Natural Hazards

, Volume 88, Issue 2, pp 947–964 | Cite as

Geophysical surveys for identifying source and pathways of subsurface water inflow at the Bangur chromite mine, Odisha, India

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Abstract

Geophysical survey was carried out in an effort to solve an underground flooding problem at the Bangur chromite mine of Odisha Mining Corporation Limited, Odisha, India. To identify sources and pathways of the influx, very low-frequency electromagnetic, self-potential and resistivity surveys were performed. Geophysical studies clearly depict a major fracture zone passing through the mine and its connection to a water storage pond. The fracture zone extends further west from the pond to the Salandi River and the Salandi Reservoir. The dip of the delineated fracture zone is around 45° to the N, and it matches with the fault plane exposed in the mine. Since water enters into the mine from the west, the delineated fracture zone is thought to be the main pathway for the inflow. Geophysical studies conclude that the IMFA pond, Salandi River and Salandi Reservoir could be possible sources of water in the mine. To ascertain the source and pathway, tracer testing was conducted at two locations, based on the geophysical survey by the hydrogeological team, but tracer test results were inconclusive. However, the fact remains that the water enters to the mine through the delineated fracture and poses threat in mine operation. Dumping water in nearby pond will again enter in mine with interconnected fractures. Therefore, for safe mining operation, it is proposed to drill a slanted tube well at the delineated fracture and pump out maximum water and discharge the pumped water at canal situated about 2.5 km from the mine.

Keywords

Underground mining Water influx Fractures VLF-EM Resistivity SP anomaly 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Editor Prof. Thomas Glade and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestion which have improved the manuscript. This work is a part of project work carried out at IIT Kharagpur (Project No. IIT/SRIC/GG/SBCM/2012-2013/05). We are also thankful to Dr. A. Mukherjee, P. Debnath and S. N. Bhanja, IIT Kharagpur for their help in various stages of this work. The first author would like to thank Prof. A. K. Gupta, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology for providing necessary facilities to complete this work.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Wadia Institute of Himalayan GeologyDehradunIndia
  2. 2.Department of Geology and GeophysicsIndian Institute of Technology KharagpurKharagpurIndia

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