Laboratory Details

Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Geosciences and Geoenergies (BedrettoLab)

The Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Geosciences and Geoenergies (BedrettoLab) is a unique meso-scale infrastructure ideal for hypothesis driven and fundamental research as well as for cutting-edge technology demonstrations. Its mission is to advance transdisciplinary research in geoenergy applications and in frontier geoscience research.

The BedrettoLab offers the possibility to perform cutting-edge experiments by means of plugging new sensors to the existing infrastructure, testing novel data acquisition techniques and stimulation protocols, as well as setting up dedicated experiments on geochemistry, geology, geophysics, and hydrogeology in all testbeds.

Geothermal testbed

ETH Zurich studies techniques and procedures for a safe, efficient, and sustainable use of geothermal heat. Researchers conduct experiments focusing on the different processes in a geothermal reservoir. They use several boreholes in which they have placed a variety of sensors to track even the smallest changes in stress, pressure, and fluid movements. Only in a rock laboratory, such close monitoring is possible and affordable. It features multiple stimulation and monitoring boreholes instrumented with fiber-optics, seismic and hydraulic sensors.

Earthquake Physics testbed

At the BedrettoLab small earthquakes can be generated under controlled conditions at +1 km depth and 10-100 m scale. A dense monitoring system allows to measure multi-resolution of earthquake data. This testbed is expansible to accommodate various experiment setups and support scientists to better understand the dynamics of earthquakes, advance the safe use of geoenergy, and to improve the predictability of earthquakes.

Deep Life Observatory

Geobiological research in the BedrettoLab focuses on the study of organisms living at the energy limit of life. It features a variety of dedicated field instruments and borehole infrastructure throughout the tunnel, either in the geothermal testbed or in unexplored areas. Some of the projects include:

• tunnel-wide characterisation of tunnel and surface biogeochemistry
• in-situ experiments to study changes in microbial biomass during hydraulic stimulation
• microbial community evolution experiments with fluids from the BedrettoLab
• characterisation of the ‘microbial dark matter’ inhabiting the Rotondo granite.

Data Sharing

The BedrettoLab offers access to data sets and computational models collected by sensor arrays and fiber optic cables (e.g., DAS, DSS, DTS, pressure, geochemistry, SIMFIP), as well as structural and geological characterization models of ongoing and past experiments via the MSL Data Catalogue, but also transnational access to its infrastructure via Geo-INQUIRE.