The 2019 Brumadinho tailings dam collapse: Possible cause and impacts of the worst human and environmental disaster in Brazil     

《International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation》2020

On 25th January 2019, the tailings dam of the Brumadinho iron mine operated by Vale S/A failed catastrophically. The death toll stood at 259 and 11 people remained missing as of January 2020. This tragedy occurred three years after Mariana’s tailings dam rupture – the most significant tailing dam disaster in Brazilian history. Thus far, a systematic investigation on the cause and effect of the failure has yet to be conducted. Here, we use satellite-driven soil moisture index, multispectral high-resolution imagery and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) products to assess pre-disaster scenarios and the direct causes of the tailings dam collapse. A decreasing trend in the moisture content at the surface and the full evanescence of pond water through time (2011–2019) suggest that the water was gradually penetrating the fill downwards and caused the seepage erosion, saturating the tailings dam. Large-scale slumping of the dam (extensional failure) upon the rupture indicates that the materials of the fill were already saturated. InSAR measurements reveal a dramatic, up to 30 cm subsidence in the dam (at the rear part) within the past 12 months before the dam collapse, signifying that the sediments had been removed from the fill. Although the information on the resistance level of the tailings dam to infiltrations is not available, these pieces of evidence collectively indicate that the seepage erosion (piping) is the primary cause for the chronic weakening of the structure and, hence, the internal “liquefaction” condition. Upon the collapse, the fully saturated mud tailings flowed down the gentle slope area (3.13 × 10⁶ m²), where 73 % were originally covered by tree, grass or agricultural tracts. The toxic mud eventually reached the Paraopeba River after travelling 10 km, abruptly increasing the suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentration and the toxic chemical elements in the river, immediately affecting the local livelihoods that depend on its water. The Paraopeba River is a major tributary of the San Francisco River, the second-longest river in Brazil reaching the Atlantic Ocean. We anticipate that the environmental repercussions of this toxic seepage will be felt throughout the entire basin, especially riverine communities located downstream.  相似文献   

地形位指数模型改进及其在植被覆盖评价中的应用     

张玉  张道军 《地理学报》2022,77(11):2757-2772

地形作为影响植被覆盖的重要因素,对植被恢复评价以及生态修复规划意义重大。地形位作为测度地形因子综合效应的指标,具有单一地形因子难以比拟的优势。然而,现有地形位指数算法以整个研究区为参照,未考虑空间异质性,难以反映植被生长的局部环境特征。基于地理学第三定律对地理环境相似的强调,融合“空间位置邻近”和“环境特征相似”,对传统地形位模型进行改进：(1)引入局部窗口算法,以突出局部地形特征;(2)在不同生境因子组合下测算地形位指数,以排除环境差异对地形位作用的干扰。案例研究表明,新模型有效提升了地形位指数对植被覆盖水平的解释力度;当考虑生境因子组合,且采用最优窗口时,局部窗口地形位指数与植被覆盖度之间的相关性最高。此外,通过观察不同生境组合下的地形位指数发现,在高热少水阴坡和高热少水阳坡条件下,植被覆盖度与局部窗口地形位指数具有更高相关性;可见,越是水资源相对匮乏区域,植被覆盖对局部窗口地形位的响应越敏感。本文有望为植被恢复评价与规划提供新的指标。  相似文献   

三山岛金矿F3断裂带的水文地质工程地质特征及灾害防治   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

张寿全  黄巍 《工程地质学报》1994,2(1):62-72

本文对三山岛金矿F3断裂带的构造、岩性和水动力学特征进行了研究,对矿坑开挖中的突水和坑道碎屑流的成因做了探讨,并在水文地质结构、水化学、水同位素及水文地热学的综合研究基础上,对未来的二期井下工程开挖中可能出现的工程地质问题进行了预测,提出了防治方案。  相似文献   

宣传贯彻《矿产资源法》促进依法治矿     

龚静夫 《湖南地质》1991,(1)

《矿产资源法》颁布实施五周年,通过宣传贯彻,增强了广大干部、群众依法办矿的法制观念,推动了各项矿管工作的开展,依法办矿的矿山取得了采矿权,非法采矿的小矿山被关闭,违法行为受到查处,矿管部门的声望越来越高,促讲了依法治矿。宣传贯彻《矿产资源法》要领导首先学法,提高认识,加强领导,建立一支专兼结合的宣传队伍,采取多种形式有重点地进行宣传教育。我国、我省面临矿产资源形势是严峻的,浪费矿产资源的现象仍存在,要继续深入宣传贯彻《矿产资源法》。  相似文献   

River adjustment to changes in sediment load: The effects of tin mining on the Ringarooma River,Tasmania, 1875–1984     

