Using Numerical Modeling to Understand the Discharge from a Flooded Abandoned Underground Mine

Kuchovský, Tomáš; Říčka, Adam; Grycz, David

doi:10.1007/s10230-017-0455-3

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…To that end, numerical models have become valuable tools for resolving many engineering problems dealing with mining activities, especially those with safety and environment interactions (natural or induced by hazardous situations). Knowing the tailings pond characteristics (construction and filling process) and the kind of fluid stored (preservation or not of Newtonian properties) is necessary because numerical tools need such data to assess geotechnical, hydrological, and hydraulic aspects with confidence (Alonso 2021;Castro-Díaz et al 2008;Kheirkhah Gildeh et al 2021;Kuchovský et al 2017;Martí et al 2021;Padilla et al 2016;Sanz-Ramos et al 2020).…”

Section: Mining Since the Aznalcóllar Disastermentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting the Hydraulics of the Aznalcóllar Mine Disaster

et al. 2022

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The Aznalcóllar tailings pond failure (1998) is regarded as one of the severe ecological mine disasters ever reported. The spill of the mine tailings affected more than 60 km of the Agrio and Guadiamar rivers and caused major environmental damage. Despite the event being well-documented with more than 400 scientific publications, including two special issues and two reviews, several hydraulic uncertainties and inconsistencies remain. This paper conducts a state-of-the-art review of the most relevant hydraulic aspects of the mine disaster. It addresses the pond and fluid characteristics, the break type, the breaking time, the flow propagation, the volume potentially stored and subsequently spilled, area dimensions affected by the spill, and the morphological changes generated in the river and riverbanks caused by the spill, and later on by the restoration activities. Several discrepancies and plenty of controversial data have been unearthed that may affect general understanding of the event. In addition, new data is introduced and analysed applying photointerpretation and digital terrain analysis techniques, aiming to derive in essential hydraulic parameters. The most important findings are that the spill could have had a volume about 11.5 hm3, affecting about 86.7 km of river length, twice the most referenced values in the literature, and that applied restoration activities have substantially modified the hydro-sedimentary processes of the affected system. Additionally, a first video observation-based classification reveals that the fluid behaved more like a highly concentrated sediment-laden flow than like a mud flow.

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