Drowning

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Drained mine in the Philippstollen, Eisenberg mine

As flooding , even drowning or drowning , is referred to in the mining stuffing or full run of the mine structure or individual mines with water. It is irrelevant whether the water is pit water or water from surface water reservoirs . The filling of the mine workings can be either intentional or unintentional.

Basics and history

In any mine , water is always a problem for the mine building . The removal of the water that has penetrated into the respective mine workings and the securing of the mine building against sudden water ingress is a great challenge for the miners . As early as 1460 it was recognized the need not to let pits drown. Pope Pius II gave the mining town of Sulzbach permission to carry out the necessary work on dewatering in their mines on Sundays and public holidays. While the accumulating water in tunnel construction can be drained off via a water solution tunnel , this is not so easy to do in civil engineering . Here the dewatering must be done with special dewatering machines. As early as the second half of the 16th century, water lifting machines such as the Heinzenkunst were used for dewatering in individual mines in the Mansfeld district. If the water cannot be removed from the pit for any reason, the mine workings gradually fill up with water. So that these pit structures can be used for mining again, the water must then be removed from the affected part of the mine building through swamps .

Reasons and causes

The reasons for the pit building drowning are often a chain of different causes. One cause can be a sudden ingress of water with large amounts of water from underground water accumulation. This accumulation of water can originate from old mine buildings in neighboring mines that are already full. But large amounts of water can also accumulate in fault zones and in crevices and crevices and flow into the affected mine workings under pressure if the mine workings are too close. Lakes and ponds or rivers located in the vicinity of the day shafts can also become problematic . If the dams fail, water from these bodies of water can enter the mine workings. But technical causes such as insufficiently dimensioned or defective drainage machines can lead to drowning. This also includes external faults in systems that are basically intact, such as the failure of the energy supply or the lack of personnel. Improper dismantling , especially in potash mines, can also be a cause of the mine workings drowning. If the so-called Kalinithut is mined, it can lead to a leach breakthrough. But it is also possible to let the mine workings run full of water in a targeted manner. This is then referred to as flooding or drowning , seeping up , soaking up or drowning .

Possible effects

Depending on how quickly and in what quantity the water penetrates the mine building, there are different effects. If an underground pool of water is exposed, the miners on site can be injured by the flowing water. If large masses of water penetrate the mine building very quickly from above ground, the miners in the mine can be trapped by the water masses. Miners can lose their lives in the process. In order to make the drained pits usable again, they have to be swamped . If the water present in the submerged pits is left in place, such accumulations of water create a danger for deeper-lying pits or for neighboring mines. If you let mine workings drown in a targeted manner, the pit water rises and can rise to the groundwater level. The accumulated water can dissolve minerals over time and then transport them to other areas. As the water rises in the mine workings, any existing mine gas is gradually displaced and can reach the surface via permeable layers in the overburden.

prevention

In order to reduce the risk of drowning, measures must be taken above ground so that the daytime openings of the mine are and remain flood-free. If necessary, the shaft openings must be saddled for this. If there are rivers above the mine structures, these should, if possible, be lined with water-impermeable materials. Another possibility is to straighten these rivers, but this brings with it other problems such as the faster drainage of the water. In the case of lakes or ponds, it may be necessary to drain them. So that the hanging wall is not torn, deflections due to cavities that are too large must be avoided. In areas where unpredictable water breakthroughs can occur underground, water dams with dam gates must be installed. The gates can then be closed in the event of a water breakthrough in order to seal off the affected mine and protect the other mine structures from the water. Areas in which standing water is known to be present or suspected must be entered in the map . Such areas may only be approached with special precautionary measures .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Tilo Cramm, Joachim Huske: Miners' language in the Ruhr area . 5th revised and redesigned edition, Regio-Verlag, Werne 2002, ISBN 3-929158-14-0 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Heinrich Veith: German mountain dictionary with documents . Published by Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn, Breslau 1871.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Carl Hellmut Fritzsche: Textbook of mining science . Second volume, eighth and ninth completely revised edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin / Göttingen / Heidelberg 1958, pp. 525, 526, 547.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Fritz Heise, Fritz Herbst: Brief Guide to Mining Studies . Third improved edition, published by Julius Springer, Berlin 1932, p. 218.
  5. ^ A b Rudolf Mirsch, Gerhard Jost, Bernd Aberle: From the art of lifting water - about the importance of the water tunnels in the Mansfeld district . In: 7th Altbergbau Colloquium . Freiberg 2007, VGE Verlag GmbH, Essen 2007, pp. 226-227.
  6. ↑ Georg Schreiber: The mining in history, ethos and sacral culture . Springer Fachmedien GmbH, Wiesbaden 1962, ISBN 978-3-663-00242-0 , p. 256.
  7. ^ A b Wilfried Ließmann: Historical mining in the Harz . 3rd edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin and Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-540-31327-4 , pp. 91, 145.
  8. ↑ a b c d Fritz Heise, Fritz Herbst: Textbook of mining science with special consideration of hard coal mining . Second volume, third and fourth increased and improved edition, published by Julius Springer, Berlin Heidelberg 1923, pp. 564-565, 605.
  9. ↑ a b Dirk Proske (Ed.): Catalog of Risks . Risks and their presentation, 1st edition, self-published, Dresden 2004, ISBN 3-00-014396-3 , p. 124.
  10. ↑ Hermann M. Weiß: Possibilities of the origin as well as the type, extent and tectonic position of cracks and fissures in the salt mountains . In: Commission of the European Communities, literature study on nuclear research and technology, Heidelberg 1984, p. 62.
  11. ↑ a b c Peter Rosner: The rise in pit water in the Aachen and South Limburg coalfields - a hydrogeological-mining analysis of the interdependencies . Approved dissertation at the Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technische Hochschule Aachen, Aachen 2011, pp. 3, 6, 89–93, 130, 152.
  12. ^ Franz Paula cabinet: The beginnings of mining science . Academic bookseller Wilhelm Krüll, Ingolstadt 1793, p. 311.
  13. ↑ Thomas Degner: Forecast of the geochemical effects of the subsequent use of disused mining tunnel systems using the example of the Freiberg mine area . Approved dissertation at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg 2003, ISSN 1617-3309, pp. 83–85.