Purpose. Development of a new approach to improving the accuracy of predicting situations in which the earth’s surface failures occur as a result of undermining a rock mass during the development of mineral deposits. Methods. The critical situations, including the earth’s surface failures, are predicted on the basis of assessing the value of geoenergy and studying its change as large volumes of rock mass are involved in mining. Analytical solutions based on the fundamental laws of physics and mechanics of continuous media are used. The research is performed using methods of cause-and-effect analysis. Findings. Based on the cause-effect relationship, determined between the change in the value of the mass geoenergy and deformation processes on the daylight surface of the field, an effective method has been developed for ranking it according to the degree of hazard of failure formation with the simultaneous use of two criteria. One of the criteria is determined by the relative change in geoenergy during the system transition from the initial (stable) state to the current one, which becomes unstable under certain conditions. The second criterion is formed on the basis of the change in geoenergy during the transition from the current (possibly unstable) state to the final (stable) state. Originality. For the first time, when zoning the daylight surface of a field according to the degree of hazard of failure formation, two ranking criteria are used simultaneously, based on the assessment of geoenergy accumulated in a heterogeneous mass, when it is undermined in the conditions of triaxial compression. Practical implications. The territory ranking method, developed on the basis of the used criteria for hazard of failure formation, allows improving the quality of situational control, predicting risk situations and their development, as well as optimizing the short-term and long-term plans for the development of mining operations.
The importance of the impact of emerging ecologic-geomorphological situations in areas of active mining development of Kazakhstan on the life of the population is difficult to overestimate in conditions of a dry climate, water scarcity and the use of outdated technologies for the extraction of solid minerals. This article examines the ecologic-geomorphological situations of mining areas of arid platform-denudation plains of Kazakhstan and gives their characteristics, which is based on an analysis of the leading natural and anthropogenically caused geodynamic processes, their spatial coverage, ratios and comparative assessment as an indicator of geomorphological risk within selected morphogenetic types of relief.
New hydrochemical measurements from the Syr Darya provide insights into factors affecting the composition and quality of one of the two major freshwater sources replenishing the Aral Sea. This river is heavily used for power and irrigation and crosses territories of four central Asia republics. It is intensely managed, draining several major tributaries, many reservoirs, and numerous irrigation distribution systems and canals. Analysis of seasonal changes in dissolved ion concentrations using geochemical diagrams, elemental ratios, statistical correlation, and equilibrium modeling allowed the characterization of mineral formation processes that control the dissolved chemical composition. Measured water hydrochemistry and composition type differs substantially from previous reports from the upper reaches of the Syr Darya in Kyrgyzstan. Element ratios, statistical correlation, and the presence of NO3- and NO2- suggest that the downstream trend of increasing total dissolved solids (TDS) from Zhetysay city to the Aral Sea in June is controlled by evaporation–crystallization processes, which contribute to the river dissolved load through soil runoff and return irrigation waters following leaching of secondary salts. Downstream sample composition during the growing season shows significant changes in magnesium-to-calcium ratios in the river water. Elevated magnesium levels in Syr Darya waters may pose a problem to sustainable uses for irrigation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.