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Conference Proceedings

Life of Mine Conference 2021

Conference Proceedings

Life of Mine Conference 2021

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Simulating gully formation and evolution on a post-mining landform

Post mining landforms consist of unconsolidated waste which can be highly erodible. In such structures of loosely bonded material, rill erosion and gully erosion are major issues which leads to degradation of the landform. To ensure long term stability and sustainability, these landforms need to be designed to minimise rilling and gulling (Hilson and Murck, 2000, Jenkins and Yakovleva, 2006, Supervising Scientist, 2018). Over the years various landform evolution models has been used to predict the evolution of such landforms and identify areas prone for gully erosion (Moliere et al., 2002, Hancock et al., 2000, Hancock et al., 2019, Hancock et al., 2015). Although these endeavours have met with good success most of these models do not account for changes in surface properties (particle size distribution) of these structures during their evolution. Here we demonstrate the capabilities of the State Space Soil Production and Assessment Model (SSSPAM) in simulating gully erosion on a post-mining landform. SSSPAM (Welivitiya, 2017, Welivitiya et al., 2018, Welivitiya et al., 2016) is a coupled soilscape- landform evolution model capable of simulating fluvial erosion and armouring, diffusive erosion (surface), sediment deposition, and weathering within the soil profile. SSSPAM was specifically developed to incorporate the evolution of the soil profile in combination with landform evolution and for this reason it is more suitable for simulating unconsolidated structures such as post-mining landforms. In this study we used a digital elevation model derived from LIDAR survey of a working coal mine waste rock dump to represent the initial landform, calibrated model parameters and daily rainfall data form a nearby weather station to predict the initiation, growth and stabilization of gullies. The results show that SSSPAM is able to predict the position and general geomorphic characteristics of the gullies observed on the landform. In addition to the results presented here SSSPAM can also be used to investigate the impact of various factors influencing post-mining landform evolution such as land surface properties (particle size distribution), weathering of material and vegetation cover.
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  • Simulating gully formation and evolution on a post-mining landform
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  • Published: 2021
  • Pages: 4
  • PDF Size: 2.393 Mb.
  • Unique ID: P-01731-X7V3W7

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