Long‐term final void salinity prediction for a post‐mining landscape in the Hunter Valley,New South Wales,Australia

Opencast mining alters surface and subsurface hydrology of a landscape both during and post‐mining. At mine closure, following opencast mining in mines with low overburden to coal ratios, a void is left in the final landform. This final void is the location of the active mine pit at closure. Voids are generally not infilled within the mines' lifetime, because of the prohibitive cost of earthwork operations, and they become post‐mining water bodies or pit lakes. Water quality is a significant issue for pit lakes. Groundwater within coal seams and associated rocks can be saline, depending on the nature of the strata and groundwater circulation patterns. This groundwater may be preferentially drawn to and collected in the final void. Surface runoff to the void will not only collect salts from rainfall and atmospheric fallout, but also from the ground surface and the weathering of fresh rock. As the void water level rises, its evaporative surface area increases, concentrating salts that are held in solution. This paper presents a study of the long term, water quality trends in a post‐mining final void in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. This process is complex and occurs long term, and modelling offers the only method of evaluating water quality. Using available geochemical, climate and hydrogeological data as inputs into a mass‐balance model, water quality in the final void was found to increase rapidly in salinity through time (2452 to 8909 mg l⁻¹ over 500 years) as evaporation concentrates the salt in the void and regional groundwater containing high loads of salt continues to flow into the void. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of a Bayesian model to infer the contribution of coalbed natural gas produced water to the Powder River,Wyoming and Montana

The Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming and Montana contains significant coal and coal bed natural gas (CBNG) resources. CBNG extraction requires the production of large volumes of water, much of which is discharged into existing drainages. Compared to surface waters, the CBNG produced water is high in sodium relative to calcium and magnesium, elevating the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR). To mitigate the possible impact this produced water may have on the quality of surface water used for irrigation, the State of Montana passed water anti‐degradation legislation, which could affect CBNG production in Wyoming. In this study, we sought to determine the proportion of CBNG produced water discharged to tributaries that reaches the Powder River by implementing a four end‐member mixing model within a Bayesian statistical framework. The model accounts for the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, δ¹³C_DIC, [Sr] and [DIC] of CBNG produced water and surface water interacting with the three primary lithologies exposed in the PRB. The model estimates the relative contribution of the end members to the river water, while incorporating uncertainty associated with measurement and process error. Model results confirm that both of the tributaries associated with high CBNG activity are mostly composed of CBNG produced water (70–100%). The model indicates that up to 50% of the Powder River is composed of CBNG produced water downstream from the CBNG tributaries, decreasing with distance by dilution from non‐CBNG impacted tributaries from the point sources to ~10–20% at the Montana border. This amount of CBNG produced water does not significantly affect the SAR or electrical conductivity of the Powder River in Montana. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of longwall support on the occurrence of roof cavities

Summary The forming of roof cavities in longwall faces is a complicated process. A likely explanation for this process is the presence of relaxed zones in the first beds of the roof above and ahead of the support. If existing or potential fissures are allowed to open through insufficient constraint, the block of roof delimited by these fissures will collapse. An increasing unsupported distance, an increasing distance between the face and the first row of legs, a lower vertical bearing force and a lower support pressure on the roof will increase the extent of the relaxed zones. These effects are investigated through underground observations and numerical modelling.Supplementary to this local influence, there is also a spatial relation between the support characteristics of one element in one coal step and the occurrence of fall outs in the roof uncovered by the next coal steps (3 on average) and above the neighbourhood elements (2 to 4 on average). It is probable that, once a cavity is formed, it is extended easily (in the two directions), until appropriate measures are taken.     

Geotechnical assessment of the bearing capacity of coal mine floors

Summary This investigation concerns 3 longwall faces having variable strata and mining conditions, but supported by 202 tonnes hydraulic 6-leg chocks. Bearing capacity tests along the faces were conducted to evaluate the factors influencing floor deformation and failure. The effect of size, shape and perimeter of the base plates, thickness of the floor layer, time and moisture on the ultimate bearing capacity of the floor was measured and discussed. Application of this work is the prediction of stability and support performance of face ends, as well as the design of support systems and ground control on production faces.     

