Actions for Basal Ottawa Limestone, Chattanooga Shale, Floyd Shale, Porters Creek Clay, and Yazoo Clay in parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee as potential host rocks for underground emplacement of waste

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Basal Ottawa Limestone, Chattanooga Shale, Floyd Shale, Porters Creek Clay, and Yazoo Clay in parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee as potential host rocks for underground emplacement of waste

Author
Mellen, F. F.
Published
United States : [publisher not identified], 1976.
[Oak Ridge, Tennessee] : [U.S. Atomic Energy Commission], 1976.
Physical Description
microfiche : negative ; 11 x 15 cm

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Summary
Impermeable rock units, preferably at least 500 feet thick and lying 1000 to 3000 feet below land surface, were sought in the region consisting roughly of the western /sup 3///sub 5/ths of Tennessee and the northern /sup 3///sub 5/ths of Alabama and Mississippi. All rock sequences, Cambrian through Eocene, were examined in varying detail, except the Cretaceous Selma Chalk and except the diapiric salt. These rocks were studied for their relative impermeable homogeneity, their continuity, their background of structural and seismic stability and their hydrologic associations. The Central Mississippi Ridge of north-central Mississippi is overlain by a long-stable mass of Porters Creek Clay 500-700 feet thick, in an area roughly 50-60 miles wide and about 150 miles long. The Yazoo Clay, where best developed in the west-central and southwest part of Mississippi, is in the 400-500 foot thickness range, but locally exceeds 500 feet. The entire area mapped is underlain by the Louann Salt which has produced many deep-seated salt domes and numerous piercement salt domes. Salt flow has complicated shallow structural geology throughout that area. The Chattanooga Shale rarely exceeds 60 feet in thickness in the region studied and is generally much thinner and is absent in many places. In the lower part of the Middle Ordovician (Ottawa Megagroup), the Murphreesboro and associated dense limestones appear to offer a potential disposal unit 250-400 feet thick, having the advantages of rock competency and freedom from association with prolific aquifers in the overburden or beneath. Other less conspicuous stratigraphic units are reviewed.
Report Numbers
Y/OWI/SUB-76/87950
Other Subject(s)
Collection
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission depository collection.
Note
DOE contract number: W-7405-ENG-26; SUB-PO-78X-87950V
OSTI Identifier 7331460
Research organization: Mellen (Frederic F.), Geological Associates, Jackson, MS (USA).
View MARC record | catkey: 47042261