Investigating the source of contaminated plumes downstream of the Alborz Sharghi coal washing plant using EM34 conductivity data, VLF-EM and DC-resistivity geophysical methods
Farzin Amirkhani Shiraz 1 Faramarz Doulati Ardejani 1 2 Ali Moradzadeh 1 Ali Reza Arab-Amiri 1
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
1 Faculty of Mining, Petroleum and Geophysics, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood 3619995161, Iran.
2 Corresponding author. Email: fdoulati@ut.ac.ir
Exploration Geophysics 44(1) 16-24 https://doi.org/10.1071/EG12006
Submitted: 17 January 2012 Accepted: 13 November 2012 Published: 2 January 2013
Abstract
Coal washing factories may create serious environmental problems due to pyrite oxidation and acid mine drainage generation from coal waste piles on nearby land. Infiltration of pyrite oxidation products through the porous materials of the coal waste pile by rainwater cause changes in the conductivity of underground materials and groundwater downstream of the pile. Electromagnetic and electrical methods are effective for investigation and monitoring of the contaminated plumes caused by coal waste piles and tailings impoundments. In order to investigate the environmental impact from a coal waste pile at the Alborz Sharghi coal washing plant, an EM34 ground conductivity meter was used on seven parallel lines in an E–W direction, downstream of the waste pile. Two-dimensional resistivity models obtained by the inversion of EM34 conductivity data identified conductive leachate plumes. In addition, quasi-3D inversion of EM34 data has confirmed the decreasing resistivity at depth due to the contaminated plumes. Comparison between EM34, VLF and DC-resistivity datasets, which were acquired for similar survey lines, agree well in identifying changes in the resistivity trend. The EM34 and DC-resistivity sections have greater similarity and better smoothness rather than those of the VLF model. Two-dimensional inversion models of these methods have shown some contaminated plumes with low resistivity.
Key words: acid mine drainage (AMD), coal waste pile, contaminated plume, DC-electrical resistivity, EM34-3 conductivity data, inversion model, pyrite oxidation, tailing impoundment, VLF-EM method.
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