1 MULTI-LEVEL DATA AS A KEY COMPONENT FOR A HYDROGEOLOGICAL CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF AN UNDERGROUND MINE

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Great Slave Lake; Northwest Territories; Yellowknife
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.576.8332; http://www.srk.com/files/File/newsletters/groundwater/PDFs/3_D_Mackie.pdf

Development of reasonable hydrogeologic conceptual models is an integral step in any hydrogeological study. For underground mines in the Canadian Shield, where the presence of distributed workings, faults and surficial tailings impoundments exist, an understanding of both horizontal and vertical gradients is required. As part of the closure plan for the Giant Mine, located just outside Yellowknife, Northwest Territories along the shore of Great Slave Lake, a series of fourteen multi-level monitoring systems were installed to provide information on hydraulic gradients, as well as to act as a regional monitoring system after re-flood. Multi-level systems targeted to cross large-scale faults show that faults can act as either barriers or conduits for flow, possibly acting to compartmentalise the groundwater system. In one instance, data suggest that the character of a regional fault varies along strike length. Other multi-level systems provide information on the vertical component of gradients, both in the area of tailings impoundments and in areas near extensive underground workings. Development of a reasonable hydrogeologic conceptual model from which to assess both current conditions and potential future conditions after re-flood was significantly improved by the availability of multi-level data.