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Research about Nye County, Nevada

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Nye County, Nevada.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
USGS1982

Beatty, Nevada: A section in U.S. Geological Survey research in radioactive waste disposal - Fiscal year 1979 (Circular 847)

A commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal site has been operating near Beatty, Nevada, about 150 km northwest of Las Vegas, since 1962. The 32-ha site is situated in a desolate region of the Amargosa River Valley, sometimes referred to as the Amargosa Desert. Average annual precipitation is only about 114 mm. The site is underlain by 175 m of unconsolidated generally coarse-grained, alluvial-fan and flood-plain deposits. The water table is at a depth of 90 m.

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USGS1980

Water-resources data collected in the Devils Hole area, Nye County, Nevada, 1977-1978

This report presents water data collected at Devils Hole and vicinity for July 1977 through June 1978 to observe the effects of irrigation pumping on the pool level in Devils Hole. The pool contains the endangered species of pupfish, Cyprinodon diabolis . The report presents data on fluctuations in water level and springflow in graphic form and tabulates electrical energy consumed by irrigation wells as an index of the pumpage.

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USGS1978

Endocrine function and reproductive impairment in an irradiated population of the lizard Uta stansburiana

This study describes gonadal changes in lizards ( Uta stansburiana ) exposed to chronic low levels of γ radiation (1.5-10 R/day) under field conditions and attempts to evaluate endocrine involvement in these changes. Reproductive impairment in irradiated males is demonstrated during the breeding season by reduced testes weights and by seminiferous tubules devoid of germ cells. Ultrastructural morphology of Leydig cells, plasma testosterone levels, and developed accessory sex structures indicate normal steroidogenesis in such males; cytology of the pituitary gonadotropes and pituitary gonadotropin content indicate normal gonadotropin levels. These findings suggest that low levels of radiation affect the spermatogenic process directly, rather than through damage to the pituitary. Comparable irradiation causes complete resorption of ovarian tissue in some female Uta . The oviducts are atrophic and the pituitary gonadotropes hyperactive. Resemblance of gonadotropes to those of castrated animals and reduced pituitary hormone content suggest elevated levels of gonadotropin production, probably due to the absence of ovarian steroid feedback in affected animals. The continued mitotic activity of oogonia in adult reptiles and their limited number contribute to the vulnerability of germinal tissue in irradiated female lizards. Destruction of the germ cells is accompanied by resorption of all ovarian tissue including steroidogenic elements. Thus, in females as in males, radiation appears to damage gametogenesis rather than pituitary function.

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USGS1978

Principal facts for borehole gravity stations in test wells Ue10j, Ue7ns, and Ue5n, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

In August of 1976, borehole gravity surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey at the Nevada Test Site in the Ue10j, Ue7ns, and Ue5n test wells. The work was done in cooperation with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The U.S. Geological Survey-LaCoste and Romberg borehole gravity meter was used in the logging program (McCulloh and others, 1967a; McCulloh and others, 1967b). The primary objective of this work was to obtain data for the determination of in situ formation densities utilizing an instrument not significantly affected by casing, borehole rugosity, or other near-borehole conditions. A secondary objective was to obtain duplicate data, by reoccupying subsurface stations, so that the precision and repeatability of borehole gravity data could be studied.

Nevada↗
USGS1978

Fission-track dating of the Climax and Gold Meadows stocks, Nye County, Nevada

Fission-track ages indicate an age of 101 m.y. for the Climax stock and a minimum age of 93.6 m.y. for the Gold Meadows stock, both at the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada. Younger fission-track ages for apatite concentrates suggest that the stocks have been within 4 km of the surface since Late Paleocene time.

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USGS1978

Principal facts for borehole gravity stations in test well Ue 19z, exploratory drill hole PM-1, and water well 5a, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

During field studies conducted in October 1977 and March 1978, borehole gravity surveys were completed by the U.S. Geological Survey at the Nevada Test Site in test well Ue19z, exploratory drill hole PH-1, and water well 5a. The U.S. Geological Survey-LaCoste and Romberg-1/ borehole gravity meter (McCulloh and others, 1967a; McCulloh and others, 1967b) was used in the logging program. The primary objective of this work was to obtain data for the determination of accurate in situ formation densities utilizing an instrument not significantly affected by casing, borehole rugosity, or other near-borehole conditions. This report provides a brief summary of the geology of the rock formations penetrated by drill holes Ue 19z, PH-1, and water well 5a, and tabulates the subsurface gravity data obtained in these, wells. Reduced sections of the gamma-ray logs run in PM-1 and 5a are also included.

