Large scale failure of the external waste dump at the “South Field” lignite mine, Northern Greece

Abstract

This paper presents the failure process of the external waste dump of the South Field Mine, the major open pit mine in Greece. The waste materials of the mine were deposited in three phases, forming an average inclination slope 10% and a total height of 110 m from the ground surface. The failure occurred when the third phase of the deposit was initiated. The high moisture content of the waste materials and their deposition over a spring, choking its flow, had as a result the development of high pore water pressure in clayey and marly materials in the base of the deposit. As a consequence, a large scale slope failure incident occurred. The landslide involved the mobilization of waste material in the order of 40 Mm 3, while the material that moved outside the boundaries of the waste dump was in the order of 2.5 Mm 3. The stability of the waste dump was investigated using the limit equilibrium analysis and different types of models. Limit equilibrium analyses were performed using different methods and considering the clay layer of small shear resistance that exists in the base of the deposit. They do not indicate activation of failure mechanism, only that there is a combination of high pore water pressure that developed in the deposit because the covering of the spring with the clayey materials of the dump.