Evolution of radionuclide transport and retardation processes in uplifting granitic rocks, Part 1; Key processes, conceptual models and scenario

Metcalfe, R.*; Tachi, Yukio; Sasao, Eiji; Kawama, Daisuke*

Science of the Total Environment, 957, p.177375_1 - 177375_17, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177375

A safety case for an underground radioactive waste repository must show that groundwater will not in future transport radionuclides from the repository to the near-surface environment (the biosphere) in harmful quantities. Safety cases are developed step-wise throughout a programme to site and develop a repository. At early stages, before a site is selected, safety cases are generic and based on simplified safety assessment models of the disposal system that have conservative parameter values. Later, when site-specific conditions are known, more realistic models are needed for the long-term geo-environmental evolution and their impacts on radionuclide migration/retention. Uplift is one such environmental change, which may be particularly important in countries near active tectonic plate boundaries, such as Japan. Here we review the state of knowledge about how the properties of fractured granitic rocks evolve during uplift, based on studies in Japan. Hence, we present conceptual models and a generic scenario for mass transport and retardation processes in uplifting granitic rocks as a basis for realistic numerical models to underpin safety assessment.

Petrography and geochronology of the Kuki granite, Kitakami mountains, northeastern Japan; Shallow crustal intrusion and emplacement processes of granitic magma

Suzuki, Satoshi*; Yuguchi, Takashi*; Ishiguro, Keito*; Endo, Kyoka*; Kato, Asuka*; Yokoyama, Kosuke*; Ogita, Yasuhiro; Yokoyama, Tatsunori; Sakata, Shuhei*; Ono, Takeshi*; et al.

Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences (Internet), 119(1), p.230807_1 - 230807_18, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.2465/jmps.230807

Understanding the crustal evolutionary dynamics of island arc-trench systems requires a thorough evaluation of magma chamber processes, and especially of shallow crustal granitic magma intrusion and emplacement processes. To address this, we studied the petrography and geochronology of the Kuki granite, Kitakami Mountains, northeast Japan, as an example of a non-adakitic granite at the magmatic flare-up stage. Granitic borehole samples reflect vertical variation within a magma chamber. Whole-rock chemical composition and mode data reveal a vertical transition from felsic to mafic composition with increasing depth, potentially due to gravitational fractionation of crystals in the magma chamber. The pressure and temperature history of the Kuki granite indicates no change in the magma depth with cooling from 800 to 730C, and geobarometric calculations indicate the emplacement of magma at a depth of approximately10 km. Simultaneous determination of the zircon U Pb age, Ti concentration, and Th/U yields 1) the time temperature history of granitic magma before its solidification, and 2) the correlation between temperature and Th/U in the magma. The magma chamber cooled from ca. 900 to 700C at approximately 125 Ma. The change in Th/U with temperature indicates greater fractional crystallization in the magma chamber at temperatures above 800C than below 800C. Samples from different depth exhibit common tendencies in terms of the relationship between Th/U and temperature, indicating the same system of fractional crystallization throughout the cooling magma chamber.

Study on investigation method of fracture distribution based on data obtained at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory, central Japan

Sasao, Eiji

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 29(2), p.112 - 118, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.29.2_112

Since fractures in granite act as pathways for groundwater flow and mass transport, understanding of fracture distribution is an important subject for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste. Fracture data obtained through the borehole investigation from ground surface contains errors due to the crossing angle between boreholes and fractures. I studied method of borehole investigation that can effectively characterize the fracture distribution based on fracture information obtained from geological investigation of shaft wall at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory. As a result, it was found that inclined boreholes captured larger number of fractures than vertical boreholes. Therefore, inclined boreholes are preferable for efficient characterization of the fractures. Fracture orientation at surface exposure is well concordant with that at the shaft, which implies that the drilling direction should be determined based on the result of surface fracture mapping.

Micropores and mass transfer in the formation of myrmekites

Yuguchi, Takashi*; Yuasa, Haruka*; Izumino, Yuya*; Nakashima, Kazuo*; Sasao, Eiji; Nishiyama, Tadao*

American Mineralogist, 107(3), p.476 - 488, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2021-7956

The methodology and interpretations in this study provide new insights into the mechanism of myrmekite formation in a granitic system. The presence of micropores in the myrmekites and this study clarified that the genesis of micropores is related to the formation of myrmekites in the Toki granite. The results led to an increased understanding of (1) an estimate of mass transfer between the reactant and product minerals, and the inflow and outflow of components with consideration of the volume change due to micropore formation, (2) the factor controlling the formation of micropores during myrmekitization, and (3) the sequential variations in the hydrothermal fluid chemistry during sub-solidus conditions. The micropores act as a migration pathway for hydrothermal fluid and thus enhance the mass transfer within a granitic body starting with the myrmekite formation and continuing through the present day and into the future.