Observations of mine seismicity in the eastern Wasatch Plateau,Utah, U.S.A.: A possible case of implosional failure

In the summer of 1984, a three-dimensional, high-resolution microearthquake network was operated in the vicinity of two coal mines beneath Gentry Mountain in the eastern Wasatch Plateau, Utah. During a six-week period, approximately 3,000 seismic events were observed of which the majority were impulsive, higher frequency (>10 Hz), short duration (<2–3 sec) events probably associated with the caving of the roof from a longwall operation. In contrast, 234 of the largest located events appeared to occur predominantlybeneath the mines to a depth of 2 to 3 km consistent with previous studies. The magnitudes of these events ranged from less thanM _c 0 to 1.6. In addition to the unusual depths of these latter events, an anomalous aspect displayed by the events was an apparent dilatational focal mechanism suggesting a non-double-couple, possibly implosional source. Implosional events have been observed in other studies of mine seismicity; however, the generally inadequate instrumental coverage of the focal sphere has cast some doubt on the validity of such mechanisms. Previously suggested source mechanisms for such implosional events have included tensional failure through strata collapse, and a shear-implosional displacement mechanism. Shear failure must be involved in the failure process of the Gentry Mountain implosional events as evidenced by well-defined shear waves in the observed seismograms. Simultaneous monitoring in the East Mountain coal mining area to the south by the University of Utah revealed typical shear failure events mixed with implosional events. The observed double-couple, reverse focal mechanisms at East Mountain were similar to mechanisms determined in previous studies and a composite focal mechanism determined in this study for a sequence outside the mining areas. This suggested that the shear events within the mining areas are being influenced by the regional tectonic stress field. Thus in addition to the seismic events associated with caving of the roof from the longwall operation, there appear to be at least two other types of mining-induced seismic events occurring in the eastern Wasatch Plateau, both submine in origin: (1) events characterized by apparent non-double-couple possibly implosional focal mechanisms and well-defined shear waves; and (2) shear events, which are indistinguishable from tectonic earthquakes and may be considered mining triggered earthquakes. The small mining-induced stress changes that occur beyond a few hundred meters from the mine workings suggest both types of seismic events are occurring on critically stressed, pre-existing zones of weakness. Topography, overburden, method of mining, and mine configuration also appear to be significant factors influencing the occurrence of the implosional submine events.     

Microseismicity in a flooded potash mine,the Hope mine,Federal Republic of Germany

Measuring of microseismic events has been carried out at the former potash mine of Hope since early 1984.Analysis of the data demonstrates an immediate temporal relationship between brine introduction and onset of microseismic activity. The spatial distribution of the sources indicates a dependence on brine level height. Sources are found preferentially immediately next to roads and workings. Source radii, estimated from the frequency ranges in the seismograms, varied with the cross-section of neighbouring cavities and had a similar, order of size.Events occurred rarely in the previously flooded mine sections Similarly, the zone below a depth of approx. 600 m below sea level was virtually inactive.     

Behaviour of abandoned room and pillar mines in Illinois

Summary Little comprehensive information has been reported on the behaviour of room-and-pillar mines. The objective of this paper is to present case data on mine failures in the Illinois basin for use in practice. Presented are results of an ongoing study and details on the site characteristics of cases where sags have developed on the surface. Site data are reported to show the geologic, mining, and sag conditions that existed. Sags mainly develop from pillar, floor, or pillar-floor failure. The character of the sags depends upon the type of mine failure as well as the overburden response.Preliminary results show that the statistical no-risk tributary pressure decreases over 300% as the mine age increases from about 2 to 100 years at a long-term value of approximately 300 psi (2070 kPa). As more information is collected and more analysis is done, the allowable tributary pressure can be determined for different site conditions.A plot is also reported that depicts the relationship of the maximum subsidence to site conditions. It was found that the modified subsidence factor was heavily dependent upon the overburden rock thickness.     

远东地区f0Es剧增与K指数突变的关系

一、前言 中纬度地区电离层E_s的成因与影响因素是一复杂的问题。远东地区E_s既多又强,其它电离层现象也有一些特色,本文在文献[9]的基础上,从分析原始频高图入手,对远东地区夜间f₀E_s剧增与地磁K指数的关系作了统计研究,发现两者之间关系甚为密切,即地磁K指数的突然变化伴随着夜间E_s层临界频率f₀E_s的剧烈增加。     

磁尾宽频带静电噪声的一种新的激发机制

本文提出了磁尾宽频带静电噪声强谱段的一种新的激发机制。在等离子体片边界层中存在着瞬时的局域性的晨昏电场。电子和离子对该电场的响应不同:在电场存在的区域内,电子作回旋漂移运动,而离子轨道在的时间尺度内可视为直线。由于等离子体片边界层中等离子体是非均匀的,这就导致了电荷分离的产生,从而可激发静电不稳定性。本文通过求解含电场的Vlasov方程,计算了由此产生的不稳定波的频率和增长率,考察了波矢方向。上述计算结果均与强谱段静电噪声的观测特征一致。