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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Lattice modeling of excavation damage in argillaceous clay formations: Influence of deformation and strength anisotropy

This paper presents modeling of mechanical anisotropy in argillaceous rocks using an irregular lattice modeling approach, namely the rigid-body-spring network. To represent the mechanical anisotropy, new schemes are implemented in the modeling framework. The directionality of elastic deformation is resolved by modifying the element formulation with anisotropic elastic properties. The anisotropy of strength and failure characteristics is facilitated by adopting orientation-dependent failure criteria into the failure model. The verification of the improved modeling procedures is performed against theoretical model predictions for unconfined compression tests with various bedding orientations. Furthermore, excavation damage and fracturing processes in rock formations are simulated for different geomechanical configurations, such as rock anisotropy and tectonic heterogeneity. The simulated excavation damage characteristics are realistic and comparable with the actual field observation at a tunnel located in an argillaceous clay formation. The simulation results provide insights into the excavation damage zone phenomena with an explicit representation of fracturing processes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Physical characterization of fault rocks within the Opalinus Clay formation

Near-surface disposal of radioactive waste in shales is a promising option to safeguard the population and environment. However, natural faults intersecting these geological formations can potentially affect the long-term isolation of the repositories. This paper characterizes the physical properties and mineralogy of the internal fault core structure intersecting the Opalinus Clay formation, a host rock under investigation for nuclear waste storage at the Mont Terri Laboratory (Switzerland). We have performed porosity, density, microstructural and mineralogical measurements in different sections of the fault, including intact clays, scaly clays and fault gouge. Mercury intrusion porosimetry analysis reveal a gouge that has a pore network dominated by nanopores of less than 10 nm, yet a high-porosity (21%) and low grain density (2.62 g/cm 3 ) when compared to the intact rock (14.2%, and 2.69 g/cm 3 ). Thus, a more permeable internal fault core structure with respect to the surrounding rock is deduced. Further, we describe the OPA fault gouge as a discrete fault structure having the potential to act as a preferential, yet narrow, and localized channel for fluid-flow if compared to the surrounding rock. Since the fault gouge is limited to a millimetres-thick structure, we expect the barrier property of the geological formation is almost not affected.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2015

Impact-Induced Clay Mineral Formation and Distribution on Mars

Clay minerals have been identified in the central peaks and ejecta blankets of impact craters on Mars. Several studies have suggested these clay minerals formed as a result of impact induced hydrothermalism either during Mars' Noachian era or more recently by the melting of subsurface ice. Examples of post-impact clay formation is found in several locations on Earth such as the Mjolnir and Woodleigh Impact Structures. Additionally, a recent study has suggested the clay minerals observed on Ceres are the result of impact-induced hydrothermal processes. Such processes may have occurred on Mars, possibly during the Noachian. Distinguishing between clay minerals formed preor post-impact can be accomplished by studying their IR spectra. In fact, showed that the IR spectra of clay minerals is greatly affected at longer wavelengths (i.e. mid-IR, 5-25 micron) by impact-induced shock deformation while the near-IR spectra (1.0-2.5 micron) remains relatively unchanged. This explains the discrepancy between NIR and MIR observations of clay minerals in martian impact craters noted. Thus, it allows us to determine whether a clay mineral formed from impact-induced hydrothermalism or were pre-existing and were altered by the impact. Here we study the role of impacts on the formation and distribution of clay minerals on Mars via a fully 3-D Monte Carlo cratering model, including impact- melt production using results from modern hydrocode simulations. We identify regions that are conducive to clay formation and the location of clay minerals post-bombardment.

