Isotopic compositions of core-water samples from boreholes USW SD-6 and USW WT-24 indicate that recent water has been introduced at depth. Tritium, carbon, oxygen, and deuterium isotopic compositions all support younger water at depth in the two boreholes. Peaks in tritium concentrations in pore-water samples, indicating younger water than the other samples, observed near the basal vitrophyre of the Topopah Spring Tuff and at the bottom of the CHF and the top of the PP in both boreholes SD-6 and WT-24. Larger {sup 14}C activities in two pore-water samples from WT-24 at the bottom of the CHF and the top of the PP indicate younger water than in other samples from WT-24. More positive {delta}{sup 18}O and {delta}D values indicate younger water in samples of pore water at the bottom of the CHF in boreholes SD-6 and WT-24. The isotopic compositions indicating younger water at depth in boreholes SD-6 and WT-24 occur at the basal vitrophyre zone of the Topopah Spring Tuff and the bottom of the CHF/upper part of the PP, probably from lateral preferential flow through connected fractures (fast-flow paths). The source of the young water at borehole WT-24 probably was recharge from The Prow to the north, …

Pore water in the Topopah Spring Tuff has a narrow range of {delta}{sup 87}Sr values that can be calculated from the {delta}{sup 87}Sr values of the rock considering advection through and reaction with the overlying nonwelded tuffs of the PTn. This model can be extended to estimate the variation of {delta}{sup 87}Sr in the pore water through time; this approximates the variation of {delta}{sup 87}Sr measured in calcite fracture coatings. In samples of calcite where no silica can be dated by other methods, strontium isotope data may be the only method to determine ages. In addition, other Sr-bearing minerals in the calcite and opal coatings, such as fluorite, may be dated using the same model.

The unsaturated zone (UZ) in Miocene-age welded tuffs at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is under consideration as a potential site for the construction of a high-level radioactive waste repository. Secondary calcite and silica minerals deposited on fractures and in cavities in the UZ tuffs are texturally, isotopically, and geochemically consistent with UZ deposition from meteoric water infiltrating at the surface and percolating through the UZ along fractures. Nonetheless, two-phase fluid inclusions with small and consistent vapor to liquid (V:L) ratios that yield consistent temperatures within samples and which range from about 35 to about 80 C between samples have led some to attribute these deposits to formation from upwelling hydrothermal waters. Geochronologic studies have shown that calcite and silica minerals began forming at least 10 Ma and continued to form into the Holocene. If their deposition were really from upwelling water flooding the UZ, it would draw into question the suitability of the site as a waste repository.

The {sup 207}Pb/{sup 235}U ages for 14 subsamples of opal or chalcedony layers younger than calcite formed at elevated temperature range between 1.88 {+-} 0.05 and 9.7 {+-} 1.5 Ma with most values older than 6-8 Ma. These data indicate that fluids with elevated temperatures have not been present in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain since about 1.9 Ma and most likely since 6-8 Ma. Discordant U-Pb isotope data for chalcedony subsamples representing the massive silica stage in the formation of the coatings are interpreted using a model of the diffusive loss of U decay products. The model gives an age estimate for the time of chalcedony formation around 10-11 Ma, which overlaps ages of clay minerals formed in tuffs below the water table at Yucca Mountain during the Timber Mountain thermal event.

Yucca Mountain is under study as a potential site for underground storage of high-level radioactive waste, with the principle goal being the safe isolation of the waste from the accessible environment. This paper addresses the hydrogeologic characteristics of the fault zones at Yucca Mountain, focusing primarily on the central part of the mountain where the potential repository block is located.

Temperature and pressure monitoring in a vertical borehole in Pagany Wash, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, measured disruptions of the natural gradients associated with the February, 1998, El Nino precipitation events. The temperature and pressure disruptions indicated infiltration and percolation through the 12.1 m of Pagany Wash alluvium and deep percolation to greater than 35.2 m into the Yucca Mountain Tuff.

Pleistocene ground-water discharge deposits approximately 20 km southwest of Yucca Mountain were previously thought to represent pluvial water-table rises of 80 to 120 m. Data from new boreholes at two of the three discharge sites indicate that the modern water-table is at depths of only 17 to 30 m and that this shallow water is part of the regional ground-water flow system rather than being perched. Calcite in equilibrium with this modern ground water would have isotopic compositions similar to those in Pleistocene calcite associated with the discharge deposits. Carbon and uranium isotopes in both ground water and discharge deposits imply that past discharge consisted of a mixture of both shallow and deep ground water. These data limit Pleistocene water-table fluctuations at the specified Amargosa Desert discharge sites to between 17 and 30 m and eliminate the need to invoke large water-table rises.

In a potential high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, radioactive waste and canisters, drip shields protecting the waste from seepage and from rock falls, the backfill and invert material of crushed rock, the host rock, and water and gases contained within pores and fractures in the host rock together would form a complex system commonly referred to as the near-field geochemical environment. Materials introduced into the rock mass with the waste that are designed to prolong containment collectively are referred to as the Engineered Barrier System, and the host rock and its contained water and gases compose the natural system. The interaction of these component parts under highly perturbed conditions including temperatures well above natural ambient temperatures will need to be understood to assess the performance of the potential repository for long-term containment of nuclear waste. The geochemistry and mineralogy of the rock mass hosting the emplacement drifts must be known in order to assess the role of the natural system in the near-field environment. Emplacement drifts in a potential repository at Yucca Mountain would be constructed in the phenocryst-poor member of the Topopah Spring Tuff which is composed of both lithophysal and nonlithophysal zones. The chemical composition …