Relict fluvial and lacustrine deposits in the interior of Oman near Saiwan consist of waterlain breccias with pebble imbrications and current ripples, covered by algal laminites containing calcified reeds and charcoal pieces. Geomorphological evidence suggests that the palaeolake covered a maximum surface of 1400 km 2 and had a maximum depth of about 25 m. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermally transferred OSL dating indicate that this palaeolake existed sometime between 132 and 104 ka. The rich archaeological evidence in the area suggests substantial human occupation, possibly at the time when Palaeolake Saiwan existed. Interestingly, the lithic traditions of the archaeological material show no clear relation to coeval findings from neighbouring areas, putting a question mark on the origin of the culture found at Saiwan. This finding raises questions concerning the origin of the population inhabiting Saiwan, as the site lies along one possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans out-of-Africa.

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We encountered a highly diverse ichnofauna within the deep-sea fan deposits of the Upper Triassic Al Ayn Formation in Oman. It comprises 32 ichnogenera: 18 ichnogenera represent predepositional graphoglyptids and other trace fossils that are preserved as casts on turbidite soles, and 14 ichnogenera represent postdepositional trace fossils that penetrate turbidite beds. The relatively large size of the area studied certainly favors encountering a high number of ichnogenera. The diversity we found approximately doubles the value that has often been stated in the literature and contradicts the paradigm that the Triassic represents a time of low ichnodiversity in the deep sea. Although the data are limited, in general the recovery of deepsea tracemakers has been very slow owing to environmental disturbances that resulted from cold-bottom-water circulation after the Carboniferous-Permian glaciation. The high ichnodiversity in the Al Ayn Formation is explained by its paleogeographic position and locally formed warm bottom waters. The Al Ayn deposits accumulated adjacent to wide evaporitic and carbonate shelves, indicating continuous warm conditions. The Al Ayn clastic system was likely influenced by dense, salt-rich, warm water flowing back to the ocean from the carbonate and evaporitic shelf area. The downwelling water may have reduced the effects of cold water that formed during the Late Paleozoic glaciation and the Permian-Triassic anoxia, and, thus, it may have provided a refuge habitat. Despite the global trend of lowdiversity deep-sea ichnocoenoses, refuge habitats may have been established in areas less affected by the otherwise harsh conditions.

The multiactinide analysis with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was applied to samples collected from the run 13-05 of the Colloid Formation and Migration (CFM) experiment at the Grimsel Test Site (GTS). In this in situ radionuclide tracer test, the environmental behavior of U,Np, Pu, andAm was investigated in a water conductive shear zone under conditions relevant for a nuclear waste repository in crystalline rock. The concentration of the actinides in the GTS groundwater was determined with AMS over 6 orders of magnitude from ∼15 pg/g down to ∼25 ag/g. Levels above 10 fg/g were investigated with both sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICPMS) and AMS. Agreement within a relative uncertainty of 50% was found for Np,Pu, and Am concentrations determined with the two analytical methods. With the extreme sensitivity of AMS, the long-term release and retention of the actinides was investigated over 8 months in the tailing of the breakthrough curve of run 13-05 as well as in samples collected up to 22 months after. Furthermore, the evidence of masses 241 and 244 u in the CFM samples most probably representingAm and Pu employed in a previous tracer test demonstrated the analytical capability of AMS for in situ studies lasting more than a decade.

This paper describes how four scientific and safety relevant issues have been addressed in special-purpose research laboratories focusing on the geological disposal of high level and longlived radioactive waste. These are: (a) the effects of heat on the engineered barriers and the geological environment; (b) the geochemical characterization of pore-water in argillaceous rocks; (c) the diffusion and retention of radionuclides; and (d) the full-size sealing of a waste emplacement. They are illustrated by experiments conducted in five underground research laboratories (URLs), three of which are in clay formations (Mol in Belgium, Centre de Meuse-Haute-Marne in France, and Mont Terri Rock Laboratory in Switzerland) and two in granite (Aspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden and Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland).This paper highlights how the various types of experiments are related and how their results have been applied to foster progress. The most complex experiments have revealed artefacts and technical or methodological difficulties associated with interactions among multiple phenomena, the occurrence or intensity of which cannot be analysed by simple models. In turn, these difficulties have prompted experiments targeted at elementary phenomena, thereby encouraging the development of new investigation protocols and monitoring tools.More than 30 years of investigations in special-purpose URLs show the benefits of in-situ experimental programmes in the context of radioactive waste management. The laboratories have opened up avenues for research and advanced knowledge and technology. Thanks to a large component of international cooperation, they have made it possible to mobilize the financial and human resources required for this type of research. They have, above all, shared thoughts and promoted interdisciplinary studies around the same subject. They make common strategies possible at international level.In the context of radioactive waste disposal, a URL is a facility in which experiments are conducted so as to establish and to be able to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing and operating a radioactive waste disposal facility within a geological formation (NEA 2001a, b). Twenty-six URLs were set up in 10 countries between 1965 and 2006. They are located in a range of geological formations: argillaceous sedimentary rocks, magmatic rocks, evaporites and volcanic tuff. Some laboratories have been installed in existing facilities; others have been purpose built.Experiments in URLs meet two sets of needs: (a) characterization, that is, acquiring knowledge of the geological, hydro-geological, geochemical, structural and mechanical properties of the host rock and of its response to perturbations; and (b) construction and operation, that is, developing equipment to acquire know-how about the construction of all the components of a disposal facility up to