ABSTRACT:
The potential development of a deep underground science laboratory offers unusual opportunities for inquiry and experimentation in the geosciences and in geoengineering. The completed facility will extend to ~2000m deep, and be available for multi-decade occupancy. Experiments will investigate methods of in situ characterization using geophysical methods, extend our understanding of complex interactions of coupled processes which control the evolution of the dynamic Earth, and which extend methods of excavation and construction, especially at extreme depths. These general categories of enquiry accommodate suites of experiments related to: rock mass characterization, examining the role of scale effects on mechanical and transport properties, evaluating the evolution of mechanical and transport properties prompted by physical and chemical perturbations, and in examining methods of excavating deep boreholes and constructing habitable cavities at depth.
1 INTRODUCTION
Cosmology, the study of the origins of the universe, is undergoing a golden age of discovery. The basic features of the universe are now apparent (Turner 2007): the universe is 13.7 billion years old, spatially flat, and expanding at an accelerating rate, while it is comprised of atoms (4%), exotic dark matter (20%) and dark energy (76%). Despite this broad understanding of age, form, and composition, much less is understood about the elementary particles which comprise these broad groups, and the laws which in turn govern their interaction. These environments may be deep within the oceans, deep within ice (Halzen 2007), or deep within the terrestrial underground (Sadoulet 2007). This latter option is central to the potential for the development for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory (DUSEL), where advances in particle physics (Waxman 2007) may develop in concert with the search for deep life, and concomitantly spur advances in geo-engineering and in geo-science.