Rivera-Valentin, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Preliminary results of an experimental study of the interactions of basalt glass and a water vapor atmosphere: Implications for weathering on Mars

Models of weathering processes on the surface of Mars invoke hydrothermal alteration as the primary mechanism responsible for clay formation. Previous experimental studies of basalt glass interactions with water under hydrothermal conditions demonstrate that phyllosilicates and zeolites are the primary alteration minerals. Gas-solid weathering is thought to be less thermodynamically favorable and relatively unimportant, however, the experimental alteration of basalt glass under vapor ion conditions (large SA/V) can result in the formation of clay minerals, zeolites, and hydrated calcium silicates. We have undertaken a study of the reacted layers formed on basalt glasses experimentally altered under vapor hydration conditions to resolve this issue. High SA/V ratios promote reaction product buildup in solution and promote alteration mineral formation. It was previously shown that these reaction conditions promote weathering processes similar to those found in nature for tektite glasses, rhyolitic glasses, and basalt glasses. The hydration of basalt glass is described for 100 percent relative humidity experiments at temperatures of 150, 175, and 200 C for up to 400 days. Preliminary characterization of the alteration layers with analytical electron and scanning microscopy suggest that the reaction mechanism includes precipitation of a smectite clay on the outermost surface of the glass. Between the clay and the unreacted glass is an amorphous gel-like phase (palagonite). Our results provide an experimental basis for proposing that basalt glass interactions with vapor atmospheres can be an important source of clay minerals.

Mazer, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Acyl silicates and acyl aluminates as activated intermediates in peptide formation on clays

Glycine reacts with heating on dried clays and other minerals to give peptides in much better yield than in the absence of mineral. This reaction was proposed to occur by way of an activated intermediate such as an acyl silicate or acyl aluminate analogous to acyl phosphates involved in several biochemical reactions including peptide bond synthesis. The proposed mechanism has been confirmed by trapping the intermediate, as well as by direct spectroscopic observation of a related intermediate. The reaction of amino acids on periodically dried mineral surfaces represents a widespead, geologically realistic setting for prebiotic peptide formation via in situ activation.

White, D. H.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spatially resolved X-ray imaging and molecular characterisation of sulfur and iron in organic- and sulfur-rich hydrocarbon source mudstones

Sulfurisation of organic matter (OM) is a prominent preservation mechanism, however iron sulfide precipitation, particularly pyrite (FeS2), can counteract this mechanism. There is a dearth of high-resolution, spatially-resolved spectroscopic (redox) information on sulfur and iron inventories within organic-rich rocks that would improve our understanding of prevailing environmental conditions during deposition. Here, state-of-the-art synchrotron-based X-ray absorption and fluorescence analyses of key organic- and sulfur-rich mudstones demonstrate the potential of these techniques to non-destructively map and produce detailed spectroscopic information. Detailed high-resolution analyses (μm- to mm-scale) reveal the presence of widespread sulfurised OM in the Blackstone Band of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, in line with a persistence of euxinia over a long temporal span and low reactive iron input, facilitating the preservation of OM through sulfurisation. In contrast, the presence of sulfurised OM was transitional in the Monterey Formation, consistent with fluctuating water column redox conditions, and is less significant in the Whitby Mudstone Formation, likely due to the high reactive iron concentrations outcompeting sulfurised OM formation. Analyses of sulfur species using model compounds further indicate that the Whitby Formation is strongly enriched in inorganic reduced sulfur minerals, while both the Kimmeridge Clay and Monterey Formations are dominated by organic sulfur species. These synchrotron-based observations improve our understanding of environmental conditions during the time of deposition of these mudstones and thus show great promise in the study of organic-rich sediments, especially in allowing their depositional settings to be more accurately reconstructed.

Kimmeridge Clay Formation↗
NASA NTRS1989

Mars, clays and the origins of life

To detect life in the Martian soil, tests were designed to look for respiration and photosynthesis. Both tests (labeled release, LR, and pyrolytic release, PR) for life in the Martian soils were positive. However, when the measurement for organic molecules in the soil of Mars was made, none were found. The interpretation given is that the inorganic constituents of the soil of Mars were responsible for these observations. The inorganic analysis of the soil was best fitted by a mixture of minerals: 60 to 80 percent clay, iron oxide, quartz, and soluble salts such as halite (NaCl). The minerals most successful in simulating the PR and LR experiments are iron-rich clays. There is a theory that considers clays as the first organisms capable of replication, mutation, and catalysis, and hence of evolving. Clays are formed when liquid water causes the weathering of rocks. The distribution of ions such as aluminum, magnesium, and iron play the role of bases in the DNA. The information was stored in the distribution of ions in the octahedral and tetrahedral molecules, but that they could, like RNA and DNA, replicate. When the clays replicated, each sheet of clay would be a template for a new sheet. The ion substitutions in one clay sheet would give rise to a complementary or similar pattern on the clay synthesized on its surface. It was theorized that it was on the surface of replicating iron-rich clays that carbon dioxide would be fixed in the light into organic acids such as formic or oxalic acid. If Mars had liquid water during a warm period in its past, clay formation would have been abundant. These clays would have replicated and evolved until the liquid water was removed due to cooling of Mars. It is entirely possible that the Viking mission detected life on Mars, but it was clay life that awaits the return of water to continue its evolution into life based on organic molecules.

