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Groundwater as an environmental constraint of longwall coal mining

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Geology

Abstract

Groundwater impacts are a common reason for opposition to longwall mining. Most impacts are due to subsidence-related fracturing. Although upper aquifers are protected from drainage to the mine by a confining zone, water levels decline due to fracture dilation, and drawdown expands outward a few hundred meters. Recovery of water levels is common.

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Acknowledgments

Contributors to the Illinois research were ISGS personnel RA Bauer, BB Mehnert, PJ Demaris, DJ Van Roosendaal, and J Kelleher, and NIU graduate assistants ED Spande, CT Pattee, JD Miller, AM Curtiss, and LP Bertsch. The research was funded by the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources (1988–1992), and by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement of the US Department of the Interior (1991–1995: Contract Agreement #GR 196171). This support does not constitute an endorsement by either DENR or OSM of any views expressed in this article, which are solely those of the author.

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  1. Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, 60115, USA

    C.J. Booth

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Booth, C. Groundwater as an environmental constraint of longwall coal mining. Environ Geol 49, 796–803 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0173-9

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