Abstract
Ground-penetrating radar and crosshole radar are applied in an underground marble mine for fault detection and to test if different geological bodies can be distinguished. Boreholes are often drilled in advance of mining to clarify the locations of ore bodies and gangues. Here, such boreholes were used for crosshole investigations to supplement optical borehole imaging. Four boreholes were drilled along a profile with increasing offsets from 5 to 25 m. The crosshole measurements were performed with 100 MHz antennas. Tomographic panels were created up to a depth of 28 m and were complemented by reflection mode ground-penetrating radar (GPR) measurements along a 25 m-long profile with 100 and 250 MHz antennas. The GPR imaging successfully delineates the fault and karstification zones with higher water content due to their strong dielectric permittivity contrast compared to the surrounding geology.
Highlights
Fault detection is an ongoing safety issue in the mining industry, especially in underground situations
Our idea that water-filled fractured zones will be visible in the tomographic images could only be validated to a certain point
Tomographic images revealed low-velocity zones within the rock, associated with amphibolite layers and karstification zones that bound the transition of marble to amphibolite
Summary
Fault detection is an ongoing safety issue in the mining industry, especially in underground situations. Detailed information about faults and fractures reducing rock stability have crucial impact on mining activities. In 2017, a major rock fall occurred in one of the mining chambers of an underground marble mine. Since mining activities in the area near the rock fall have been shut down. The affected mining chamber still contains valuable marble reserves. To obtain further information concerning fault and fractures within the affected area, a fast detection method like the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is of great interest
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