Abstract
Mine subsidence can induce streambed ruptures that pirate surface water from a stream. Current understanding of the effects of longwall mining on streams lacks rigorous analytical approaches to detect hydrologic effects and does not consider the efficacy of streambed restoration techniques to address flow disruption. CONSOL Pennsylvania Coal Company, LLC (CPCC) collected and analyzed pre-mining, post-mining, and post-restoration stream discharge and flow duration data from 51.9 km of streams overlying its Bailey Mine to define pre-mining flow variability, detect post-mining changes, and evaluate post-intervention flow recovery. The primary intervention method for restoring stream flow was bedrock permeation grouting. Pre-mine and post-mine baseflow data were compared using both parametric and non-parametric hypothesis testing, which yielded similar results. An environmental flow assessment method for headwater streams using probabilistic risk assessment and correlation analysis of change threshold criteria was developed to differentiate hydrologic change as induced by mine subsidence or explained by natural variability. The method is objective, pragmatic, and statistically delimited.
Highlights
Scientific knowledge and theory pertaining to environmental flows advanced noticeably in the past few decades
Parametric two-sample t-tests and z-tests collectively showed that 47 tests accepted the t-test and z-test hypothesis of no difference, while 41 tests rejected the hypothesis of no difference
The conceptual foundation used to facilitate environmental flow assessment is based on classifying streams according to ecologically meaningful streamflow characteristics which are intuitively amenable to other research studies [1]
Summary
Scientific knowledge and theory pertaining to environmental flows advanced noticeably in the past few decades. This resulted in the conceptual development of various environmental flow assessment methodologies of river flows [1,2]. The ecological limits of hydrologic alteration were developed to assess the flow alteration and ecological response between anthropogenic alterations and social, economic, and ecological preferences [1,7]. These existing environmental flow assessment methods were developed at the regional scale to balance ecosystem management with societal objectives for river management, which have the potential to negatively affect a river ecosystem by influencing the natural variations in flow [1,7,8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call