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An Assessment of Karstic Collapse Hazards at Mount Rosser, Ewarton, Jamaica
Ground surface collapse and the resultant failure of industrial facilities are among the most serious potential hazards afflicting tropical karst terrains. Detailed site-specific subsurface studies provide the most acceptable way to detect imminent cavity collapse and sinkhole formation, but probabilistic studies allied with site assessment are valuable tools where such investigations are not warranted or not possible for other reasons. In the context of the proposed decommissioning, dewatering and revegetation of the red mud bauxite waste disposal pond at Mount Rosser, Ewarton, Jamaica, the risk of main and auxiliary dam instability and/or failure as a result of the development and collapse of underlying karst cavities (sinkholes) was assessed employing a probabilistic model developed from previous studies of collapses in differing topographic settings within the Jamaican karst. This approach indicates that the probability of auxiliary dam failure within the expected life of the dams is between 0.4 and 3.0%, with a site average estimate of about 1.0%, and that the probability of main dam failure under the same scenario is between 0.8 and 3.0%, with a site average estimate of about 2.0%. A rapid geomorphological assessment (RGA) and site inspection revealed no evidence of factors that might exacerbate the potential for failure, and the overall assessment is that the Mount Rosser dams are unlikely to fail as a result of the formation or expansion of voids in the carbonate bedrock.
An Assessment of Karstic Collapse Hazards at Mount Rosser, Ewarton, Jamaica
Ground surface collapse and the resultant failure of industrial facilities are among the most serious potential hazards afflicting tropical karst terrains. Detailed site-specific subsurface studies provide the most acceptable way to detect imminent cavity collapse and sinkhole formation, but probabilistic studies allied with site assessment are valuable tools where such investigations are not warranted or not possible for other reasons. In the context of the proposed decommissioning, dewatering and revegetation of the red mud bauxite waste disposal pond at Mount Rosser, Ewarton, Jamaica, the risk of main and auxiliary dam instability and/or failure as a result of the development and collapse of underlying karst cavities (sinkholes) was assessed employing a probabilistic model developed from previous studies of collapses in differing topographic settings within the Jamaican karst. This approach indicates that the probability of auxiliary dam failure within the expected life of the dams is between 0.4 and 3.0%, with a site average estimate of about 1.0%, and that the probability of main dam failure under the same scenario is between 0.8 and 3.0%, with a site average estimate of about 2.0%. A rapid geomorphological assessment (RGA) and site inspection revealed no evidence of factors that might exacerbate the potential for failure, and the overall assessment is that the Mount Rosser dams are unlikely to fail as a result of the formation or expansion of voids in the carbonate bedrock.
An Assessment of Karstic Collapse Hazards at Mount Rosser, Ewarton, Jamaica
Day, Michael J. (author)
Ninth Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst ; 2003 ; Huntsville, Alabama, United States
2003-09-05
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Dams , Environmental issues , Failures , Probability , Karst , Jamaica , Dewatering , Sinkholes
An Assessment of Karstic Collapse Hazards at Mount Rosser, Ewarton, Jamaica
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