Yucca Mountain

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.


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.




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.

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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.
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.




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.