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Effects of granularity and clay content on the permeability of the fault core in the Renlou coal mine in China: implications for underground water inrush

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Abstract

Fault core can act as a fine groundwater seepage conduit or barrier in coal mines in China. The material properties including the granularity and clay mineral content contribute to the complexity of the fault core’s hydrogeological characteristics, especially its permeability. Seven fault core samples in Renlou coal mine were collected for clay mineral analysis and water saturation tests. The tests revealed distinct inhomogeneous particle size and porous media feature of fault core samples after water saturation for 14 days and different expansibility values ranged from 1.842 to 8.294%. The Darcy tests showed that the permeability weakening ratio increased as a power function in relation to the final expansion ratio. Finally, it was concluded that if the total mudstone thickness was greater in the entire faulted stratum section, the fault core was more impermeable and acted as a seepage barrier.

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Acknowledgements

We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript. We also would like to express our acknowledgments to the reviewers for their constructive comments.

Funding

We express thanks to Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education and State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment (East China University of Technology) for the financial support (Fund No.GJJ18038181, NRE1928).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Hui Gui

  2. School of Resources and Geosciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Jinpeng Xu

  3. Chongqing Research Institute of China Coal Technology and Engineering Group, Chongqing, 400039, China

    Yudong Zhang

  4. Jiangsu Changjiang Geological Survey Institute, Nanjing, 210046, China

    Yang Li

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  1. Hui Gui
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  2. Jinpeng Xu
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Correspondence to Hui Gui.

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Gui, H., Xu, J., Zhang, Y. et al. Effects of granularity and clay content on the permeability of the fault core in the Renlou coal mine in China: implications for underground water inrush. Arab J Geosci 14, 294 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-06645-y

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