Simulated flow of groundwater and brine from a flooded salt mine in Livingston County, New York, and effects of remedial pumping on an overlying aquifer

Abstract

Sinkhole above 11-Yard West Sinkhole above 2-Yard SouthRo ut e 20 A Cuylerville Sterling mineshaftsRetsof main plant and mine Courtesy of Ron Pretzer/LUXE, May 1994 This northwest aerial view shows sinkholes above room 11-Yard West (left foreground) and room 2-Yard South (right center, partially obscured by trees) of the Retsof salt mine. The Retsof main plant is located about 4 miles northwest of the sinkholes.Simulations of the movement of brine from a flooded salt mine near Geneseo, New York into an overlying aquifer indicate the following effects, if remedial pumping were discontinued: ► Saline water from bedrock would flow upward toward an overlying aquifer through rubble chimneys in bedrock that hydraulically connect the flooded salt mine to the aquifer. Halite brine from the mine would eventually reach the aquifer along the same path.► Dense saline water that reaches the aquifer through the rubble chimneys would migrate southward along the sloping bedrock surface to its lowest point south of the mine.► A pool of saline water would form in this depression and extend northward and southward as the flow continues; however, the high relative density of the saline water would probably prevent it from rising into other overlying aquifers.► The fate of mine water (brine) that enters bedrock fracture zones that intersect the rubble chimneys is uncertain. Some might emerge updip to the north, where a limestone subcrop area intersects the bedrock surface. The traveltime, however, cannot be calculated from available information.