Preliminary results of fractal analysis of the poligonal survey from cave : case study of Małołączniak Area (Tatra Mts.)

Traverses (polygons) from two caves have been tested: Wielka Śnieżna Cave System (2858 vectors) and Śnieżna Studnia cave (742). The box counting technique was applied to evaluate the fractal analysis of spatial orientation of traverses. The polygonal survey of Wielka Śnieżna Cave, Śnieżna Studnia and both caves merged together have a fractal geometry. It may be concluded that these caves are close to the full recognition of passages forming by a hydrological system and they could have close relation with geological structures. The usual explanation of fractal dimension D higher than 1 indicates that caves with such dimension fill more space than those with ideal dimension of 1.00 (for example a straight line), and the geological constraints limit the dimension to be lower than 2 (Verbovsek 2007). It may suggest that systems can be developped into more complicated passages in future. The fact that both caves merged together also have showed fractal geometry indicates that they are belonging to the same hydrological system. It was noticed that D-value of merged caves is slightly larger than individual cave. It can be explained by “occupying” more space in rock mass

An application of geoelectrical methods for contamination plume recognition in Urbanowice waste disposal

The purpose of this work was to detect groundwater pollution and to identify the conditions of soil and groundwater near the Urbanowice landfill site using geoelectrical measurements. Presented measurements are preliminary results from tested site and are beginning of continuous monitoring. Contamination outflows detected by resistivity and IP technique show a good correlation with available hydrological data. Contamination plume were found in Eastern part of survey profil

An attempt to dendroclimatic reconstruction of winter temperature based on multispecies tree-rings widths and extreme years chronologies (example of Upper Silesia, Southern Poland)

This study aims at investigating pre-instrumental tree-ring based winter thermal conditions from Upper Silesia, southern Poland. The Scots pine, pedunculate oak and sessile oak ring widths and the extreme index were used to reconstruct winter mean temperature back to A.D. 1770. The climate response analysis showed that the pine is the most sensitive to February (0.36) and March (0.41) temperature, the oaks were found to be sensitive to the previous December (0.27) and January (0.23) temperature. It was found out that the combination of temperature sensitive species and an additional extreme index in regression can improve the reconstruction, with an emphasis on more reliable reconstruction of extreme values. The elimination of variance reduction and precise reconstruction of actual values of temperature is possible by scaling. The obtained calibration/verification results suggest that, through the application of the long-term composite chronologies a detailed study of the climate variability in Upper Silesia in past centuries can be provided

Application of Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves to S-Phase Wave Anisotropy Estimation

The Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) is an increasingly used technique for recognition of a shallow geological structure and estimation of geotechnical parameters, e.g., S-wave velocity, layer density, layer thickness, shear modulus, estimated P-wave velocity, and estimated Poisson ratio. MASW surveys were carried out in two limestone quarries in the southern part of Poland. The experimental areas are characterised by a simple geological structure: consolidated Triassic limestone. Measurement profiles were arranged as a shapely six-pointed star. For each survey line, 12 geophones with 2-meter (Deposit 1) and 3-meter (Deposit 2) spacing were applied. The research allowed to compare P- and S-wave velocity changes with the main crack systems in the studied rock masses

Ground-motion prediction equation and site effect characterization for the central area of the Main Syncline, Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland

The aim of the study was to find the best model of ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) forecasting peak ground acceleration (PGA) caused by induced seismicity. The maximum values of PGA on the surface are a major seismic threat for the infrastructure, especially in the highly urbanized areas, such is the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area. The forecasting equations were estimated based on the values of PGA, epicenter distances and mining tremor energy registered by 14 surface seismometer stations located in the central area of the Main Syncline of the Upper Silesia Coal Basin. Data were collected within the period from January 2010 to December 2016, and the total number of seismic events used in the calculations was 15 541. The final model predicted the PGA values and amplification coefficients representing the characteristics of the site effects under seismometer stations

Application of DOI index to analysis of selected examples of resistivity imaging models in Quaternary sediments

Interpretation of resistivity cross sections may be in many cases unreliable due to the presence of artifacts left by the inversion process. One way to avoid erroneous conclusions about geological structure is creation of Depth of Investigation (DOI) index maps, which describe durability of prepared model with respect to variable parameters of inversion. To assess the usefulness of this interpretation methodology in resistivity imaging method over quaternary sediments, it has been used to one synthetic data set and three investigation sites. Two of the study areas were placed in the Upper Silesian Industrial District region: Bytom-Karb, Chorzów-Chorzów Stary; and one in the Southern Pomeranian Lake District across Pilawa River Valley. Basing on the available geological information the results show high utility of DOI index in analysis of received resistivity models, on which areas poorly constrained by data has been designated

