화학공학소재연구정보센터
Science, Vol.279, No.5359, 2096-2100, 1998
Anomalous strain accumulation in the Yucca Mountain Area, Nevada
Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys from 1991 to 1997 near Yucca Mountain, Nevada, indicate west-northwest crustal elongation at a rate of 1.7 +/- 0.3 millimeters per year (1 sigma) over 34 kilometers, or 50 +/- 9 nanostrain per year. Global Positioning System and trilateration surveys from 1983 to 1997 on a 14-kilometer baseline across the proposed repository site for high-level radioactive waste indicate that the crust extended by 0.7 to 0.9 +/- 0.2 millimeter per year (50 to 64 +/- 14 nanostrain per year), depending on the coseismic effect of the M-s 5.4 1992 Little Skull Mountain earthquake. These strain rates are at least an order of magnitude higher than would be predicted from the Quaternary volcanic and tectonic history of the area.