This is Yucca mountain, I am better dollars to donuts they are looking for something special in the salt, some useful DNA or some living creature to try and stop them from using it to store the nuke waste there.
Why else would they be looking at microscopic salt particles for billion year old evidence of plant life? Last time I checked there are hundreds of other salt mines they can go and play with, why choose one steeped in so much controversy to research like this?
Good question. But they have to drill test cores anyway, so might as well analyze the stuff they find in them........
This is not Yucca Mountain. Y.M. is in S.W. Nevada, near the Cali border. This salt mine is in S. New Mexico, near Carlsbad. They are quite a distance apart.