Abstract
Open-pit mining constitutes a necessary activity for the extraction of rocks and minerals from the Earth. However, open-pit mining activities often result in rock slope stability issues related to the discontinuities of rock masses. Thus, an appropriate cut-slope design in open-pit mining requires good knowledge of the effects of discontinuity on rock mass strength and quality. This study aims to analyze the effect of discontinuity type on rock quality and slope stability. Discontinuity data was collected from the columnar jointed-andesite rock slope in West Java. The analysis showed that the examined andesite slope has a good rock mass quality and very favorable slope stability. However, wedge-type slope failure may occur, which is substantially affected by columnar joints present in the rock mass. Moreover, the analysis indicated that the integral discontinuities present in the andesite outcrops significantly affect the mean values of the discontinuity length, discontinuity spacing, and rock strength. However, the integral discontinuities have little effect on the slope mass rating (SMR). Thus, detailed studies on the contribution of integral discontinuities to the rock mass rating and SMR of different rock types are recommended.
Highlights
Open-pit mining is a necessary activity for the extraction of rocks and minerals from the Earth
This paper presents the results of mapping of the discontinuity characteristics in the andesite outcrop, which can be used to evaluate the contribution of various discontinuities on rock mass quality and slope stability
The study carried out on the slope in the Lagadar mining area shows that rock slope stability is related to rock mass quality
Summary
Open-pit mining is a necessary activity for the extraction of rocks and minerals from the Earth. This mining method may require excessive steepening of a rock slope, and cause a rock slope failure (Singh et al, 2013). The formation of rock discontinuities is generally associated with tectonic processes (Stead & Wolter, 2015), magmatic activity (Hatzor et al, 2015), sedimentation (Tang et al, 2017), and weathering processes (Hencher & Knipe, 2007). One discontinuity characteristic that is caused by magmatic activity is the development of fractures throughout the body of igneous rocks, which results in the formation of a polygon-shaped colonnade, the so-called columnar jointing (Goehring et al, 2006). Researchers have focused on the analysis of the effect of the columnar joints on rock
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