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   

Experimental study on a sampling technique based on a freeze-sediments valve for deep-sea microorganism     

《Applied Ocean Research》2019

Deep-sea microorganism research has become a hot topic in life science, owing to its special value in high pressure and low temperature environment. If not kept the in-situ low temperature and high pressure, it will cause the microorganism to lose its activity and lead to a waste of resources. A freeze-sediments valve presents a promising solution to maintain the low temperature and high pressure in situ, improve the success rate of sampling and shorten the sampling time. A series of experiments were conducted to characterize the freeze-sediments valve, including the sampling time without leakage, adaptation to different sediments and the effect of the length, etc. Most important of all, temperature change of sediments is observed in all experiments. Experimental results indicated that the freeze-sediments valve was formed in 5 min without leakage and the freeze-sediments valve could be applied to different sediments without limitations on sediments type and mineral content. Considering the pressure retaining capacity and formation time of freeze-sediments valve, it was found that the freeze-sediments valve with a length of 60–80 mm has good pressure retaining capacity whose value was 41.3–48.4 Mpa and short formation time which was 5 min. Precooling the sampler could be used to shorten the sampling time in the actual environment application. This sampling technique can play a vital role in maintaining in-situ low temperature at −2 to −4 ° Celsius in all the experiments. According to the tests, the sampling technique based on the freeze-sediments valve had the potential to solve the problem of keeping in-situ temperature, low sampling success rate and long sampling time in the future.  相似文献   

载人潜水器运行管理机制探析          下载免费PDF全文

齐海滨  李德威  刘保华  杨雷  刘晓辉 《海洋开发与管理》2019,36(7):3-7

为了探索深海,不同类型的深海运载装备得以成功开发,并应用于深海科学、资源勘探开发、工程保障及战略安全等不同领域。深海运载装备可以分为载人潜水器(HOV)、遥控深潜器(ROV)、自治式深潜器(AUV)及混合型深潜器,其中以载人潜水器为代表的高技术装备群成为建设海洋强国的重要保障力量。文章对美国"阿尔文"号、俄罗斯"和平I"号和"和平II"号、日本"深海6500"号、法国"鹦鹉螺"号、中国"蛟龙"号载人潜水器运行管理机制进行了阐述,综合比较其优缺点,提出了建立职业化运行保障队伍、优化作业流程,创新组织结构、探索多型潜水器海上作业模式等运行管理机制构架的建议。  相似文献   

尼日尔三角洲东部深水区构造特征及其形成机理     

赵江  王秋良  卢圣力  付博  杜峰 《大地测量与地球动力学》2019,39(7):691-695

研究尼日尔三角洲东部深水区块发现，整个盆地从陆向洋具有3个大的构造分区：伸展拉张区、过渡区和挤压逆冲区。伸展区以大型同沉积断层伴生大量滚动背斜构造为特征，过渡区发育大量泥底辟构造，挤压区以复杂的逆冲叠瓦构造为主。通过分析形成机理，揭示东部深水转换带上M研究区构造特征，按构造的演化特征将该区构造分为泥底辟型、冲断-泥底辟混合型、逆冲型3种类型，提出研究区内的圈闭主要以构造-岩性圈闭为主，为尼日尔三角洲盆地深水勘探提供新的理论指导。  相似文献   

Mixed sand–mud bedforms produced by transient turbulent flows in the fringe of submarine fans: Indicators of flow transformation     

Megan L. Baker  Jaco H. Baas 《Sedimentology》2020,67(5):2645-2671

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Impacts of confining pressure and safety thickness on water and mud inrush in weathered granite     

Jinquan Liu  Weizhong Chen  Zhiping Deng  Taogen Liu 《Marine Georesources & Geotechnology》2020,38(2):144-153

Abstract

Due to the strong disintegration and water erosion of completely weathered granite, water and mud inrush disasters are apt to take place in this zone during underwater tunnel construction. The pore, compactness, seepage path length, fracture geometries and their interconnections for water and mud transfer are strongly influenced by confining pressure and waterproof-resistant slab safety thickness. In order to inspect the influence, a series of experiments based on a self-designed testing system and non-Darcy testing method were performed. The results indicated that the water and mud inrush evolution increased with the increase of confining pressure and decreased with the increase of safety thickness. In particular, the confining pressure mainly influences the initial evolution stage, and a critical safety thickness to prevent water and mud inrush is obtained. Besides, the non-Darcy testing method results shows that the water and mud inrush evolution affects the influence of non-Darcy flow. For example, while the safety thickness was smaller than the critical value, the evolution was large and unstable and its behavior transferred into nonlinear. In this case, the flow changed to non-Darcy flow.  相似文献   

川藏铁路交通廊道地质调查工程主要进展与成果     

郭长宝  王保弟  刘建康  涂杰楠  张永双  马剑飞  铁永波  韩冰  马鑫  刘峰  李雪  孟文  钟宁  杨志华  吴瑞安 《中国地质调查》2020,7(6):1-12

