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Preservation of Archaeological Materials in Arid Environments: Analogues Relevant to Yucca Mountain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Neil Chapman ,
Amy Dansie  and
Charles McCombie
Neil Chapman
Affiliation:
Independent Consultants, Switzerland
Amy Dansie
Affiliation:
Independent Consultant, USA
Charles McCombie
Affiliation:
Independent Consultants, Switzerland
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Abstract

The potential repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is in an arid area, in unsaturated volcanic tuff with oxidising conditions, and may be kept open and ventilated for hundreds of years. Existing US work on archaeological material and structural analogues in such conditions has been extended to seek further well-preserved objects in such conditions. The objectives of the study are partly scientific and partly aimed at the public. A wide range of exceptionally wellpreserved glass, metal and organic materials is found in the archaeological record from sites that have been characterised by arid conditions for many thousands of years. Underground preservation environments include those either continuously open (caves) or sealed but not ‘backfilled’ (tombs). Preservation of materials in such openings provides a useful analogue reference point for considering the operation and evolution of the Yucca Mountain repository.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 932: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXIX , 2006 , 6.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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References

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