Hartman, Hyman↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fast Room-Temperature Mg-Ion Conduction in Clay-Like Halide Glassy Electrolytes

The discovery of mechanically soft solid-state materials with fast Mg-ion conduction is crucial for the development of solid-state magnesium batteries. In this paper, novel magnesium gallium halide compounds are reported that achieve high ionic conductivity of 0.47 mS cm -1 at room temperature. These Mg-ion conductors obtained by ball milling Mg and Ga salts exhibit clay-like mechanical properties, enabling intimate contact at the electrode–electrolyte interface during battery cycling. With a combination of experimental and computational analysis, this study identifies that the soft-clay formation is induced by partial anion exchange during milling. This partial anion exchange creates undercoordinated magnesium ions in a chlorine-rich environment, yielding fast Mg-ion conduction. This work demonstrates the potential of clay-like halide electrolytes for all-solid-state magnesium batteries, with possible further extension to other multivalent battery systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Lithium and Lithium Isotopes in Earth’s Surface Cycles

Lithium and its isotopes can provide information on continental silicate weathering, which is the primary natural drawdown process of atmospheric CO 2 and a major control on climate. Lithium isotopes themselves can aid our understanding of weathering, via globally important processes such as clay formation and cation retention. Both these processes occur as part of weathering in modern surface environments, such as rivers, soil pore waters, and groundwaters, but Li isotopes can also be used to track weathering changes across major climate-change events. Lithium isotope evidence from several past climatic warming and cooling episodes shows that weathering processes respond rapidly to changes in temperature, meaning that weathering is capable of bringing climate back under control within a few tens of thousands of years.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1991

Field trip guidebook on environmental impact of clays along the upper Texas coast

The field trip was prepared to provide an opportunity to see first hand some the environmental hazards associated with clays in the Houston, Texas area. Because of the very high clay content in area soils and underlying Beaumont Formation clay, Houston is a fitting location to host the Clay Mineral Society. Examinations were made of (1) expansive soils, (2) subsidence and surface faulting, and (3) a landfill located southeast of Houston at the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority where clay is part of the liner material.

Garcia, Theron D.↗
DOE OSTI2023

What dictates soft clay-like lithium superionic conductor formation from rigid salts mixture

Abstract Soft clay-like Li-superionic conductors, integral to realizing all-solid-state batteries, have been recently synthesized by mixing rigid-salts. Here, through computational and experimental analysis, we clarify how a soft clay-like material can be created from a mixture of rigid-salts. Using molecular dynamics simulations with a deep learning-based interatomic potential energy model, we uncover the microscopic features responsible for soft clay-formation from ionic solid mixtures. We find that salt mixtures capable of forming molecular solid units on anion exchange, along with the slow kinetics of such reactions, are key to soft-clay formation. Molecular solid units serve as sites for shear transformation zones, and their inherent softness enables plasticity at low stress. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy confirms the formation of molecular solid units. A general strategy for creating soft clay-like materials from ionic solid mixtures is formulated.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Uncertainty propagation in pore water chemical composition calculation using surrogate models

