Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along Expressway
The settlement and deformation of abandoned mining tunnels can lead to cracking, deformation, or even the collapse of surface structures. Recently, a dual-direction, four-lane expressway, designed a speed of 100 km/h, is planned to be constructed between Yuanling County and Chenxi County. This expre...
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MDPI AG
2025-02-01
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| author | Mengyu Sun Jian Ou Tongsheng Li Chuanghua Cao Rong Liu |
| author_facet | Mengyu Sun Jian Ou Tongsheng Li Chuanghua Cao Rong Liu |
| author_sort | Mengyu Sun |
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| description | The settlement and deformation of abandoned mining tunnels can lead to cracking, deformation, or even the collapse of surface structures. Recently, a dual-direction, four-lane expressway, designed a speed of 100 km/h, is planned to be constructed between Yuanling County and Chenxi County. This expressway will pass through a long-abandoned refractory clay mining area in Chenxi County. This study focuses on this abandoned mining area and employs the Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) method to investigate the underground conditions, aiming to determine the location and scale of the subterranean goaf. A total of five survey lines were deployed for the investigation. The inversion results indicate the presence of five low-resistivity anomalies in the underground structure (with six low-resistivity anomalies identified along line L1). These low-resistivity anomalies are preliminarily interpreted as subsurface cavities. Subsequent borehole verification revealed that the five low-resistivity anomalies correspond to a total of eight water-filled cavities, including six abandoned mining tunnels and two karst caves. At the location K33+260~K33+350, a large low-resistivity anomaly was identified which actually consisted of three closely spaced water-filled abandoned mining tunnels. Additionally, the surrounding strata primarily consisted of fractured mudstone, which has a high water content and thus exhibits low resistivity. These two factors combined resulted in the three water-filled abandoned mining tunnels appearing as a single large low-resistivity anomaly in the inversion profile. Meanwhile, at K33+50~K33+110, two water-filled abandoned mining tunnels were found. These tunnels are far apart along line L1 but are relatively close to each other on the other four survey lines. Consequently, in the inversion results, line L1 displays these as two separate low-resistivity anomalies, while the other four survey lines show them as a single large low-resistivity anomaly. Based on the 2D inversion results, a 3D model of the study area was constructed. This model provides a more intuitive visualization of the underground cavity structures in the study area. The findings not only serve as a reference for the subsequent remediation of the goaf area but also offer new insights into the detection of abandoned mining tunnels. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | DOAJ |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-6a27129cc78c471fa2e5d747dec4c81f2025-08-20T02:53:22ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-02-01155228910.3390/app15052289Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along ExpresswayMengyu Sun0Jian Ou1Tongsheng Li2Chuanghua Cao3Rong Liu4School of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, ChinaHunan Province Geological Disaster Survey and Monitoring Institute, Changsha 410029, ChinaHunan Province Geological Disaster Survey and Monitoring Institute, Changsha 410029, ChinaGeological Survey Institute of Hunan Province Geological Building, Changsha 410083, ChinaSchool of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, ChinaThe settlement and deformation of abandoned mining tunnels can lead to cracking, deformation, or even the collapse of surface structures. Recently, a dual-direction, four-lane expressway, designed a speed of 100 km/h, is planned to be constructed between Yuanling County and Chenxi County. This expressway will pass through a long-abandoned refractory clay mining area in Chenxi County. This study focuses on this abandoned mining area and employs the Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) method to investigate the underground conditions, aiming to determine the location and scale of the subterranean goaf. A total of five survey lines were deployed for the investigation. The inversion results indicate the presence of five low-resistivity anomalies in the underground structure (with six low-resistivity anomalies identified along line L1). These low-resistivity anomalies are preliminarily interpreted as subsurface cavities. Subsequent borehole verification revealed that the five low-resistivity anomalies correspond to a total of eight water-filled cavities, including six abandoned mining tunnels and two karst caves. At the location K33+260~K33+350, a large low-resistivity anomaly was identified which actually consisted of three closely spaced water-filled abandoned mining tunnels. Additionally, the surrounding strata primarily consisted of fractured mudstone, which has a high water content and thus exhibits low resistivity. These two factors combined resulted in the three water-filled abandoned mining tunnels appearing as a single large low-resistivity anomaly in the inversion profile. Meanwhile, at K33+50~K33+110, two water-filled abandoned mining tunnels were found. These tunnels are far apart along line L1 but are relatively close to each other on the other four survey lines. Consequently, in the inversion results, line L1 displays these as two separate low-resistivity anomalies, while the other four survey lines show them as a single large low-resistivity anomaly. Based on the 2D inversion results, a 3D model of the study area was constructed. This model provides a more intuitive visualization of the underground cavity structures in the study area. The findings not only serve as a reference for the subsequent remediation of the goaf area but also offer new insights into the detection of abandoned mining tunnels.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/5/2289abandoned mininggeophysicsERTexpressway |
| spellingShingle | Mengyu Sun Jian Ou Tongsheng Li Chuanghua Cao Rong Liu Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along Expressway Applied Sciences abandoned mining geophysics ERT expressway |
| title | Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along Expressway |
| title_full | Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along Expressway |
| title_fullStr | Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along Expressway |
| title_full_unstemmed | Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along Expressway |
| title_short | Application of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) in Detecting Abandoned Mining Tunnels Along Expressway |
| title_sort | application of electrical resistivity tomography ert in detecting abandoned mining tunnels along expressway |
| topic | abandoned mining geophysics ERT expressway |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/5/2289 |
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