The Effect of Dissolution of Volcanic Glass on the Water Chemistry in a Tuffaceous Aquifer, Rainier Mesa, Nevada

Authors

Art F. White, U.S. Geological Survey
Hans C. Claassen, U.S. Geological Survey
Larry Benson, U.S. Geological SurveyFollow

Date of this Version

1980

Citation

The Effect of Dissolution of Volcanic Glass on the Water Chemistry in a Tuffaceous Aquifer, Rainier Mesa, Nevada. By ART F. WHITE, HANS C. CLAASSEN, and LARRY V. BENSON.

GEOCHEMISTRY OF WATER; GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1535-Q,

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1980

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

Geochemistry of ground water associated with the Tertiary tuffs within Rainier Mesa, southern Nevada, was investigated to determine the relative importance of glass dissolution in controlling water chemistry. Water samples were obtained both from interstitial pores in core sections and from free-flowing fractures. Cation compositions showed that calcium and magnesium decreased as a function of depth in the mesa, as sodium increased. The maximum effect occurs within alteration zones containing clinoptilolite and montmorillonite, suggesting these minerals effectively remove bivalent cations from the system.

Comparisons are made between compositions of ground waters found within Rainier Mesa that apparently have not reacted with secondary minerals and compositions of waters produced by experimental dissolution of vitric and crystalline tuffs which comprise the principal aquifers in the area. The two tuff phases have the same bulk chemistry but produce aqueous solutions of different chemistry. Rapid parabolic dissolution of sodium and silica from, and the retention of, potassium within the vitric phase verify previous predictions concerning water compositions associated with vitric volcanic rocks. Parabolic dissolution of the crystalline phase results in solutions high in calcium and magnesium and low in silica. Extrapolation of the parabolic dissolution mechanism for the vitric tuff to long times successfully reproduces, at comparable pH, cation ratios existing in Rainier Mesa ground water. Comparison of masstransfer rates of the vitric and crystalline tuffs indicates that the apparent higher glass-surface to aqueous-volume ratio associated with the vitric rocks may account for dominance of the glass reaction.