Quarrying Impacts on Groundwater Flow Paths

Abstract

Quarrying in limestone aquifers can interfere with groundwater flow paths. Quarries can pirate karst conduit flow by physically breaking into the conduits and changing the groundwater discharge points. Another mechanism of groundwater flow interference occurs as quarry dewatering lowers the water table changing groundwater flow directions. Dye tracing is an effective tool to evaluate and quantify these impacts. In Minnesota, tracing investigations have been conducted at two quarries. The Big Spring quarry near Harmony, Minnesota is in the Ordovician Galena Formation. The quarry is 500 meters from Big Spring, the headwater spring of Camp Creek, a Minnesota designated trout stream. Although the quarry is nominally above the water table, beginning about forty years ago, the quarry intercepted conduits carrying groundwater to the spring. Groundwater that formerly discharged from Big Spring now rises in the quarry then flows overland joining Camp Creek 100 meters downstream of Big Spring. About 90 percent of the mapped groundwater basin of Big Spring is now routed through the quarry. The Osmundson quarry is in the Devonian Lithograph City Formation at LeRoy, Minnesota. This sub-water table quarry requires seasonal dewatering at 1,000-3,000 liters/minute. When the quarry is being dewatered, Sweets Spring, approximately 300 meters to the southeast, stops flowing. Dye tracing has verified that the quarry pirates the flow to the spring. Both of these cases demonstrate the utility of using dye traces to determine the impact of limestone quarrying on groundwater flow paths. This information can be used to evaluate

Environmental, Legal and Social Implications of Aggregate Extraction (Mining) Operations

“…675,676 In most land-use planning scenarios, aggregate developments are unwelcomed by local residents and there has been a growing amount of public disdain towards proposed extraction projects. This public contempt towards the aggregate industry is largely due to a legacy of poorly managed operations and countless number of abandoned, un-rehabilitated sites that have resulted in social and environmental impacts 677,678 , such as dust, noise, increased truck https://doi.org/10.33002/enrlaw-04 According to Bill Langer, a geologist and quarry reclamation consultant who worked more than 40 years with the U.S. Geological Survey, years of detonating explosives cause irreversible environmental damage, including permanently rerouting of natural water systems beyond the boundaries of the quarry site (cone of depression): 679,680,681 rerouting natural water systems and displacing local species. The soil and water in quarries are often thick with iron, manganese, and phosphorus, making most former quarry sites hostile to vegetation....…”

A First Step towards Developing a Decision Support System Based on the Integration of Environmental Monitoring Activities for Regional Water Resource Protection

“…These include alteration of drainage, changes in groundwater level, and effects on soil erosion. Limestone quarries can alter the hydrogeology of the territory and the groundwater flow paths [25]. The extraction zones evolve into a well that quickly conveys surface water to the groundwater system.…”