Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region
In order to reduce contaminant mass loadings, thermal cover systems may be incorporated in the design of waste rock piles located in regions of continuous permafrost. In this study, reactive transport modeling was used to improve the understanding of coupled thermo-hydrological and chemical processe...
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MDPI AG
2021
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:341a0e7d634040e6a9eccddb720f4b33 2023-05-15T17:57:15+02:00 Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region Xueying Yi Danyang Su Bruno Bussière K. Ulrich Mayer 2021-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060565 https://doaj.org/article/341a0e7d634040e6a9eccddb720f4b33 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/6/565 https://doaj.org/toc/2075-163X doi:10.3390/min11060565 2075-163X https://doaj.org/article/341a0e7d634040e6a9eccddb720f4b33 Minerals, Vol 11, Iss 565, p 565 (2021) reactive transport modeling mine waste rock thermal cover freeze-thaw cycles permafrost contaminated drainage Mineralogy QE351-399.2 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060565 2022-12-31T15:52:16Z In order to reduce contaminant mass loadings, thermal cover systems may be incorporated in the design of waste rock piles located in regions of continuous permafrost. In this study, reactive transport modeling was used to improve the understanding of coupled thermo-hydrological and chemical processes controlling the evolution of a covered waste rock pile located in Northern Canada. Material properties from previous field and laboratory tests were incorporated into the model to constrain the simulations. Good agreement between simulated and observational temperature data indicates that the model is capable of capturing the coupled thermo-hydrological processes occurring within the pile. Simulations were also useful for forecasting the pile’s long-term evolution with an emphasis on water flow and heat transport mechanisms, but also including geochemical weathering processes and sulfate mass loadings as an indicator for the release of contaminated drainage. An uncertainty analysis was carried out to address different scenarios of the cover’s performance as a function of the applied infiltration rate, accounting for the impacts of evaporation, runoff, and snow ablation. The model results indicate that the cover performance is insensitive to the magnitude of recharge rates, except for limited changes of the flow regime in the shallow active layer. The model was expanded by performing an additional sensitivity analysis to assess the role of cover thicknesses. The simulated results reveal that a cover design with an appropriate thickness can effectively minimize mass loadings in drainage by maintaining the active layer completely within the cover. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Rock Pile ENVELOPE(-65.167,-65.167,-68.417,-68.417) Minerals 11 6 565 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
reactive transport modeling mine waste rock thermal cover freeze-thaw cycles permafrost contaminated drainage Mineralogy QE351-399.2 |
spellingShingle |
reactive transport modeling mine waste rock thermal cover freeze-thaw cycles permafrost contaminated drainage Mineralogy QE351-399.2 Xueying Yi Danyang Su Bruno Bussière K. Ulrich Mayer Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region |
topic_facet |
reactive transport modeling mine waste rock thermal cover freeze-thaw cycles permafrost contaminated drainage Mineralogy QE351-399.2 |
description |
In order to reduce contaminant mass loadings, thermal cover systems may be incorporated in the design of waste rock piles located in regions of continuous permafrost. In this study, reactive transport modeling was used to improve the understanding of coupled thermo-hydrological and chemical processes controlling the evolution of a covered waste rock pile located in Northern Canada. Material properties from previous field and laboratory tests were incorporated into the model to constrain the simulations. Good agreement between simulated and observational temperature data indicates that the model is capable of capturing the coupled thermo-hydrological processes occurring within the pile. Simulations were also useful for forecasting the pile’s long-term evolution with an emphasis on water flow and heat transport mechanisms, but also including geochemical weathering processes and sulfate mass loadings as an indicator for the release of contaminated drainage. An uncertainty analysis was carried out to address different scenarios of the cover’s performance as a function of the applied infiltration rate, accounting for the impacts of evaporation, runoff, and snow ablation. The model results indicate that the cover performance is insensitive to the magnitude of recharge rates, except for limited changes of the flow regime in the shallow active layer. The model was expanded by performing an additional sensitivity analysis to assess the role of cover thicknesses. The simulated results reveal that a cover design with an appropriate thickness can effectively minimize mass loadings in drainage by maintaining the active layer completely within the cover. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Xueying Yi Danyang Su Bruno Bussière K. Ulrich Mayer |
author_facet |
Xueying Yi Danyang Su Bruno Bussière K. Ulrich Mayer |
author_sort |
Xueying Yi |
title |
Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region |
title_short |
Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region |
title_full |
Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region |
title_fullStr |
Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region |
title_sort |
thermal-hydrological-chemical modeling of a covered waste rock pile in a permafrost region |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060565 https://doaj.org/article/341a0e7d634040e6a9eccddb720f4b33 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-65.167,-65.167,-68.417,-68.417) |
geographic |
Canada Rock Pile |
geographic_facet |
Canada Rock Pile |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
Minerals, Vol 11, Iss 565, p 565 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/6/565 https://doaj.org/toc/2075-163X doi:10.3390/min11060565 2075-163X https://doaj.org/article/341a0e7d634040e6a9eccddb720f4b33 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060565 |
container_title |
Minerals |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
565 |
_version_ |
1766165636342349824 |