Evaluation of groundwater pollution in a mining area using analytical solution: a case study of the Yimin open-pit mine in China

Abstract

IntroductionThis study focused on using analytical and numerical models to develop and manage groundwater resources, and predict the effects of management measurements in the groundwater system. Movement of contaminants can be studied based on groundwater flow characteristics. This study can be used for prediction of ion concentration and evaluation of groundwater pollution as the theoretical basis.Case descriptionThe Yimin open-pit mine is located in the northern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. High concentrations of iron and manganese are observed in Yimin open-pit mine because of exploitation and pumping that have increased the concentration of the ions in groundwater. In this study, iron was considered as an index of contamination, and the solute model was calibrated using concentration observations from 14 wells in 2014.Discussion and evaluationThe groundwater flow model and analytical solutions were used in this study to forecast pollution concentration and variation trend after calibration. With continuous pumping, contaminants will migrate, and become enriched, towards the wellhead in the flow direction. The concentration of the contaminants and the range of pollution increase with the flow rate increased.ConclusionsThe suitable flow rate of single well should be <380 m/day at Yimin open-pit for the standard value of pollution concentration.

Genetic Algorithm in Multimedia Dynamic Prediction of Groundwater in Open-Pit Mine

“…The change of groundwater level is a very complex natural process, and it is the comprehensive effect of groundwater system stimulated by multiple inputs [ 1 ]. Factors such as precipitation, evaporation, and artificial mining can be regarded as inputs to the system, and the groundwater level can be regarded as the output of the system [ 2 ]. At the same time, due to the spatial variation of the aqueous system, there will be data variability in the actual research process, and some precise research methods often fall into a variety of dilemmas when describing the nonlinear relationship of groundwater systems [ 3 ].…”