The military use of subsurface geologic environments dates back at least 5,000 years to Mesopotamia and Egypt, and continues to be a critical element in planning for both tactical and strategic military activities worldwide. In the context of present-day concerns of “proliferation,” the concept of geologic barriers and how best to defeat them has taken on new meaning. Characterization of the geology and the engineering properties of materials surrounding and constituting a deeply buried bedrock underground military facility (UGF) is of great military interest The degree of success of employing conventional munitions against such UGFs will be limited by our ability to understand the matter/energy interactions between penetrating conventional warheads and rock environments. Geotechnical information that can be used strategically to evaluate the vulnerability of UGFs is herein defined as “strategic geologic intelligence” and includes lithologic characterization; intact mechanical, weight/volume, penetrability; and interpreted in situ engineering properties of geologic units proximal to UGFs. Geologic vulnerability of UGFs can be considered primarily a function of three variables: depth, rock-mass strength, and surface-layer penetrability. To the degree that any bedrock UGF is vulnerable to conventional weapons attack, the availability of appropriate site characterization data significantly increases one's ability to choose optimal weapons and tactics to defeat UGFs. Thus the role of “strategic geologic intelligence” in future war planning cannot be overstated.
Weaponry can be conveniently and safely concealed in enemy underground bedrock facilities (UGF). The bedrock environment surrounding UGF offers a high degree of protection for the assets contained within. Physical characteristics of the surrounding bedrock constrain the effects of conventional and even nuclear weapons. Brittle structures in the bedrock such as fracture systems have anisotropic characteristics and present a formidable obstacle to the survival of penetrating weapons. Knowledge of the three-dimensional (3-D) characteristics of bedrock fracture systems in enemy UGF, which may be covered by soil or vegetation, is of paramount importance to the weapons development community in its quest to penetrate anisotropic environments. We utilize rigorous methodologies to predict fracture characteristics in overburden-covered regions from outcrop, core, borehole, and remote sensing data. We have established digital scanline and scangrid methodologies to characterize fracture geometries. The digital data allow us to easily analyze the fractures in terms of fractal and more advanced geostatistical techniques. We have developed theoretical and practical guidelines for determining the two-dimentional (2-D) density of fractures from one-dimentional (1-D) (scanline) data. Additionally, we have developed theoretical relationships between 2-D and 3-D fracture densities. Integration of digital field data with density and spatial structure of the fracture networks allows us to predict the distribution of fractures in areas removed from the outcrop. These methodologies, once refined, fully tested, and verified, will allow us to characterize three-dimensional fracture systems in potential target areas worldwide by remote sensing means alone.
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