Hibernation unit

The hibernation unit, (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) also referred to as the hibernation chamber, (AUDIO: Bloodtide) with the force that kept the Silurians in suspended animation being called the hibernation matrix, (TV: The Blood Line) was an item of Silurian technology which allowed them to enter into a state of hibernation in order to survive harsh conditions and the centuries. They resembled coffin-shaped blocks in which a Silurian resided.

The Silurians built the hibernation units during their rule of the planet Earth when their scientists first detected a planetoid that they calculated would draw off the atmosphere, (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) by "sweep[ing] by Earth", (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters) destroying "all life". It was decided that the Silurian race (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) along with a male and a female of all the more useful reptile animals, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters) would go into hibernation until the atmosphere returned. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) At the top of each Silurian shelter was a device which automatically triggered a masssive burst of electricity to wake up the Silurians once the atmosphere returned. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters) The catastrophe as calculated never happened, and the atmosphere was never drawn from Earth. The planetoid was instead captured by Earth's gravity, becoming the Moon, and the Silurians remained asleep for millions of years, until human activity woke their shelters up. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians)

The criminal Tulok, after being exiled by his people for genetic crimes, wreaked his revenge on his race by sabotaging the hibernation chambers which destroyed several settlements except for a dozen or so. They made use of hydrogen fusion reactors as a power source. (AUDIO: Bloodtide)