Physical Property Measurements on Samples from an Analogue Soviet Nuclear Test Site: Northern Maine
Abstract
The Joint Verification Experiments (JVE) between the US and USSR were designed to improve yield estimates and verification methods for underground nuclear tests. Members of US team retrieved cores of underground rock samples from Semipalatinsk test site. The mechanical properties of these rocks are being measured in a number of US laboratories. DARPA has begun geological and geophysical characterization of a potential analogue test site here in the U.S. It was decided to first measure a number of mechanical properties of end member samples retrieved from the analogue site to compare with similar lithologies from USSR. A team of scientists from USGS, LDGO, and Smithsonian Institute traveled to No. Maine and studied the geology of the Mt. Katahdin region. Samples of rocks were selected for testing. The Lamont test compared strengths of end member samples under different confining pressures, strain rates, saturation conditions and pore pressures. The two selected end members were Katahdin 'granite' and a tuffaceous sandstone. The same tests were conducted on Sierra White granite for comparison with a standard. (Katahdin granite is really a quartz monzonite).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 11, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA236359
Entities
People
- C. H. Scholz
- R. L. Biegel
Organizations
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography