SALSA Collaboration

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SALSA Collaboration
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IceCube Antarctic Neutrino Detection Project
(In Progress)

• 80 boreholes down 2.4 km into Antarctic ice
• 4800 light detectors (photomultiplier tubes)
  distributed over a cubic kilometer volume
• approximately 275M budget
• First light expected in 2010

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Science Motivation for a Salt Dome Neutrino
Detector

• 40 years of high energy cosmic particle
  observations
• Confirm a sparse but significant background
  rain of particles
• Ridiculously high energies--single protons with
  tens of Joules or more, equivalent to a Nolan
  Ryan fastball
• If all of the protons in a fastball had the same
  energy it would destroy the earth!

galactic
Galactic
Extragalactic
extragalactic

• Sources of the particles are completely unknown
• Suspected sources are too far away--protons of
  these energies would be absorbed by collisions on
  the way
• The collision process (Greisen, Zatseptin,
  Kuzmin, GZK 1966) itself makes neutrinos as a
  byproduct

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Science Motivation for a Salt Dome Neutrino
Detector (Contd)

• Neutrinos produced by GZK process can identify
  sources of the highest energy processes in the
  universe
• 1 Million to 1 billion times the Tevatron,
  largest earth accelerator
• Neutrinos ( ne nm nt ) are the least
  well-understood of the lepton family of
  particles cousins to the electron, muon, and tau
  particles
• Neutrinos interact rarely with normal
  matter--requires a large target volume, montored
  via some secondary emission, to which the matter
  is transparent

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Particle Astrophysics/Cosmology with a Salt Dome
Neutrino Detector

• Measure the cosmic ray maximum acceleration
  energy
• Particles we see now are only a lower limit
• Determine nature of high energy sources at early
  phases of the universe, when it was
• Can detect effects of Dark Energy in the
  universe
• A kind of universal antimatter that seems to
  dominate gravity throughout the universe--70 of
  its content!
• May see exotic relics of the Big Bang itself!

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Cross Section of Typical Salt Dome
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Salt Dome Shower Array Concept

• Salt domes are known since 1960s to have
  extremely high radio transparency (GPR)
• Investigated in early petroleum exploration, and
  salt mining studies
• Allows radio antennas embedded in salt to hear
  events from far away, get directions from radio
  pulse timing and intensity

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In situ Examples of Salt Dome Radio Wave
Attenuation
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Proposed Node Configuration
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Requirements for a Salt Dome Neutrino Detector

• Relatively pure, dry salt, in a stable,
  homogeneous structure
• Most salt domes satisfy this, but not all (Weeks
  Island dome--wet salt)
• Large, accessible volume 20 km3 of salt within
  3km of surface
• Shallow domes are preferable to reduce
  drilling/casing costs

• Borehole spacing of order the radio attenuation
  length
• 250m is current best estimate, thus 60-100
  boreholes and strings required to instrument a
  large salt dome
• Goal is roughly the same instrumented volume as a
  cube about 2.5 km on a side
• Neutrinos also interact within surrounding volume
  to make observable events

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Examples of Gulf Coast Salt Dome Halite Purity
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Acoustic Detection
example pressure sensor
Blue numbers are Log(Energy/eV) marking detection
contours range vs. Energy (estimate)

• Pancake emission pattern
• Peak emission in 10-100 kHz range
• Acoustic sensitivity still uncertain Need to
  measure attenuation lengths and background noise
  with real boreholes.

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Geological Considerations

• Adequately mapped salt geometry
• Shallow piercement (minimal overburden)
• Well understood aquifer zone(s)
• Modest structural relief _at_ top of cap rock
• Structurally/lithologically simple cap rock
• Minor faulting, homogeneous cap rock
• Stable (stress equilibrium)

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Drilling Operations

• Surface access
• Build roads
• Prepare drill site Build pad, cellar storage
• Mob/rig up
• Install flow line
• Mix spud mud
• Spud/drill
• Drill surface hole
• Run and cement surface pipe
• Install well head
• Install and test BOPs

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Drilling Operations (contd)

• Drill intermediate hole
• Run and cement intermediate casing (9 5/8)
• Drill production hole
• Run and cement production string (7)
• Drill Salt Section
• Use oil base mud
• Completion
• Displace mud with completion fluid (diesel)
• Install christmas tree
• Rig down/demob
• Clear location
• Secure well

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Typical Normal Pressure Well Diagram
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Estimated Drilling Costs
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Cost Reduction Factors

• Volume Discount (50 wells)
• Tubulars and Wellhead equipment 10-15
• Drilling rig rate discount 10-15
• Wellsite 20-30
• Mud and Chemicals 60
• Efficiency (learning curve)
• Reduction in number of days per well 40
• Overall Savings per well 37

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Logistical (Cost) Considerations

• Simple physical access to drill sites
• Minimal environmental restrictions
• Minimal surface/mineral rights considerations
• Clear title(s)
• Long term lease rentals
• Surface damages
• Reclamation
• No active oil gas drilling!