Association of hydrothermal plagioclase alteration with micropores in a granite; Petrographic indicators to evaluate the extent of hydrothermal alteration

Yuguchi, Takashi*; Izumino, Yuya*; Sasao, Eiji

Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences (Internet), 117(1), p.220415_1 - 220415_12, 2022/00

https://doi.org/10.2465/jmps.220415

This study presents the use of petrographic plagioclase alteration indicators as a new method for quantitatively evaluating the extent of plagioclase alteration within granites, using the Toki granite, central Japan. Alteration indicators and areal fractions of microvoids in the plagioclases were obtained via BSE image analysis. The volume of the micropores in the altered plagioclase was characterized by the areal fraction of microvoids in the grains. The plagioclase alteration indicators were obtained as the ratio between the alteration product area and the original plagioclase area. In our previous study, we focused on biotite chloritization indicators. We found positive correlations between the plagioclase alteration and biotite chloritization indicators in the same sample, indicating that each alteration indicator can be used independently as a representative value for the sample. In the Toki granite, the plagioclase alteration was related to the biotite chloritization.

Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, Annual report for fiscal year 2019

Takeuchi, Ryuji; Onoe, Hironori; Murakami, Hiroaki; Watanabe, Yusuke; Mikake, Shinichiro; Ikeda, Koki; Iyatomi, Yosuke; Nishio, Kazuhisa*; Sasao, Eiji

JAEA-Review 2021-003, 63 Pages, 2021/06

JAEA-Review-2021-003.pdf:12.67MB

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of geological disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment in the crystalline rock (granite) at Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. On the occasion of JAEA reformation in FY2014, JAEA identified three remaining important issues on the geoscientific research program based on the synthesized latest results of research and development (R&D): "Development of countermeasure technologies for reducing groundwater inflow", "Development of modeling technologies for mass transport" and "Development of drift backfilling technologies". At the MIU, the R&D are being pursued with a focus on the remaining important issues from FY2015, and satisfactory results have been achieved. Based on this situation, the R&D on the MIU Project were completed at the end of FY2019. In this report, the results of R&D and construction activities of the MIU Project in FY2019 are summarized.

Petrographic properties of tuffs of the Miocene Mizunami and Iwamura Groups, central Japan

Sasao, Eiji; Danhara, Toru*; Yamashita, Toru*; Hayashi, Joji*

Mizunamishi Kaseki Hakubutsukan Kenkyu Hokoku, (48), p.9 - 19, 2021/05

https://doi.org/10.50897/bmfm.48.0_9

Petrographic description of tuffs in the Miocene Mizunami Group has been made to offer basic data. This report includes the descriptions of 14 and 4 tuff beds in the Mizunami and Iwamura Groups, respectively. Followings are presented in this report; mineral and heavy mineral composition, shape of volcanic glass, and refractive indices of volcanic glass and plagioclase.

K-Ar geochronology for hydrothermal K-feldspar within plagioclase in a granitic pluton; Constraints on timing and thermal condition for hydrothermal alteration

Yuguchi, Takashi*; Yagi, Koshi*; Sasao, Eiji; Nishiyama, Tadao*

Heliyon (Internet), 7(4), p.e06750_1 - e06750_9, 2021/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06750

Our methodology and interpretations provide new insight for K-Ar geochronology in hydrothermal microcline within altered plagioclase in a granitic pluton. Our methodology employs a two-step separation process consisting of (1) plagioclase extraction from the rock sample and (2) separation of the hydrothermal microcline from the plagioclase, giving precise determination of microcline powders in K-Ar geochronology. This tighter constraint should provide the ability to better unravel thermal and age histories in granite subject to multi-step alteration processes and complex thermal histories.

Crystallization processes of quartz in a granitic magma; Cathodoluminescence zonation pattern controlled by temperature and titanium diffusivity

Yuguchi, Takashi*; Ogita, Yasuhiro; Kato, Takenori*; Yokota, Rintaro*; Sasao, Eiji; Nishiyama, Tadao*

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 192, p.104289_1 - 104289_16, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2020.104289

Quartz from a granitic pluton is found to have formed through sequential growth events under different mechanisms and crystallization temperatures, which can provide new insights into magmatic processes of granitic magmas that were eventually consolidified into plutons. The events were identified using (1) the description of crystal shape and occurrence, (2) the study of the internal structure with cathodoluminescence (CL), and (3) derivation of the crystallization temperatures based on TitaniQ thermometry. The magmatic quartz crystals from the Toki granite, central Japan, are characterized as having the following internal structures: oscillatory zonation, no-oscillatory zonation with luminescence graduation (gradational zonation), and heterogeneous CL. The quartz crystals with oscillatory zonation were formed in the temperature range of about 800 C to below 700 C, which is referred to as oscillatory zoning temperature (OZT) conditions. The CL zonation pattern was controlled by the temperature conditions and titanium diffusivity in the melt (magma). The crystallization process of quartz within the Toki granite reveals the cooling processes of the granitic pluton; the lithofacies with a high frequency of oscillatory-zoned quartz underwent slower cooling under the OZT conditions than those in other lithofacies.

History of the Tono Geoscience Center and outline of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory

Sasao, Eiji

Chishitsu To Chosa, (154), p.67 - 72, 2019/11

JAEA is implementing the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, which is a geoscientific research program in crystalline rock environment in Mizunami City, Japan. This report summarise history, progress and present situation of the project and also history of R&D in the Tono Geoscience Center.