Feasibility study of the seismic reflection method in Amargosa Desert, Nye County, Nevada

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) working under an Interagency agreement with the Department of Energy is engaged in a broad geoscience program to assess and identify potential repositories for high level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. The USGS program, referred to as the Yucca Mountain Projects, or YMP, consists of integrated geologic, hydrologic and geophysical studies which range in nature from site specific to regional. This report is an evaluation of different acquisition methods for future regional seismic reflection studies to be conducted in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, located in the southwestern corner of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). In January 1988, field studies were conducted to investigate the feasibility of using the common-depth point (CDP) seismic reflection method to map subsurface geological horizons within the Amargosa Desert, Nye County, Nevada. The goal of the field study was to investigate which seismic reflection method(s) should be used for mapping shallow to lower-crustal horizons. Therefore, a wide-variety of field acquisition parameters were tested, included point versus linear receiver group arrays; Vibroseis (service and trademark of Conoco, Inc.) versus explosive sources; Vibroseis array patterns; and Vibroseis sweep and frequency range.