Induced Seismicity in Large-scale Mining in the Kola Peninsula and Monitoring to Reveal Informative Precursors

Abstract

Large volumes of rock mass, mined-out and moved within these deposits, resulted in irreversible changes in the geodynamic regime in the upper earth’s crust of the adjacent territory. These changes manifest themselves in a more frequent occurrence of such intensive dynamic phenomena as tectonic rock bursts due to fault movement adjacent to the area which is mined-out and man-made earthquakes which sharply decrease mining safety and result in great material losses.To develop the prediction techniques of such phenomena, a monitoring system is created, based on the program of the Kola Complex of geodynamic measuring stations. Most of this system is realized in the region of the Khibiny apatite mines. The system provides regional seismological monitoring, local prediction of seismicity in separate areas of a rock mass and, determination of stress and strain in rock masses, local geophysical monitoring over the state of rocks in a rock mass as well as physical and mathematical modelling of geodynamic processes in the upper earth’s crust.The investigations have resulted in the distinguishing of some regularities in manifestations of induced seismicity and tectonic rock bursts and in the determination of strain precursors of intensive seismic events in the Khibiny mines.The mechanism is provided by the induced seismicity which resulted from the anthropogenic impact on the geological medium. A geodynamic monitoring complex is described, which is used to reveal the precursors of powerful seismic events in situ, and monitoring results are shown, obtained in the Kola Complex of geodynamic stations. Methods of preventing tectonic rock bursts and induced earthquakes are presented.Key wordsSeismicityrock burstsstressesmining operationsmonitoringgeodynamic regimeinformative precursors