mesa;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1008334
RP-ID  :  DOE/NV/25946--1147
RP-ID  :  DE-AC52-06NA25946
RP-ID  :  1008334

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The geologic setting and history, along with observations through 50 years of detailed geologic field work, show that large-displacement (i.e., greater than 30 meters of displacement) syn- to post-volcanic faults are rare in the Rainier Mesa area. Faults observed in tunnels and drill holes are mostly tight, with small displacements (most less than 1.5 meters) and small associated damage zones. Faults are much more abundant in the zeolitized tuffs than in the overlying vitric tuffs, and there is little evidence that faults extend downward from the tuff section through the argillic paleocolluvium into pre-Tertiary rocks. The differences in geomechanical characteristics of the various tuff lithologies at Rainier Mesa suggest that most faults on Rainer Mesa are limited to the zeolitic units sandwiched between the overlying vitric bedded tuffs and the underlying pre-Tertiary units (lower carbonate aquifer–3, lower clastic confining unit–1, and Mesozoic granite confining unit).