Evaluation of breccia pipes in southeastern New Mexico and their relation to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site, with a section on drill-stem tests

Snyder, R.P.; Gard, L.M.; Mercer, Jerry W.

doi:10.3133/ofr82968

Cited by 11 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Thus the different halite beds in the Rustler Formation thicken, thin, and even vanish due to lateral facies changes in areas of the basin where the formation has never been exposed to weathering and dissolution. Thinning by itself is not primary evidence for dissolution as suggested by Snyder and Gard (1982).…”

Section: Cross Section Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…During that time it has been reduced in thickness by dissolution of the more soluble beds in the formation. Various authors (e.g., Snyder and Gard, 1982;Snyder 1985;Chaturvedi and Channell, 1985) have suggested that this process of thinning by dissolution continues eastward into the subsurface, encroaching on the WIPP site. These authors suggest that more halite, progressively deeper in the Rustler section, has been dissolved westward, the closer one gets to Nash Draw (Figure 14, Figure 15).…”

Section: Cross Section Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hill (1999), drawing on a theory advocated by Snyder (1985) and Snyder and Gard (1982), suggests that thinning of the Rustler Formation in the vicinity of the WIPP site must be related to dissolution since the thinning trend continues westward to where the Rustler has been markedly and demonstrably thinned by dissolution in Nash Draw. Although dissolution is an obvious process Figure 13.…”

Section: Stratigraphic Thinning Of the Rustler Formation And "Missingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of the potential for karst in the Rustler Formation at the WIPP site.

Lorenz¹

2006

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This report is an independent assessment of the potential for karst dissolution in evaporitic strata of the Rustler Formation at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site. Review of the available data suggests that the Rustler strata thicken and thin across the area in depositional patterns related to lateral variations in sedimentary accommodation space and normal facies changes. Most of the evidence that has been offered for the presence of karst in the subsurface has been used out of context, and the different pieces are not mutually supporting.Outside of Nash Draw, definitive evidence for the development of karst in the Rustler Formation near the WIPP site is limited to the horizon of the Magenta Member in drillhole WIPP-33. Most of the other evidence cited by the proponents of karst is more easily interpreted as primary sedimentary structures and the localized dissolution of evaporitic strata adjacent to the Magenta and Culebra water-bearing units. Some of the cited evidence is invalid, an inherited baggage from studies made prior to the widespread knowledge of modern evaporite depositional environments and prior to the existence of definitive exposures of the Rustler Formation in the WIPP shafts. Some of the evidence is spurious, has been taken out of context, or is misquoted.Lateral lithologic variations from halite to mudstone within the Rustler Formation under the WIPP site have been taken as evidence for the dissolution of halite such as that seen in Nash Draw, but are more rationally explained as sedimentary facies changes. Extrapolation of the known karst features in Nash Draw eastward to the WIPP site, where conditions are and have been significantly different for half a million years, is unwarranted. The volumes of insoluble material that would remain after dissolution of halite would be significantly less than the observed bed thicknesses, thus dissolution is an unlikely explanation for the lateral variations from halite to mudstone and siltstone. 4Several surficial depressions at WIPP, suggested to be sinkholes, do not have enough catchment area to form a sinkhole, and holes drilled to investigate the subsurface strata do not support a sinkhole interpretation. Surface drainage across the WIPP site is poorly developed because it has been disrupted by migrating sand dunes and because precipitation is not focused by defined catchment areas in this region of low precipitation and low-dip bedding, not because it has been captured by sinkholes. There are no known points of discharge from the Rustler Formation at WIPP that would indicate the presence of a subsurface karst drainage system. The existing drillholes across the WIPP site, though small in diameter, are sufficient to assess the probability of karst development along the horizontal fractures that are common in the Rustler Formation, and the area of investigation has been augmented significantly by the mapping of four large-diameter shafts excavated into the WIPP repository. The general absence of dissolution, karsting, and related con...

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Section: Cross Section Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cross Section Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stratigraphic Thinning Of the Rustler Formation And "Missingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of the potential for karst in the Rustler Formation at the WIPP site.