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U.S Gulf coast salt domes

• Gulf coast Salt dome demographics
• Several hundred knownmany via petroleum
  exploration and production
• Typical 2-3 km diameters, 5-15 km deep
• 30 km3 salt in top 3 km for many domes

Hockley dome/mine
Houston
New Orleans
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SalSA Status Plans

• RD funds (170K/yr combined) at Univ. Hawaii and
  UCLA since 2002
• Collaboration kick-off meeting in Feb. of this
  year
• June 20 (this month) Meet with probable sponsor
  (DOE Office of High Energy Physics for briefing
  on plans and scope of project
• End of (this) Summer 2005 submit Phase I
  proposal (3-5M)
• 2006 3-5 boreholes in 3-5 salt domes, test salt
  purity and radio clarity
• Late 2006, early 2007 Embed a 3 or 4 string
  array in the best of the salt dome sample,
  recover complete cores from each hole
• Late 2007, submit Phase II proposal (50M)
• 60-100 additional boreholes and strings in
  selected dome if Phase I is successful, planned
  for 10 years operation
• Approval by mid-2008, construction 2008-2011.

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Why Should DOSECC Be Interested in SalSA?

• Most comprehensive drilling ever in a salt
  dome--by at least an order of magnitude
• Dense, gridded uniform sampling of a geologic
  structure likely to find trends/patterns or
  physical parameters that would be inaccessible to
  other methods
• Cores of many if not all holes planned over
  length of salt borehole
• Boreholes will be maintained open as long as
  possible, can be a resource for follow-up
  investigations
• Not competing with primary sponsors in Geological
  sciences, and likely sponsors (NSF Physics or DOE
  Office of High Energy Physics) may support
  relevant geology research

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Salt Dome Inclusions Sources of Paleo Data

• Inclusions are a mysterious world!
• E. Roedder 1984, Am. Miner. 69, 413.
• Entrained fluids and gases from original Louann
  (Jurassic) salt bed
• Brines brine solutions w/ sometimes strange
  isotopic ratios
• Methane and CO2
• Can they contain paleo-biological material?
• Cypress Creek Dome core contained one sample with
  anomalously high iron sulphate
• Could meteor residues survive in halite cores?

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In Conclusion

• We solicit collaborators from the earth sciences
• Phase I proposal is open for co-investigators
• We can (obviously) use help on
• understanding the earth science potential
• optimizing drilling techniques/costs
• We solicit endorsement of SalSA by DOSECC if it
  is deemed appropriate by the council
• We welcome expertise and advice from the DOSECC
  community

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Primary SalSA Contacts

• David Saltzberg
• UCLA Dept. of Physics/154705475 Portola
  PlazaLos Angeles, CA 90095-1547office
  310-206-4542cell 310-433-3873email
  saltzbrg_at_physics.ucla.edu
• Peter Gorham
• Watanabe Hall 324Dept. of Physics2505 Correa
  Rd.Honolulu, HI 96822office 808-956-9157email
  gorham_at_phys.hawaii.edu

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Salt domes throughout the world
Halite crystals
Qeshm Island, Hormuz strait, Iran, 7km diameter
Isacksen salt dome, Elf Ringnes Island, Canada 8
by 5km
Louisiana delta area

• Rock salt known since 1960s to be extremely
  radio transparent
• Borehole mine GPR used to see flank reflections
  at km distances
• typical 20-40 km3 of halite in top 3km
• Equivalent mass of to up to 100 cubic km of
  water or ice

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Borehole radar on dome flank

• Pine Prairie dome, LA northern extreme of
  Louisiana salt dome region
• Holser et al 1972 used dipole helix antennas at
  230MHz in a 5 diameter sonde to map the flank
  of the dome (1 microsec pulses)
• Most data within 150m of edge of dome (anhydrite
  content usually increases)
• Saw attenuation lengths of 60-220m, 100m on
  average
• Flank location confirmed by retrieved samples
  when flank was intercepted