Application of passive seismic to shallow geological structures in urban areas

To study the shallow geological structure the Refraction Microtremor (ReMi) method was applied. This technique uses seismic noise analysis where a source of this small vibrations is the human activity e.g.: traffic, production, factories. The surveys were carried out in selected urban areas in the region of the Upper Silesian Industrial District: Sosnowiec-Pogon , Chorzow-Chorzow Stary and Bytom-Karb. Each area is characterized by the presence of nearby roads with a very high traffic. The results of passive seismic (ReMi) were confronted with data obtained using Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) and resistivity imaging (RI). Seismic surveys were performed by apparatus PASI with 24 channels using geophones of 4.5Hz. The results showed that passive seismic can be satisfactorily used in such urban conditions. The shallow geological structure interpreted by seismic methods have been well-correlated with resistivity studies

Case Studies of Seismic Energy Release Ahead of Underground Coal Mining Before Strong Tremors

We would like to test the concept that induced seismicity prior to relatively large mining tremor (ML[2.5, E[106J) can be inferred from the cumulative Benioff strain release (BSR) as power law time-to-failure before the strong event. This study presents the application of accelerating BSR prior to a large earthquake, widely used in natural seismicity, for analysis of this phenomenon in induced seismicity. The Benioff strain release is quantified as accelerated releases of cumulative (square root sum) of seismic energy in the time series. During the study, five sequences were extracted from the seismic catalogues from two Polish hard coal mines: exhausted Bobrek Mine (data form the ISEPOS Platform) and from a mine belonging to the Polish Mining Group. Next, a search radius was used to select precursory events and to indicate the type of processes occurring in the coal seam and its vicinity. The fitted power law of cumulative Benioff strain release showed changes of m-parameter. If the value of m was lower than 1.0, the process was regarded as an accelerating-like and if m was higher than 1.0—as a quiescence-like. The investigation of m-parameter vs. the search radius showed the general behaviour of the rock mass in the studied areas and allowed to evaluate the relationship between the critical radius and magnitude of the target event. The obtained scaling relation log(Rc) * 0.35 ML is similar to these reported by other authors who analysed natural seismicity which might suggest that the scaling relation works in a wide range of magnitudes

Determination of Destress Blasting Effectiveness Using Seismic Source Parameters

Underground mining of coal seams in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin is currently performed under difficult geological and mining conditions. The mining depth, dislocations (faults and folds) and mining remnants are responsible for rockburst hazard in the highest degree. This hazard can be minimized by using active rockburst prevention, where destress blastings play an important role. Destress blastings in coal seams aim to destress the local stress concentrations. These blastings are usually performed from the longwall face to decrease the stress level ahead of the longwall. An accurate estimation of active rockburst prevention effectiveness is important during mining under disadvantageous geological and mining conditions, which affect the risk of rockburst. Seismic source parameters characterize the focus of tremor, which may be useful in estimating the destress blasting effects. Investigated destress blastings were performed in coal seam no. 507 during its longwall mining in one of the coal mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin under difficult geological and mining conditions. The seismic source parameters of the provoked tremors were calculated. The presented preliminary investigations enable a rapid estimation of the destress blasting effectiveness using seismic source parameters, but further analysis in other geological and mining conditions with other blasting parameters is required

The use of geoelectrical method in preliminary investigation of the Fredro Family's iron mine adit in the village of Cisna, the Bieszczady Mountains, SE Poland

The study over the historical Rose iron mine adit were performed to find and map its location. In order to locate the exploited adit the resistivity imaging method was applied. Measurements were carried out along six survey profiles perpendicularly intersecting the adit. Measurements done along first three profiles were performed with application of 5 m electrode spacing and the total length of electrode array reached 200 m. For the profiles 4th and 6th 10 m electrode spacing was applied what gave total profile length of 400 m. The 5th profile possessed 5m electrode spacing and total length of 470 m. Roll-along technique was designed on this profile. For all measurements the Sweden equipment Lund produced by ABEM company was applied. Each resistivity cross-section was obtained after the robust inversion using Res2Dinv software. The results showed high resistivity anomalies located in areas suspicious as the adit, beneath the main ridge of Mochnaczka-Jeleni Skok Mountain. Near the adit entrance known from the historical information, the main anomaly was disturbed, probably because of the collapse of a tunnel entrance which could be seen in terrain morphology. It is supposed that on further distances the adit retained its character, however, it can be filled with secondary deposits or flooded