Solution Mining: Effects of Mining Salt on Water Pollution and the Stability of the Ground Essay

The article "Mechanism of groundwater inrush hazard caused by solution mining in a multilayered rock-salt-mining area" was authored by Bin Zeng and others. It was published in the "Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences" journal. The article is concerned with solution mining which is used to extract salt from salt mines due to the solubility of the salt in water. The process of solution mining leads to hazards such as groundwater inrush and brine leakage. The overall effect is that the process of mining salt pollutes groundwater.

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Scientists have conducted extensive research concerning the hazards of groundwater inrush in metal and coal mines. The research majorly centered on the mining techniques, sinkhole issues, and stability analysis of the mining cavity. This particular article focused on Tong-bai, an area where rock-salt mining takes place in the Henan Province of China. The area in question boasts the 45 million tons of salt reserves, and the trona being among the largest globally. There were five inrush points in the location between the years 2011 and 2013. Four of those were stable while another labeled the Y5 point was unstable. There was an occurrence of water inrush at the Y5 point that continued for nearly 3 months. Research showed that the well where the trona production was taking place broke and at 200 meters below ground level.

The inrush resulted in salinization of the ground beneath houses and made water unfit for drinking. The inrush affected a wide geographical area hence the source was difficult to determine because of the multilayered ores in the region. There was an urgent need to reduce the effects of the inrush and water pollution. Research by geologists established that the groundwater was subdivided into fissure water and pore water. At the top layer, there is mudstone combined with gypsum. This is considered a very weak layer particularly when it encounters water under high temperature and pressure injection.

For the accident to occur, the Glauber salt flows through the deposit of gypsum which comprises of CaSO4 leading to chemical reactions as it explodes from the ground. Therefore, the trona brine, the Glauber brine or a combination of both could be the constituents of the inrush. Gypsum is soluble in water and leads to the formation of an acidic solution. At high temperatures, it becomes even more soluble compared to its exposure to lower temperatures. When the leakage occurred, the mixture of trona and brine found its way through mineral assemblages and dissolved groundwater. The factors that led to brine leakage were determined to be the rupturing of the production wells and unstable salt cavities but the former was found to be the most likely reason.

Conclusion

Overall, this article was meant to show the possible effects of mining salt on water pollution and the stability of the ground. Solution mining, in the long-term, with high temperature and pressure, dissolves minerals, causes damage to production wells and raptures the strata. This leads to groundwater inrush or brine leakage. Hydrogeological and geological factors are the factors that decide the level of risk that the hazard can cause on the immediate environment. Additionally, techniques used in mining, for instance, monitoring the quality of groundwater, controlling the pressure of injection water are good ways of determining posed by the inrush in a multilayered salt mine.

Work Cited

Zeng, Bin, et al. NHESS - Recent, Mechanism of groundwater inrush hazard caused by solution mining in a multilayered rock-salt-mining area: a case study in Tongbai, China, 2018, www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/18/79/2018/nhess-18-79-2018.pdf. Accessed 31 Aug. 2018.