From abstract: The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, through the Office of Test Operations, Albuquerque Operations Office, plans to detonate a nuclear device in a massive salt bed 1,200 feet beneath the land surface. The project, known as Project Gnome, is an element of the Plowshare program--a study of peacetime applications of nuclear fission. The location of the proposed underground shot is in a sparsely-populated area in southeastern Eddy County, N. Mex., east of the Pecos River and about 25 miles southeast of the city of Carlsbad.

From introduction: The geologic studies in the Ul2e.03a and Ul2e.03b tunnels were conducted as part of the Geological Survey's investigations for the Vela Uniform program, Project Shade, and were completed for the purpose of 1) determining the preshot lithologic, structural, and chemical and physical properties of the tuffs exposed in the tunnels for comparison wits postshot geologic data, and 2) evaluating these data in order to predict the geologic effects of the planned nuclear explosion at tie end of the tunnels.

From introduction: The geologic studies in the U12b.08 tunnel were conducted by the U. S. Geological Survey on behalf of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission for the purpose of determining the pre-explosion chemical and physical properties of the tuffs exposed in the tunnel. These data will be used in evaluating the geologic effects of the explosion by comparison with similar post-shot geologic data.

The following report covers potentiometric studies with hydrogen-sensitive and cation-sensitive glass electrodes supplemented by chemical determinations and X-ray diffractions on a hydrogen-montmorillonite. These studies indicate that the clay behaves as a mixture of two acids, resulting from the presence of interlayer and edge exchange sites, both occupied by hydrogen ions.