UAR 3538 LSBB - Low Noise Underground Laboratory of Rustrel

Activities

The LSBB is a Research Support Unit (U.A.R) under the joint supervision of Avignon University and the CNRS.
It consists of a series of sub-horizontal underground galleries dug into the Grande Montagne limestone massif, on the southern edge of the Albion plateau, in the commune of Rustrel (Vaucluse). These galleries possess a number of qualities (natural and geological environment preserved, non relocatable and sustainable), and properties (infrastructure inherited from the military site), making this Research and Development platform unique.
The Low Noise Underground Laboratory has 3 main functions:

• hosting and accommodating academic and industrial activities;
• hosting and developing multidisciplinary observations in the framework of national and international observation networks;
• initiation and promotion of exploratory interdisciplinary research projects.

ORGANISATION

Guardianship

• Avignon University (AU)
• CNRS

Direction
Gilles MICOLAU, Professor at Avignon University

Deputy Director
Daniel BOYER, Ignacio LAZARO ROCHE

Research activities

• Study of underground water resources and interaction with the environment.
• Seismology
• Gravimetry
• Observation of electromagnetic phenomena in the atmosphere
• Ultimate metrology
• Development of astroparticle sensors
• Development of very low noise experimental methodology
• Society and Human Sciences.

The context of the laboratory leads to an ongoing dialogue between experiments in a multidisciplinary approach. Historically, the phrase that defines the LSBB's activities is "Your noise is my signal".

Academic and industrial partnerships

The LSBB hosts the National Observation Systems (SNO) of the CNRS-INSU.
As such, it collaborates on an ongoing basis with the many French universities hosting these networks. European and international universities are also present on the site in this context. From an industrial point of view, several partnerships have been established, for periods ranging from a few days of experiments to several years.

Contact: direction@lsbb.eu

Further information

Skills and know-how

• Sustainable management of groundwater resources and global change.
• Demonstrator of monitoring technologies.
• Instrumentation for exploitation and storage in geological reservoirs.
• Integration into national networks of seismological, magnetic, hydrogeological and geodetic observatories, etc.
• Real-time data dissemination to national and international bodies.
• Observation and modelling of electromagnetic phenomena.
• Integration into the TELERAY network for radioactivity alert for national security.
• Metrology, instrumentation, measurement protocols ;
• A test facility for developing, calibrating and characterising high sensitivity sensors.
• Measurement protocols for multi-physical environmental characterisation.
• Geological, hydrogeological, electromagnetic, radiative, electronic risks...
• Consortium Archive du Monde Contemporain, TGIR HUMA-NUM, Humanité Numérique.
• Labelled as a 20th century heritage site for military works on the Albion plateau.

Specific equipment

• Environment :
         - low level of anthropogenic disturbance ;
         - Unique geological analogue of Urgonian oil fields in the Middle East;
         - access from the surface to the deep unsaturated zone of a major karst aquifer;
         - in the heart of the major seismic zone of Provence.
• Infrastructure :
         - preserved surface access (54 ha) and underground access (~ 4 km);
         - fully equipped (galleries, caves and underground spaces);
         - EM armoured capsule of 1240 m3 at a depth of 518 m.
• A platform for research and R&D:
         - ultra-sensitive experiments low anthropogenic disturbance ;
         - large underground volumes;
         - surface/bottom synchronisation (GPS, FO Internet) ;
         - environmental control and low noise properties.