Leader:

T.C. Onstott
Dept. of Geosciences
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
609-258-2351
Email: tullis@princeton.edu

Goals of Geobiology Working Group:

The Geobiology Working Group is proposing that an observatory for subsurface geomicrobiology be constructed at any national underground laboratory. Such an observatory would be the preeminent facility in the world where long-term, in situ geomicrobiology and biogeochemistry experiments explore the evolution, adaptation, and limits of microbial life in the deep subsurface. The facility will provide a here-to-fore previously unattainable resource for multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional investigations for the international earth and biological scientific communities.

The primary goals of such an observatory is to provide an experimental and intellectual foundation for investigating the origin and bounds of life as well as to develop practical applications for the bioremediation, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry and develop advanced technologies for the search for subterranean life on other planets in our solar system. Integral to these scientific goals will be a very active program to foster education and training for future generations of scientists and teachers from K-12 to visiting researchers, focusing on those groups that have remained underrepresented throughout the 20th century.

The purpose of the NESS 2002 workshop is to link and integrate the research activities of the geobiologists with those of the geological, hydrological, rock mechanics and most importantly, the physics communities at the national underground laboratory.

If you would like to participate and/or give a talk during the Geobiology/Geochemistry session please notify Dr. Onstott or Dr. Steve Kesler (skesler@umich.edu) via email. The current agenda begins on Thursday afternoon with a 90-minute parallel session where brief, 10 minute presentations are made, followed by an extended discussion period. This will be followed on Friday by working sessions designed to integrate proposals from geobiology and geochemistry with the other earth science fields, hydrology, geophysics and rock mechanics. On Saturday, an executive summary and draft proposal for the Earth Science portion of the National Underground Laboratory will be presented.