川藏铁路是我国正在规划建设的重点工程,由于其位于地形地貌和地质构造都极为复杂的青藏高原东部,在铁路规划建设中面临一系列迫切需要解决的关键地质问题: 区域性活动断裂与断错影响、地质灾害、高地应力及其引起的岩爆和大变形、高温热害、断裂带高压水与涌水突泥、高陡边坡稳定性等。为满足技术支撑川藏铁路规划建设、精准服务国家重大战略实施的需要,中国地质调查局部署了“川藏铁路交通廊道地质调查工程”,聚焦制约川藏铁路规划建设的关键问题,充分发挥地质调查工作对国家重大工程规划建设的支撑作用。2019年主要完成铁路沿线1:5万区域地质调查1 350 km²、1:5万地质灾害调查5 000 km²,建设6口大地热流地质参数井、8个地温监测站,完成地应力测量20孔,编制完成11份地质调查专报,提出的大渡河大桥段、理塘车站段、毛垭坝盆地段等线路优化建议/防灾建议被采纳; 首次将1:5 000大比例尺航空物探技术引入复杂山地铁路工程勘察,创新形成千米级超长水平钻孔定向取心钻进技术,实现500 m深的水平孔地应力测量突破等。该工程通过2019年调查研究,全力提升了铁路沿线地质调查程度与精度,并创新了复杂艰险山区重大工程地质问题与探测技术、地质灾害风险防控理论与减灾关键技术,有效支撑服务了川藏铁路规划建设。  相似文献   

提高地浸钻孔出水量的有效技术措施          下载免费PDF全文

胥虹 《探矿工程》2020,47(1):48-52

地浸钻孔是一种以采矿为目的的钻孔，提高钻孔出水量就是提高钻孔的采矿量。通过对多年地浸钻孔施工经验和理论进行分析，发现影响钻孔出水量的主要因素为钻井泥浆的成分和性能以及人工过滤层的渗透性差异，提出在地浸钻孔施工方案中采用植物胶净化泥浆钻进和扩孔、投砾罐射吸式填砾、物理化学组合洗井3种技术措施，对比前后施工钻孔的出水量大小，证明了该技术措施对提高地浸钻孔出水量具有良好的效果。  相似文献   

Main technical innovations of Songke Well No.2 Drilling Project     

《China Geology》2018,1(2):187-201

Songke Well No.2, one of the main part of the scientific drilling project in Songliao Basin, which was drilled 7018 m and acquired the part of cores continuously from the Low Cretaceous to the Carboniferous and the Permian from the 2843 m deep, can be considered as the deepest continental drilling project in Asia. Aiming at the features of longer well sections, larger diameters and multiple spud-ins for coring of Songke Well No.2, this project broke through the “coring in small diameter and reaming in large diameter” spud-in drilling-completion procedures which are always used in large-diameter-well coring for continental scientific drilling projects in domestic and overseas and the drilling method of short-single-cylinder roundtrip footage. At the same time, “coring in the same diameter and completing drilling at one single diameter” was achieved at all φ311 mm and φ216 mm coring sections of more than one thousand meters long, high-efficient operation with “drilling long footage with drill tools combined in multi-cylinders” was achieved at deep coring section. Four world drilling records were created which include more than a thousand meters continuous coring at φ311 mm, and the footage per roundtrip footage at φ311 mm, φ216 mm and φ152 mm is all more than 30 m, all of these breakthroughs reduced at least 300 days for this project; moreover, considering the characteristics of formations that the geothermal gradient is high in the drilled sections and the inside-well temperature is over 240°C after drilling completion, a formate-polymer water-based mud system was developed by compounding attapulgite and sodium bentonite and by adding independently developed high-temperature stabilizer, which can provide critical technical support for successful well completion at 7018 m in the super-high-temperature environment It is the first time that the water-based mud is operated at the working temperature higher than 240°C in China; Besides, considering the high-quality requirement on cores imposed by the project, the method “mechanical cored is charge” to discharge core nondestructively on the ground was worked out, and more than 4000 m scatheless cores were discharged out of the drill pipes while maintaining original stratum structures.  相似文献   

四川平武银厂金矿勘探复杂地层钻进技术          下载免费PDF全文

杨福全  龙海涛 《探矿工程》2018,45(6):36-39

四川平武银厂金矿区钻探施工中遇到漏失、缩径、岩心破碎、易孔斜和钻孔事故频发等施工难题,施工难度极大。本文结合地层特点,通过采用绳索取心液动锤、高密度低失水泥浆体系、跟管钻进等工艺技术措施,提高了钻进效率和施工质量,大幅度减少了孔内事故的发生,为顺利完成钻孔施工任务奠定了坚实的基础。  相似文献