Lorenz¹

2006

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“…At the surface, this feature is marked by a dome, and similar domes have been interpreted as dissolution features. The depth of dissolution has not been confirmed, but the collapse structures led Anderson (1978) and Snyder and Gard (1982) to postulate dissolution of the Capitan Limestone at depth, collapse of the Salado, Rustler, and younger formations, and subsequent dissolution and hydration by downward percolating waters. San Simon Sink, some 21 miles (35 kilometers) east-southeast of the WIPP site, has also been interpreted as a solution chimney.…”

Section: Solution Chimneysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Draft Title 40 CFR 191 compliance certification application for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Volume 9: Appendices RM, SCR, SER, SUM, WRAC

1995

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The Rock Mechanics Program is important to the establishment of a radioactive waste repository in salt because rock mechanics deals with the prediction of creep closure and eventual encapsulation of the waste. The intent of this paper is to give the current status of the program.This program consists of three major modeling efforts: continuum creep, fracture, and the disturbed rock zone. These models, together with laboratory 'material parameters, plastic flow potentials, initial and boundary input data, and other peripheral information forms the predictive technology. The extent to which the predictive technology is validated against in situ test data adds certainty to the method. Application of the technology is through simulations of the test results, design, or performance using numerical codes. In summary, the predictive capabilities are technically sound and reasonable. The current status of the program is that which would be advanced for compIiance.

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“…The possibilities of dissolution of the Salado (to form "breccia pipes") and dissolution at great depths in the Culebra at the site (causing "karst" hydrologic flow) were examined by the USGS (Snyder et al, 1982) and Sandia (brnbert, 1983). They were resolved as either not likely to occur at all or not in a manner that would impair WIPP performance, respectively.…”

Section: Hazards Identified In 1980smentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical background on performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Rechard

2000

Reliability Engineering & System Safety

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Protection Agency (EPA) certified that the WIPP dkposal system complied with its regulations. The EPA's decision was primarily based on the results from a performance. assessment conducted in 1996, which is summarized in thk special issue of Reliability Engineerhg and System Safety. This performance assessment was the culmination of four prelirninaryperformance assessments conducted between 1989 and 1992. "This paper provides a historical setting and context for how the performance of the deep geologic repository at the WIPP was analyzed.' Also included is background on political forces .acting on the project.Key Words: performance assessmen~probabilistic risk assessment risk assessment; radioactive waste disposal; Waste Isolation Pilot PlanG history . '1.0 IntroductionIn 1998,25 years 'after selection of the "Delaware Basin in southeastern New Mexico as a~otential disposal site for radioactive waste, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), an underground geologic disposal system, complied with its regulations. This paper presents a historical summary of the system characterization, engineering analyses, and scientific investigations undertaken by the WIPP Project over the past 25 years and provides a context for the~esults presented in this special issue of Reliability Engineering and System Safety. Although it is mot .essentird to know the WIPP'S history to comprehend the engineering analysis, an understanding of the issues that the project faced can be helpful. Many paths were followed during these 25 years to discern which phenomena were important at the WIPP, and often these paths were initiated in Tesponse to evolving notions of what kind of :g@tific information was "significant, what level of understanding was required, and how society could use this scientific information to decide whether deep geologic disposal of nuclear waste was acceptable.1-3/9/99 Draft \. DISCLAIMERPortions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document... .- Characterization of WIPP Disposal SystemThe choice of New Mexico as a potential disposal site for nuclear waste in 1973 (Claibome and Gera, 1974) was one in a series of episodes in which New Mexico had figured prominently with regard to nuclear phenomena. In 1942, the Manhattan Engineering Dkrnct selected New Mexico as the location (including what are known now asLos Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories) for assembling the scientists, engineers, and technicians who would develop the fist atomic bomb. As a direct consequence of that development, the first atomic explosion took place in 1945 in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico (Serber, 1992). Sixteen years later, in 1961, scientists with the Gnome Project detonated a device in the Delaware Basin in bedded salt near Carlsbad, New Mexico, as part of the Plowshare Program, which was exploring nonmilitary uses of nuclear explosives (Gard, 1968).After a potential...

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Evaluation of breccia pipes in southeastern New Mexico and their relation to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site, with a section on drill-stem tests

Cited by 11 publications

References 9 publications

Assessment of the potential for karst in the Rustler Formation at the WIPP site.

Assessment of the potential for karst in the Rustler Formation at the WIPP site.

Draft Title 40 CFR 191 compliance certification application for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Volume 9: Appendices RM, SCR, SER, SUM, WRAC

Historical background on performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

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