Underground Mining and Construction in Snow and Ice

The same as elsewhere, underground mining and construction in snow and ice are accomplished with the aid of underground workings from beneath the surface. The objectives of underground works vary widely, including investigating and sampling snow-firn-ice-bedrock layers, producing freshwater, and constructing military, sightseeing, water drainage, research, and common utility tunnels. Underground construction can be accomplished using hand excavation, drilling and blasting, mechanical excavation, and melting. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of underground construction methods, operational considerations, and the results of fieldwork in polar and high-mountain regions over 100 years. The deformation of underground tunnels excavated in mountain glaciers has more-complex directions and amplitudes than the deformation of cut-and-cover snow tunnels. Theoretical bases and several examples of working deformations are given. This chapter also describes the construction particularities of shafts in snow and ice via melting.