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The lease area of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Underground Research Laboratory covers 3.8 km2 and is located 2.5 km north of the south contact of the Lac du Bonnet Batholith. A shaft to 255 m and 130 boreholes up to 1100 m deep expose the third dimension.The underlying granite is largely of two types: (i) pink porphyritic, which may be biotite rich, gneissic, and (or) xenolithic; and (ii) grey homogeneous and equigranular. Composition layering, including xenolith-rich zones, outlines domes along an antiform trending north-northeast through the western part of the lease area. The southeast-dipping flank underlies the eastern half of the site, including the shaft. Axes of folding trend 065 °and 140°. Homogeneous grey granite, being relatively fresh and unfractured, is associated with a magnetic field that is about 100 nT higher and with a resistivity that is up to 5000 Ω∙m higher than those of other units. A pattern of highs in the magnetic field, caused by the high magnetite content of some xenoliths, can be used to map the antiform.Three thrust faults that dip 10–30° east-southeast are partly controlled by the compositional layering. Anomalies in the very low frequency electromagnetic (VLF-EM) field occur at the surface projections of faults. One fault has been mapped at depth by a high-resolution seismic reflection survey. A suite of downhole geophysical methods, including cross-hole seismic, has been used to map discontinuities in boreholes.Subvertical penetrative foliations and pegmatitic dykes are part of the late crystallization fabric, providing (with filled fractures) a continuous deformation history in response to north- to northeast-trending compressive stress.

A quantitative comparison is made between fracture styles in two late Archean granite intrusions of the Superior Province—–the Lac du Bonnet Batholith (LDBB) and Eye–Dashwa Pluton (EDP). These intrusions have a similar geological setting, similar mineral and chemical composition, and similar physical properties but vary markedly in volume (LDBB = 9060 km3; EDP = 122 km3).The fracture style of the LDBB consists of mainly low-angle thrust faults within otherwise poorly fractured granite. Subvertical fractures are restricted to within 200 m of surface or zones encompassing the thrust faults. The mineral assemblage chlorite – iron oxide – carbonate is widespread in fractures. In contrast, fractures of the EDP are closely spaced, variably oriented, pervasive to depth, and dominated by subvertical transcurrent faults. Epidote is an abundant fracture-filling material.Most fractures formed in response to Early Proterozoic compression under low-greenschist conditions in the LDBB and upper-greenschist conditions in the EDP. Fractures in both intrusions were subsequently rejuvenated (clay – iron oxide filling materials) without appreciable modification to fracture styles. The presence of a strong planar fabric at one site, variation in the intensity of Early Proterozoic tectonism, and prolonged plastic deformation in the large LDBB are cited as possible causes for the observed variation in fracture styles.

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