Performance assessment in deep geological nuclear waste repository systems necessitates an extended knowledge of the pore water chemical conditions prevailing in host-rock formations. In the last two decades, important progress has been made in the experimental characterization and thermodynamic modeling of pore water speciation, but the influence of experimental artifacts and uncertainties of thermodynamic input parameters are seldom evaluated. In this respect, we conducted an uncertainty propagation study in a reference geochemical model describing the pore water chemistry of the Callovian-Oxfordian clay formation. Nineteen model input parameters were perturbed, including those associated to experimental characterization (leached anions, exchanged cations, cation exchange selectivity coefficients) and those associated to generic thermodynamic databases (solubilities). A set of 13 quantities of interest were studied by the use of polynomial chaos expansions built non-intrusively with a least-squares forward stepwise regression approach. Training and validation sets of simulations were carried out using the geochemical speciation code PHREEQC. The statistical results explored the marginal distribution of each quantity of interest, their bivariate correlations as well as their global sensitivity indices. The influence of the assumed distributions for input parameters uncertainties was evaluated by considering two parametric domain sizes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Understanding Subsurface Fracture Evolution Dynamics Using Time‐Lapse Full Waveform Inversion of Continuous Active‐Source Seismic Monitoring Data

Abstract Predicting the behavior, geometry, and flow properties of subsurface fractures remains a challenging problem. Seismic models that can characterize fractures usually suffer from low spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we develop a correlative double‐difference time‐lapse full waveform inversion of continuous active source seismic monitoring data for determining high‐spatiotemporal‐resolution time‐lapse V p models of in‐situ fracture evolution at a shallow contamination site in Wyoming, USA. Assisted by rock physics modeling, we find that (a) rapidly increasing pore pressure initializes and grows the fracture, increasing the porosity slightly (from ∼13.7% to ∼14.6%) in the tight clay formation, thus decreasing V p (∼50 m/s); (b) the fluid injection continues decreasing V p , likely through the introduction of gas bubbles in the injectate; and (c) final V p reductions reach over ∼150 m/s due to a posited ∼4.5% gas saturation. Our results demonstrate that high‐resolution V p changes are indicative of mechanical and fluid changes within the fracture zone during hydrofracturing.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Active‐Source Seismic Imaging of Fault Re‐Activation and Leakage: An Injection Experiment at the Mt Terri Rock Laboratory, Switzerland

Abstract We conducted a time‐lapse seismic experiment utilizing automated active seismic source and sensor arrays to monitor a reactivated fault within the Opalinus clay formation at the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory (Switzerland), an analog caprock for geologic carbon storage. A series of six brine injections were conducted into the so‐called Main Fault to reactivate it. Seismic instrumentation in five monitoring boreholes on either side of the fault was used to continuously probe changes in P‐wave travel‐times associated with fault displacement and leakage. We performed time‐lapse travel‐time tomography on five hundred sequential data sets; this revealed a zone of decreased P‐wave velocity, up to 16 m/s, during each injection cycle, followed by a velocity increase during shut‐in. These results demonstrate varying elastic property perturbations, both spatially and temporally, along the fault plane during reactivation. We then interpreted these velocity changes in terms of fault dilation induced by pressurized fluids along the fault.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Can we safely go to 200 °C? An integrated approach to assessing impacts to the engineered barrier system in a high-temperature repository

Abstract. This presentation gives on overview of the complex thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes occurring during the disposal of heat-producing high-level radioactive waste in geologic repositories. A specific focus is on the role of compacted bentonite, which is commonly used as an engineered backfill material for emplacement tunnels because of its low permeability, high swelling pressure, and radionuclide retention capacity. Laboratory and field tests integrated with THMC modeling have provided an effective way to deepen our understanding of temperature-related perturbations in the engineered barrier system; however, most of this work has been conducted for maximum temperatures around 100 ∘C. In contrast, some international disposal programs have recently started investigations to understand whether local temperatures in the bentonite of up to 200 ∘C could be tolerated with no significant changes to safety relevant properties. Raising the maximum temperature is attractive for economical and safety reasons but faces the challenge of exposing the bentonite to significant temperature increases. Strong thermal gradients may induce complex moisture transport processes while geochemical processes, such as cementation and perhaps also illitization effects may occur, all of which could strongly affect the bentonite and near-field rock properties. Here, we present initial investigations of repository behavior exposed to strongly elevated temperatures. We will start discussing our current knowledge base for temperature effects in repositories exposed to a maximum temperature of 100 ∘C, based on data and related modeling analysis from a large heater experiment conducted for over 18 years in the Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland. We then show results from coupled THMC simulations of a nuclear waste repository in a clay formation exposed to a maximum temperature of 200 ∘C. We also explore preliminary data from a bench-scale laboratory mock-up experiment, which was designed to represent the strong THMC gradients occurring in a “hot” repository, and we finally touch on a full-scale field heater test to be conducted soon in the Grimsel Test Site underground research laboratory in Switzerland (referred to as HotBENT).