A. D. Knighton 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1989,14(4):333-359

The mining of alluvial tin in the Ringarooma basin began in 1875, reached a peak in 1900–20, and had virtually ceased by 1982. During that time 40 million m³ of mining waste were supplied to the main river, quickly replacing the natural bed material and requiring major adjustments to the channel. Based on estimates of sediment supply from more than 50 widely scattered mines and the frequency of flows capable of transporting the introduced load, the river's transport history is reconstructed using a mass-conservation model. Because of the lengthy time period (110 years) and river distance (75 km) involved, the model cannot predict detailed change but it does reproduce the main pattern of sediment movement in which successive phases of aggradation and degradation progress downstream. Peak storage is predicted in that part of the river where braiding and anastomosis are best developed. Aggradation was most rapid in the upper reaches close to major supply points, becoming slower and later with distance downstream. Channel width increased by up to 300 per cent where the valley floor was broad and braiding became relatively common. Bridges had frequently to be replaced. While bed levels were still rising in lower reaches, degradation began in upper ones, notably after 1950, and by 1984 had progressed downriver over 30 km. Rates of incision reached 0·5 m yr^?1, especially in the early 1970s when record high flows occurred. As a result of degradation the bed material became gravelly through either reexposure of the original bed or lag concentration of coarser fractions. Also a narrower unbraided channel has developed. The river is beginning to heal itself and upper reaches now have reasonably stable beds but at least another 50 years will be required for the river to cleanse its channel of mining debris.  相似文献   

An analytical solution to multi-component NAPL dissolution equations     

Scott K. Hansen  Bernard H. Kueper 《Advances in water resources》2007

This note presents a novel method for determining the changing composition of a multi-component NAPL body dissolving into moving groundwater, and the consequent changes in the aqueous phase solute concentrations in the surrounding pore water. A canonical system of coupled non-linear governing equations is derived which is suitable for representation of both pooled and residual configurations, and this is solved. Whereas previous authors have handled such problems numerically, it is shown that these governing equations succumb to analytical solution. By a suitable substitution, the equations become decoupled, and the problem collapses to a single first-order equation. The final result is expressed implicitly, with time as a function of the number of moles of the least soluble component, m₁. The number of moles of each other component is expressed explicitly in terms of m₁. It is shown that the time-m₁ relationship has a well behaved inverse. An example is given in which the analytic solution is verified against traditional finite difference analysis, and its computational efficiency is shown.  相似文献   

COUNTING FARMERS MARKETS     

ALLISON BROWN 《Geographical review》2001,91(4):655-674

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Delineation of sulphide ore-zones by borehole radar tomography at Hellyer Mine, Australia     

Binzhong Zhou  Peter K. Fullagar   《Journal of Applied Geophysics》2001,47(3-4)

Velocity and absorption tomograms are the two most common forms of presentation of radar tomographic data. However, mining personnel, geophysicists included, are often unfamiliar with radar velocity and absorption. In this paper, general formulae are introduced, relating velocity and attenuation coefficient to conductivity and dielectric constant. The formulae are valid for lossy media as well as high-resistivity materials. The transformation of velocity and absorption to conductivity and dielectric constant is illustrated via application of the formulae to radar tomograms from the Hellyer zinc–lead–silver mine, Tasmania, Australia. The resulting conductivity and dielectric constant tomograms constructed at Hellyer demonstrated the potential of radar tomography to delineate sulphide ore zones.  相似文献   

向斜构造煤层开采地表移动规律研究   总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5  

李永树  王金庄  邢安仕 《测绘学报》1996,(2)

现行的地表移动预计方法，都是建立在开采工作面主断面为线性分布的基础上，因此，对于非线性分布煤层的预计将会产生较大的误差。本文以随机介质理论为基础，利用曲线积分的方法建立了地表移动与变形预计公式，并且利用数值积分法和叠加原理解算地表移动与变形值，扩大了地表移动预计理论的应用范围，同时也大大提高了预计值的精度  相似文献   

Tectonic analysis of mine tremor mechanisms from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin     

Grzegorz Sagan  Lesław Teper  Waclaw M. Zuberek 《Pure and Applied Geophysics》1996,147(2):217-238

Fault network of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) is built of sets of strike-slip, oblique-slip and dip-slip faults. It is a typical product of force couple which acts evenly with the parallel of latitude, causing horizontal and anti-clockwise movement of rock-mass. Earlier research of focal mechanisms of mine tremors, using a standard fault plane solution, has shown that some events are related to tectonic directions in main structural units of the USCB. An attempt was undertaken to analyze the records of mine tremors from the period 1992–1994 in the selected coal fields. The digital records of about 200 mine tremors with energy larger than 1×10⁴ J (M _L >1.23) were analyzed with SMT software for seismic moment tensor inversion. The decomposition of seismic moment tensor of mine tremors was segmented into isotropic (I) part, compensated linear vector dipole (CLVD) part and double-couple (DC) part. The DC part is prevalent (up to 70%) in the majority of quakes from the central region of the USCB. A group of mine tremors with large I element (up to 50%) can also be observed. The spatial orientation of the fault and auxiliary planes were obtained from the computations for the seismic moment DC part. Study of the DC part of the seismic moment tensor made it possible for us to separate the group of events which might be acknowledged to have their origin in unstable energy release on surfaces of faults forming a regional structural pattern. The possible influence of the Cainozoic tectonic history of the USCB on the recent shape of stress field is discussed.  相似文献