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USGS1978

Uranium in waters and aquifer rocks at the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

Previous chemical, geological, and hydrological information describing the physical and chemical environment of the Nevada Test Site (a Federal reserve for the testing of nuclear explosive devices) has been combined with new radiochemical and isotope data for water and rock samples in order to explain the behavior of uranium during alteration of thick sequences of rhyolitic volcanic rocks and associated volcaniclastic sediments. A model is proposed in which uranium mobility is controlled by two competing processes. Uranium is liberated from the volcanic rocks through dissolution of the glassy constituents and is carried in solution as a uranyl carbonate complex. Uranium is subsequently removed from solution by adsorption on secondary oxides of iron, titanium, and manganese, as observed in fission-track maps of aquifer rocks. The model explains the poor correlation of dissolved uranium with depth within tuffaceous sequences in which percolation of ground water is predominantly downward. Good positive correlation of dissolved uranium with dissolved Na, total dissolved solids, and total carbonate supports the glass dissolution model, while inverse correlation of dissolved uranium with U 234 /U 238 ratios of waters implies uranium is being absorbed by a relatively insoluble, surficial phase. Alpha radioactivity of Test Site water is primarily caused by high U 234 contents, and beta activity is highly correlated with dissolved K (K 40 ). Small amounts of dissolved radium, Pb 210 , and Po 210 are present but no evidence was found for alpha activity sources related to nuclear testing (Pu, U 235 ). A filtered but unacidified carbonate solution of uranium was found to be stable (± 10 percent of original U concentration) for years when stored in acid-washed polyethylene bottles.

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USGS1974

Stratigraphy, structure, and geologic history of the Lunar Lake Caldera of northern Nye County, Nevada

The Lunar Lake caldera is in northern Nye County, Nev., about 70 mi (110 km) east-northeast of Tonopah. It is the youngest caldera in the central Nevada multiple-caldron complex and the source of the tuff of Lunar Cuesta, a multiple-flow simple cooling unit of quarts latitic welded tuff that is about 25 m.y. old. The tuff was distributed over an area of nearly 3,000 mi 2 (7,770 km 2 ) and has a volume of approximately 90 mi 3 (375 km 3 ). The Lunar Lake caldera is the site of the Lunar Crater basalt field which contains basalts of Pleistocene and probably Holocene age. These basalts were fed from northeast-trending fissures that had much earlier served as vents for ash-flow tuffs and lavas, possibly including the tuff of Lunar Cuesta.

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USGS1968

Hypogene veins of gibbsite, pyrolusite, and lithiophorite in Nye County, Nevada

Gibbsite, lithiophorite, pyrolusite, and goethite, plus discrete mixtures of gibbsite and lithiophorite and of gibbsite and iron oxide, occur as replacement veins in limestone. Minor accessories are barite, alunite, opal. Minerals of wall-rock alteration are garnet, idocrase, K-feldspar, prehnite, sericite, and quartz. These silicates formed at higher temperature than the vein minerals, but the whole sequence is considered to be a product of the same solutions, of deep-seated origin, deposited over a long period of time.

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USGS1966

Rhizoconcretions in vitric ash-fall tuff, Nye County, Nevada

Small, vertically elongate concretionlike structures, here called rhizoconcretions , are found in scattered localities in and near the southern part of the Belted Range of Nye County , Nevada . The rhizoconcretions occur within a stratigraphically restricted zone in bedded vitric ash - fall tuff of late Tertiary age. The rhizoconcretions differ in mineralogy from their host rock in that they are cemented by a binder of undetermined composition, possibly a zeolite, whereas the host tuffs are un-cemented. These structures appear to have formed during diagenesis of the tuff by means of capillary movement of subsurface waters that reacted with volcanic glass within the conduits to form the cementing material.

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