Birkholzer, Jens T. (ORCID:0000000279891912)↗
NASA NTRS1982

Experimental shock lithification of water-bearing rock powders

The geology and morphology of the terrestrial planets and their moons have been profoundly affected by impact cratering. Some of these bodies contain substantial quantities of water or ice in their regoliths. It is pointed out that the effects of impacts into water-bearing target rocks are not well understood, and may be significantly different from those produced by identical impacts on a desiccated surface. The present investigation has the objective to determine the effects of water on targets of powdered rock and to seek evidence of impact-induced hydration or clay formation. Samples of andesitic basalt were crushed and sieved, and experiments were conducted on the material smaller than 150 micrometers. These experiments show that the water content of a powdered rock target can strongly affect its physical condition following an impact. A relatively small component (5-15 wt %) of water or ice in planetary surface material could inhibit or prevent lithification throughout much of the shocked volume at an impact site.

Allen, C. C.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Abiotic Versus Biotic Weathering Of Olivine As Possible Biosignatures

We are investigating the weathering of silicate minerals by both purely inorganic, and biologically mediated processes using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). By resolving surface textures and chemical compositions of weathered surfaces at the sub-micron scale we hope to be able to distinguish abiotic from biotic weathering processes and so establish a new biosignature applicable to the study of astromaterials including but not limited to the Martian meteorites. Sterilized olivine grains (San Carlos, Arizona) no more than 1-2 mm in their longest dimension were optically assayed to be uniform in color and free of inclusions were selected as weathering subjects. Prior to all experiments surface morphologies and Fe/Mg ratios were determined for each grain using FE-SEM and EDS. Experiments were divided into two categories abiotic and biotic and were compared with "naturally" weathered samples. For the preliminary experiments, two trials (open and closed to the ambient laboratory environment) were performed under abiotic conditions, and three trials under biotic conditions (control, day 1 and day 2). The open system abiotic trials used sterile grains heated at 98 C and 200 C for both 24 and 48 hours in 1L double distilled de-ionized water. The closed system abiotic trials were conducted under the same conditions but in a sealed two layer steel/Teflon "bomb" apparatus. The biotic trials used sterile grains mounted in a flow-through device attached to a wellhead on the Columbia River aquifer. Several discolored, altered, grains were selected to document "natural" weathering surface textures for comparison with the experimental samples. Preliminary results indicate there are qualitative differences in weathered surface textures among all the designed experiments. The olivine grains in abiotic trials displayed etching, pitting, denticulate margins, dissolution and clay formation. The scale of the features ranged from tens to a few microns with textures that remained relatively sharp and were crystallographically controlled. These results were comparable to that observed in the "naturally" weathered comparison/reference grains. Chemical analysis by EDS indicates these textures correlated with the relative loss of Mg and Fe cations by diffusional processes. In contrast the biotic results indicated changes in the etching patterns on the scale of hundreds of nm, which are neither sharp nor crystallographically controlled (nanoetching). Organisms, organic debris and/or extracellular polymeric substances (biofilm) were often in close proximity or direct contact with the nanoetching. While there are many poorly constrained variables in natural weathering experiments to contend with, such as the time scale, the chemistry of the fluids and degree of biologic participation, some preliminary observations can be made: (1) certain distinct surface textures appear correlated with the specific processes giving rise to these textures; (2) the process of diffusing cations can produce many similar styles of surface textural changes; and (3) the main difference between abiotic and biotically produced weathering is the scale (microns versus nanometers) and the style (crystallographically versus noncrystallographically controlled) of the textural features. Further investigation into nanosize scale surface textures should attempt to quantify both textures and chemical changes of the role of microorganisms in the weathering of silicates. Additional experiments addressing nanoscale textures of shock features for comparison with the current data set.

Longazo, Teresa G.↗