Geology topics

Newell J. Trask

Publications and source records attributed to Newell J. Trask.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS1994

Implications of theories of asteroid and comet impact for policy options for management of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive wastes

Concern with the threat posed by terrestrial asteroid and comet impacts has heightened as the catastrophic consequences of such events have become better appreciated. Although the probabilities of such impacts are very small, a reasonable question for debate is whether such phenomena should be taken into account in deciding policy for the management of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The rate at which asteroid or comet impacts would affect areas of surface storage of radioactive waste is about the same as the estimated rate at which volcanic activity would affect the Yucca Mountain area. The Underground Retrievable Storage (URS) concept could satisfactorily reduce the risk from cosmic impact with its associated uncertainties in addition to providing other benefits described by previous authors.

Conference Paper↗

USGS1987

The geologic history of the Moon

More than two decades of study have established the major features of lunar geologic style and history. The most numerous and significant landforms belong to a size-morphology series of simple craters, complex craters, and ringed basins that were formed by impacts. Each crater and basin is the source of primary ejecta and secondary craters that, collectively, cover the entire terra. The largest impacts thinned, weakened, and redistributed feldspathic terracrustal material averaging about 75 km in thickness. Relatively small volumes of basalt, generated by partial remelting of mantle material, were erupted through the thin subbasin and subcrater crust to form the maria that cover 16 percent of the lunar surface. Tectonism has modified the various stratigraphic deposits relatively little; most structures are confined to basins and large craters. This general geologic style, basically simple though complex in detail, has persisted longer than 4 aeons (1 aeon = 10 9 yr). Impacts began to leave a visible record about 4.2 aeons ago, after the crust and mantle had differentiated and the crust had solidified. At least 30 basins and 100 times that many craters larger than 30 km in diameter were formed before a massive impact created the Nectaris basin about 3.92 aeons ago. Impacts continued during the ensuing Nectarian Period at a lesser rate, whereas volcanism left more traces than during pre-Nectarian time. The latest basin-forming impacts created the giant and still-conspicuous Imbrium and Orientale basins during the Early Imbrian Epoch, between 3.85 and 3.80 aeons ago. The rate of crater-forming impacts continued to decline during the Imbrian Period. Beginning in the Late Imbrian Epoch, mare-basalt flows remained exposed because they were no longer obscured by many large impacts. The Eratosthenian Period (3.2-1.1 aeons ago) and the Copernican Period (1.1 aeons ago to present) were times of lesser volcanism and a still lower, probably constant impact rate. Copernican impacts created craters whose surfaces have remained brighter and topographically crisper than those of the more ancient lunar features.

Professional Paper↗

USGS1982

Performance assessments for radioactive waste repositories; the rate of movement of faults

Performance assessments of mined repositories for radioactive waste require estimates of the likelihood of fault movements and earthquakes that may affect the repository and its surrounding ground water flow system. Some previous assessments have attempted to estimate the rate of formation of new faults; some have relied heavily on historic seismicity or the time of latest movement on faults. More appropriate emphasis is on the identification of faults that have been active or may have been active under the present teconic regime in a broad region and on estimates of the long-term rate of movement of such faults. Faults that have moved under the current stress field, even at low rates, are likely to move again during the time the wastes will remain toxic. A continuum exists for the present rate of movement of faults which ranges from 10 mm per year for obviously active faults along the western margin of the North American plate to as low as 10 -4 mm per year for recently documented faults in the Atlantic Coast province. On the basis of regional consistency in movement rates and constraints imposed by geomorphology, I derive upper bounds for the rates of occurrence of fault offsets for various crustal stress provinces in the conterminous United States. These upper bounds are not meant to substitute for detailed studies of specific faults and seismicity at specific sites. They can help to reduce the considerable uncertainty that attaches to all estimates of future tectonic activity. The principal uncertainty in their estimation is the manner in which total slip across faults is distributed among discrete events especially in regions in which the rate of movement is very low.

Open-File Report↗