Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Management of dewatering schemes in an open cast mine operation using groundwater flow modeling: a case study of karst aquifer, Tamil Nadu, India

  • Research Article - Hydrology
  • Published:
Acta Geophysica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An efficient dewatering scheme helps the management authority of mines in decision-making on the minimum quantity of withdrawal of groundwater from open-cast mines to avoid excessive groundwater withdrawal from the mines. Karst aquifers are characterized by a dual flow system consisting of Darcy flow and non-Darcy flow in the Matrix and conduits respectively. Due to lack of site-specific data, it is difficult to model the flow behavior in the dual flow system. This study evaluated equivalent porous medium (EPM) approach and the hybrid approach/combined discrete-continuum approach (CDC) for modeling groundwater flow in a karst aquifer and found that hybrid approach is suitable for modeling the flow in the karst aquifer system. Hybrid approach is applied to derive the optimum dewatering scheme for safe mining of limestone in the Adanakurichi limestone mines of Tamil Nadu, India and was found that an additional 20% increase in pumping is required in the year 2020 compared to 2016 to bring the water level to the limestone bottom. Wavelet coherence diagram was used to identify the interrelation between rainfall and groundwater levels, and also between the groundwater levels at different locations. The results from the study will be helpful for the better management of groundwater control operations in karst aquifers, under various safe level of operations. MODFLOW 2005 was used to model the aquifer based on EPM approach and for modeling based on hybrid approach conduit flow process (CFP) Mode 1in MODFLOW was used.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and material

All data have been procured from India Cement Limited (ICL), Tamil Nadu.

Code availability

For Wavelet Coherence Diagram authors have used the code developed by Grinsted which is available on the website https://github.com/grinsted/wavelet-coherence.

References

  • Bakalowicz M (2005) Karst groundwater: a challenge for new resources. Hydrogeol J 13:148–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett ME (1996) A parsimonious model for simulation of flow and transport in a karst aquifer. PhD Thesis. The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, p 180.

  • GEC 2015 (2015) Report of the ground water resource estimation committee; Government of India, New Delhi.

  • Grinsted A, Moore JC, Jevrejeva S (2004) Application of the cross wavelet transform and wavelet coherence to geophysical time series. Nonlinear Process Geophys 11:561–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harbaugh AW, Banta ER, Hill MC, McDonald MG (2000) MODFLOW-2000, the U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model—user guide to modularization concepts and the ground water flow process. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00–92, p 121

  • Hill M, Stewart M, Martin A (2010) Evaluation of the MODFLOW-2005 conduit flow process. Ground Water 48(4):549–559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiraly L (1998) Modelling karst aquifers by the combined discrete channel and continuum approach. Bull Du Centre D’hydrogeologie 16:77–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Liedl R, Sauter M, Huckinghaus D, Clemens T, Teutsch G (2003) Simulation of the development of karst aquifers using a coupled continuum pipe flow model. Water Resour Res 39(3):1057

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindgren RJ, Dutton AR, Hovorka SD, Worthington SRH, Painter S (2004) Conceptualization and simulation of the Edwards Aquifer, San Antonio Region, Texas, Scientific Investigations Report, Reston, Virginia

  • Long JCS, Remer JS, Wilson CR, Witherspoon PA (1982) Porous media equivalents for networks of discontinuous fractures. Water Resour Res 18(3):645–658

  • McDonald MG, Harbaugh AW (1984) A modular three-dimensional finite difference ground-water flow model. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report. pp 83–875

  • McDonald MG, Harbaugh AW (1988) A modular three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water flow model. Technical report, U.S. Geol. Survey, Reston. VA

  • Nourani V, Mousavi S (2016) Spatiotemporal groundwater level modeling using hybrid artificial intelligencemeshless method. J Hydrol 536:10–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam LD, Long AJ (2009) Numerical groundwater-flow model of the Minnelusa and Madison hydrogeologic units in the Rapid City area, South Dakota. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009–5205

  • Qi P, Zhang G, Xu YJ, Wang L, Ding C, Cheng C (2018) Assessing the influence of precipitation on shallow groundwater table response using a combination of singular value decomposition and cross-wavelet approaches. Water 10(5):598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn JJ, Tomasko D, Kuiper JA (2006) Modeling complex flow in a karst aquifer. Sed Geol 184(3–4):343–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reimann T, Hill ME (2009) MODFLOW-CFP: a new conduit flow process for MODFLOW-2005. Ground Water 47(3):321–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reimann T, Geyer T, Shoemaker B, Liedl R, Sauter M (2011) Effects of dynamically variable saturation and matrix-conduit coupling of flow in karst aquifers. Water Resour Res 47:W11503. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR010446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roshni T, Jha MK, Deo RC, Vandana A (2019) “Development and evaluation of hybrid artificial neural network architectures for modeling spatio-temporal groundwater fluctuations in a complex aquifer system,” water resources management: an international journal, published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer. Eur Water Resour Assoc (EWRA) 33(7):2381–2397

    Google Scholar 

  • Saller SP, Ronayne MJ, Long AJ (2013) Comparison of a karst groundwater model with and without discrete conduit flow. Hydrogeol J 21(7):1555–1566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scanlon BR, Mace RE, Barrett ME, Smith B (2003) Can we simulate regional groundwater flow in a karst system using equivalent porous media models? Case study, Barton 64, Springs Edwards aquifer, United States of America. J Hydrol 276:137–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shoemaker WB, Kuniansky EL, Birk S, Bauer S, Swain ED (2008) Documentation of a conduit flow process (CFP) for MODFLOW-2005

  • Sithara S, Pramada SK, Thampi SG (2020) Sea level prediction using climatic variables: a comparative study of SVM and hybrid wavelet SVM approaches. Acta Geophys 68(6):1779–1790

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Surinaidu L, Rao VG, Rao NS, Srinu S (2014) Hydrogeological and groundwater modeling studies to estimate the groundwater inflows into the coal Mines at different mine development stages using MODFLOW, Andhra Pradesh, India. Water Resour Indus 7:49–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torrence C, Webster P (1999) Interdecadal changes in the ENSO-monsoon system. J Clim 12(8):2679–2690

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varalakshmi V, Venkateswara Rao B, Surinaidu L, Tejaswini M (2014) Groundwater flow modeling of a hard rock aquifer: case study. J Hydrol Eng 19(5):877–886

  • Xu Z, Hu BX (2017) Development of a discrete—continuum VDFST—CFP numerical model for simulating seawater intrusion to a coastal karst aquifer with a conduit system. Water Resour Res 53:688–711

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge India Cements Limited, Tamil Nadu, India for providing data to carry out this research

Funding

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600036, India

    Sankaralingam Mohan

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, NIT Calicut, Calicut, Kerala, 673601, India

    Subhashini Kumudesan Pramada & Maramvittil Anju

Authors
  1. Sankaralingam Mohan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Subhashini Kumudesan Pramada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maramvittil Anju
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The idea and problem were conceived by Mohan. Pramada and Anju joined him to formulate the research goals clearly. All authors together framed the methodology. Anju performed the simulations, validation, and visualization of the numerical models. Pramada did analysis part. Mohan and Pramada supervised the work and contributed to the interpretation of the results. The original draft of the paper was prepared by Mohan and Pramada. All the authors provided critical feedback and helped to shape the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Subhashini Kumudesan Pramada.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by Dr. Michael Nones (CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mohan, S., Pramada, S.K. & Anju, M. Management of dewatering schemes in an open cast mine operation using groundwater flow modeling: a case study of karst aquifer, Tamil Nadu, India. Acta Geophys. 70, 283–303 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-021-00718-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-021-00718-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation