Thermal history of the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA

Secondary calcite, silica and minor amounts of fluorite deposited in fractures and cavities record the chemistry, temperatures, and timing of past fluid movement in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the proposed site of a high-level radioactive waste repository. The distribution and geochemistry of these deposits are consistent with low-temperature precipitation from meteoric waters that infiltrated at the surface and percolated down through the unsaturated zone. However, the discovery of fluid inclusions in calcite with homogenization temperatures (Th) up to not, vert, similar80 °C was construed by some scientists as strong evidence for hydrothermal deposition. This paper reports the results of investigations to test the hypothesis of hydrothermal deposition and to determine the temperature and timing of secondary mineral deposition. Mineral precipitation temperatures in the unsaturated zone are estimated from calcite- and fluorite-hosted fluid inclusions and calcite δ18O values, and depositional timing is constrained by the 207Pb/235U ages of chalcedony or opal in the deposits. Fluid inclusion Th from 50 samples of calcite and four samples of fluorite range from not, vert, similar35 to not, vert, similar90 °C. Calcite δ18O values range from not, vert, similar0 to not, vert, similar22‰ (SMOW) but most fall between 12 and 20‰. The highest Th and the lowest δ18O values are found in the older calcite. Calcite Th and δ18O values indicate that most calcite precipitated from water with δ18O values between −13 and −7‰, similar to modern meteoric waters.