How to connect societal concerns on subsidence to expert knowledge

Abstract

The proper management of subsidence hazards requires a procedure to formulate thresholds and measurement & control loops. Such a formulation should be adequate in terms of technical hazard and hazard perception, unambiguous, in plain language and preferably complying with national or international standards. The technical nature of subsidence measurements, modeling and forecasts makes the important task of transferring knowledge on this issue from society to the research community and vice versa challenging. In this paper, we therefore propose a phased procedure of setting subsidence thresholds and control loops, intended for general use. The procedure is illustrated with three cases of mining projects from the Netherlands: gas production from fields below the Wadden Sea, salt production near Veendam, and gas production near Harlingen. We provide guidance for future use of the procedure and conclude with a few suggestions on the translation issue to the subsidence expert community.